Page 87 of Iron Blade

Was Dairo asking if we had discussed the mob? Was he suspicious of me? Did he know me from somewhere, or any of the others I associated with? Was he on to me?

“Oh, you know… married life,” he groaned, as he rolled us out of the driveway, the gravel crushing under the moving tires.

“Éist do bhéal!” Eoghan said, his fist clenching on his lap as he glared at his cousin through the rearview mirror.

I had no idea what that meant, but it quieted Dairo, who put up one hand in the space between the seats as if he was surrendering.

“Mea culpa,” he said, shaking his head.

That phrase, I knew. It was Latin for “my mistake”. It might have been sincere if not for the slight roll of his eyes.

“Bloody hell, Eoghan,” he said under his breath, as he turned out onto the main street and down the road. “I feel like I'm watching a train wreck.”

I had no idea what they were talking about, but I could guess from context.

Eoghan hadn’t told me he was in the mob. He didn’t tell me he was the heir to a crime family, and now he was taking me into the lion’s den “unprepared”. Of course, I wasn’t totally obtuse, or ill-informed. But I had waited, assuming he would confess. I should have been prying the information from him during our two days in the cottage, but I had been… distracted.

Eoghan’s insistent passion had made little time for eating, much less any deep discussion about family syndicates.

We rode silently down the street until we turned up a drive, towards two tall iron rod gates. It looked like something out of a gothic tv show. The tops of the rods didn’t have roses and spades, unlike the walls around the cottage. No, it was topped with the benign looking four leaf clovers, with tiny daggers spearing between them.

Men in black uniforms stood with weapons at the ready, in full kit, with radios on their armor.

Dairo rolled down the window and the guard immediately stood at attention, rendering a crisp salute.

“Mr. Green,” he said, before he gestured wildly for the men to let us pass.

They didn’t even check the backseat to see me and Eoghan, but I guess it didn’t matter. If there was a Green in the car, then they would back off.

I didn't have to pretend to be scared of these men, I just was.

I was walking into the lion’s den, and the prince of the pride had his paw draped over my shoulders.

“Eoghan,” I said, as the guards lined up, and rendered a salute to the passing car as the black gate opened. “Why do you have guards?”

Confess to me your sins! My heart was crying for him to talk to me, not just because of my job but because I was his wife. He should tell his wife about these things before bringing her over for dinner!

“Hush, love,” Eoghan said against my temple, holding me close. “I’ll explain later.”

But he wouldn’t. I was sure of it. If he was going to tell me, he would have said so in the two days when we were so beautifully alone.

An ominous, sinking feeling weighed heavy on my gut as I looked around at the rolling lawn that led up the hill to the great, red-brick estate at the top of the hill. I knew it from the photos I’d received from Blink.

But the photos didn’t convey the strange heaviness that existed in the air. This place felt weighted, like there was a terrible, malignant spirit in the air that was pushing us down into the ground.

“What is this place?” I said in a frightened sigh.

“It’s home, sweet home,” Dairo said, his bitter sarcasm evident in his rough exhale.

“We won’t be here long, love,” Eoghan said, his hand tightening around me, as if he was scared I’d float away. “We’ll live in Manhattan, mostly, and only come here when we have to, I swear.”

If this place didn’t have the stench of evil, then what reason would he have to swear that I wouldn’t have to spend too much time here? What frightening things happened here? Could the rumors be true?

No, I still refused to believe it.

Not of Eoghan.

I gripped his thigh, my fingers turning into claws as I drew myself closer to him. As if he could feel my anxiety, he wrapped both arms around me, his hands crossing over my chest as he pulled my back to his chest.

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