Page 35 of Iron Blade

“Mr. Green?” I asked, even though I knew it was him. There was no mistaking it.

The formality between us was so strange that it felt… intimate. Like we were sharing an inside joke that no one else understood.

I liked it. It made me feel like I was in some kind of Regency movie, where the man flirted by helping a woman in and out of a carriage. Back when people flirted over the flitter of silk fans across a ball room, and wrote hand-written notes delivered by butlers on silver trays.

“Say my name. My first name.” Eoghan’s demand surprised me.

Normally, when he told me to do something, I chose to do the opposite. It was instinct to defy him, but not this time. There was something in his tone - a desperation that made my heart ache.

I had never heard before. Not when he told me that there were consequences for touching a Green, or any of the other times he had asked me to marry him, or to sell myself to him… so what was going on?

“Eoghan,” I said, unsure if that was enough.

But he let out a sigh, then a contented “Hmm.”

The silence lingered for a moment, as I stared at my television screen. The revolutionary students were in a row, a red flag waving over their heads, right before they would break for intermission.

“May I call you Kira?” he asked.

I couldn’t stop him if he didn’t want me to. But there was definitely more to his question than just the use of first names.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

I felt the crackle over the phone as seconds ticked by. Seconds, then minutes, as he just breathed on the other end. Was he fidgeting? Was he anxious? If he was, why?

“No,” he finally said. It was so quiet, I barely heard it.

Well, that was unexpected. I never really thought he’d admit to not being okay. He was always so self-assured that it was daunting to think that something in life wasn’t going his way.

“Where are you?”

“Home.” He sounded so clipped, like he was agitated, but not at me.

“Where is home? Give me an address.”

“If I do, will you come to me?” He sounded like he was scared that I wouldn’t. Maybe I shouldn’t.

This whole thing was such a bad idea. Just when I had resolved to think less of Eoghan, and to remove myself from his orbit so that I could keep doing my job… this happens. Was the universe fucking with me?

“Give it a shot, and see,” I whispered, barely understanding why I was saying it. I was going to go to him, even as my mind screamed that this was a terrible, terrible idea.

“I’ll send my driver to you.”

“I can Uber.”

“Or you can wait for my man to get to you. He’s not far off.”

“Do you have someone watching me?”

“No, love. But I don’t live far from you. Will you come?”

I paused, thinking about it. I had met his driver before, and despite everything I knew about Eoghan Cillian Green, I still felt safe with him. Maybe I didn’t have the same instincts Blink did. I couldn’t tell a person’s deep dark secrets from a single twitch of their eye, or the flare of their nostrils.

But I knew Eoghan. He might not be a good man. He might not be a law-abiding citizen. But I knew, down to my core, that I was safe with him.

“Do you want me to?” I don’t know why I even said that. He wouldn’t have told me to come, if he hadn’t wanted me to, right? So why did I need more reassurance?

“Yes. Unequivocally, yes.”

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