Page 52 of King of the Dawn

I nodded and walked away.

“Brett!” she called, still using my old cover name. “What the hell is happening?”

“I’m setting her free,” I said through gritted teeth. “This is her out. You gave your brother an out from the life in the shadows. I’m doing the same.”

Her eyes were wide as she crossed her arms. “Jesus. I didn’t know you could be so self-sacrificing.”

I fucking wasn’t. I was two seconds away from rushing into that bookstore, throwing her over my shoulder and taking her back to the jet and locking her away in a cage.

But I nodded and walked away.

“Mama says you should come by for dinner,” the little smart ass continued. “Maybe she could set you up with someone from church.”

She arched a humorous brow and I chuckled, shaking my head at her.

“I don’t say this to you often…” I looked Lea the assassin in the eye. “But you’re kind of a bitch.”

Her smile brightened, as she shrugged. “Thanks!”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Aoibheann

“Were you married?” I asked, touching the little pictures in those adorable frames. The kind that had the words “love”, “family”, or “prayer” engraved on them. I had seen them before, but only in the movies. There was nothing so sentimental in Alastair’s house. While there were photos of Yuliya and Jericho with their mother, and many of them after he adopted Rose, there was none of that hallmark feel to them. Like the families you might see on TV with the cluttered, cozy houses.

Our home was cozy, sure. But in a grand way, with my dark green house and the ancient furniture and the castle-like feel. It was so different from the little room I found myself in now.

“Aye, I’m married,” Ryan said, combing his hand through the hair that grayed at the temple. “I have two kids. They’re at school now. My wife is… she’s a teacher.”

I smiled, wondering if he had the kind of wife who liked books, the way he did. Did she wear a knit sweater, and walk around in plaid, woolen skirts to and from school? Did she have one of those messenger bags made of leather that clanged on her hip as she walked?

There was a picture in my mind of how Ryan ended up, in his large sweaters, and tweed jackets.

“I bet you read aloud to them when they were kids,” I smiled, still touching the frame of what must have been him, his wife and his children. They were teenagers, maybe? I wasn’t great at judging ages, but they were far from children, but far from grown. “Did you?”

“Aye, I did,” he said with a shy grin. “I did the voices and everything, like what we talked about back when…”

His voice trailed off.

Back before I disappeared. That’s what he meant.

Back when we used to walk these streets as children, holding hands and making grand vows that we would never have been able to keep. Oh, sweet Ryan.

“I looked for you, you know.” His brow knitted as he frowned. “For a year, I looked. I asked everyone, and no one knew where you were. Then, my mate came home from America. They said they saw you in New York.”

“Oh?” I said, tilting my head. “What was his name?”

“Blaine Flanagan,” he blurted and I recoiled from the name. Maybe he noticed, because he quickly amended, “Well, actually it was his daughter, Sinead. Blaine, you see, knew my Da. The girl, Sinead, was in here looking at books with her little sister. Siobhan, I think. Do you know them?”

I let out a fast laugh.

“Aye, I know Sinead.” I wouldn’t admit to knowing Blaine Flanagan. Not after the wrongs he had committed against my person. “Sinead is a friend. One of the few I ever had. She did me a great favor once.”

I thought back to the girl, Kira. To how I had given up my life for hers, in a way, pushing her and her baby towards Sinead, who was my savior.

“She once took in a friend of mine.” I almost laughed, trying to be cryptic, the way Jericho could be. “Helped her escape the life I was cursed with.”

I looked up from the numerous photos, having drunk my fill of that happy life. The kind, sweet, normalcy of it would have filled me with envy, once upon a time. But not now. Not when my own exciting man was waiting outside for me.

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