Page 64 of Queen of Wrath

Jax’s face twisted. “And why exactly don’t you want to form a pact with me?”

She dropped her head and went silent. When she looked back up at him, her eyes were filled to the brim with tears. “I made a pact a long time ago with a horrible man disallowing me from ever making one with anyone else again. He tried to own me, but I escaped. I hope you can understand that I would give you that part of me if I could.”

A tear dripped from her eye, and Jax felt a sudden pang of guilt for even questioning her.

“Don’t worry about it. I appreciate your dedication.” Jax took a deep breath, his mind made up. He needed her help to fix the potions and undo the damage that had been done, otherwise Diesel was going to level the entire city with his next tantrum. “Come with me. I need to show you something.”

Jax guided Emma out of his office.

The tension between them was palpable.

“You understand that what is being done in Facility B is not exactly legal, right?” Jax began, watching her every movement for a hint of dishonesty.

“I figured… But I wasn’t going to do anything with that information. What you do with your company is none of my business.” Emma rolled her hands together, keeping close to Jax’s side, which he found endearing.

Jax let out a little laugh and took her hand to guide her into the closet where the Facility B entrance was. “Don’t worry, Emma. I believe you. If you wanted to turn me in, you would have done it already.”

Emma pressed her hand over her chest and sighed as relief washed over her. “I’m glad to hear it. So what’s this issue you need my help with.”

“The issue is my uncle, Diesel. He was responsible for the attack on the city last night. Things haven’t been going according to plan for him as of late. It would appear that there is something wrong with his potions going out. They are having some—well—unfortunate side effects,” Jax explained as he passed through the door, pulling Emma through as well.

“Whatever it is, I’ll be sure to get to the bottom of it for you.” Emma’s response was hopeful.

26

KIYAN

Kiyan’s eyes lingered on Ravana as they descended the stairs with Emma leading them.

He so badly wanted to ask her about the night when the city had burned, but he didn’t want to do it with Emma in earshot. He hadn’t been able to get the look on Ravana’s face out of his head.

She hadn’t appeared scared like most people would have, given the situation… No, even terror or horror couldn’t sufficiently describe the emotion that’d been warring in her eyes when he had found her in an alley behind burning merchant stalls.

Kiyan had been out for a walk that night when he caught the scent of things burning, and an instant later, buildings around him were catching fire like a highly infectious contagion spreading through an unaware population.

He hadn’t been too far away from Emma’s apartment, and immediately rushed over to go alert them, but he found a curled-up and frightened Ravana a block away, shivering and sobbing uncontrollably.

I’ve never seen her like that before. I got her as far away from the fire as possible, but she hasn’t said a word about it since…

His attention was brought back to reality the moment he realized she was glaring at him from over her shoulder.

What did I do to deserve that look?

“Why are we down here?” Kiyan asked, not only uncomfortable under Ravana’s scowling attention but also being back in the secret underground facility didn’t exactly bring back any fond memories.

“You’re not scared are you?” Ravana laughed, walking past him to keep up with Emma. “So, what’s the plan?”

“The plan is there is no plan. You both are going to be working on potion mixing, while I’m going to be solving Mr. Ransom’s little dilemma.” Emma narrowed her eyes at both Kiyan and Ravana. “I don’t want either one of you to get mixed up in this more than is necessary.”

“Too late for me. I’ve been dealing with dangerous stuff like this for most of my life.” Ravana smirked, crossing her arms and elbowing Kiyan when Emma turned away.

“That was before you were able to choose your own path. Things are different now, and I hope you appreciate that,” Emma retorted, but turned her focus on the long metal table aligned with potion vials.

Kiyan’s eyes shifted to Ravana. She looked caught off guard. Her defensive and cunning smile fell from her face, replaced by an emotion he was certain she would want him to notice. But it was exactly that vulnerability that Kiyan found so endearing about her.

He also couldn’t help but admire how her long black hair fell straight down her slender back like a waterfall, and how her icy blue eyes always twinkled with a hint of mischief.

Snap out of it! There are other things I need to be thinking about right now.

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