Page 17 of Consort of the Crime Queen

The guard looks…almost afraid. And he's breathing in a manner that suggests he was running hard up until he reached the door.

"What are you talking about?" I ask the guard. "Be clear."

"It's…the girl," he says awkwardly. "Ms. Verderosa?" He ends on a question mark as though unsure of my reaction.

"What did you say?" I ask sharply. "You mean?—"

"Aurora, Boss. She's in a taxi at the gate saying we need to pay the guy fifty gees, which is a pretty steep rate on a ride if you ask?—"

"Aurora?"

He just nods this time, his babble cut off as he worries about what my reaction will be. All I can do is stand stock still waiting for my body to catch up with my brain.

Aurora. She's come back.

Or so this guard says. "Let her through the gate," I say. As he mutters into his walkie, Lyssa gives me a sharp look.

"Dear old dad just…sent her back?" she asks.

"No, that's not what we…" I trail off. I very much doubt that my father has sent Aurora back to me without seeing proof positive of my dismantling of the Syndicate first.

Lyssa tilts her head to one side, watching me. "You think it's a trick?"

"If it's a trick, we'd better go down and be ready for it," I tell her.

On the way downstairs to the front of the house, I struggle to rein in the fragile, traitorous spark of hope. After all this torment, not knowing if Aurora was even alive, then hearing that my father was the one who held her, and now…could she really be here?

I force my expression into impassivity, hiding the turmoil roiling beneath the surface. Lyssa eyes me curiously. I avoid meeting her gaze, knowing she will read too much there.

The guards fan out around the entrance, as is usual when we have a guest, hypervigilant.

Waiting is its own exquisite torture. I clench my fists, willing the taxi to crest the hill of the drive. Begging whatever powers may be for this not to be some cruel joke or mistake.

Then, in the distance, I see the light of the cab. The guards shift, hands dropping to holstered weapons in unison. Lyssa tenses, ready to unleash hellish fury at the first sign of deception.

The taxi rolls to a gentle stop at the base of the steps. For an endless moment, nothing happens. The world holds its breath along with me.

The door opens. A slender figure steps out, ephemeral as a mirage.

Aurora.

She pauses, squinting up at the assembled guards, and then beyond, to me, standing in the doorway. Our eyes lock.

Then I'm moving, bolting, feet flying down the steps before I realize it. Dimly I hear Lyssa's startled exclamation, but it fades beneath the pounding rush of blood in my ears. The world narrows down to the woman in front of me.

Aurora. Here. Real.

I reach her just as her lips curve into a tremulous smile. A glad cry tears from my throat as I crush her against me. She stumbles but I hold her fast, inhaling the delicate scent of her hair. My heart threatens to crack open completely. I'm shaking, shaking so hard I can't keep standing, and I fall to my knees, still clinging to her, in front of Lyssa, in front of all the guards, but I don't care.

She came back to me.

"Hadria," Aurora whispers, carding her fingers through my hair. I can't look up at her. Aurora doesn't pull away, her fingertips tracing gentle patterns on my back.

The sound of boots scuffing against the gravel reminds me we have an audience. I raise my head, not relinquishing my hold on Aurora. She gazes down at me, thumbs swiping across my cheeks in a tender caress.

"Leave us," I say, relieved when my voice comes out imperious and steady despite the tumult going on inside. The guards shuffle away, exchanging looks, but I still don't care. Lyssa, thank God, comes down to deal with the taxi driver.

"I'm sorry," Aurora says with a shaky little laugh just this side of a sob. "It was…an expensive ride."

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