Page 27 of Married to the Devil

“You seem displeased.” I observe. And focused. I wouldn’t be surprised if she still hadn’t taken note of my presence. Perhaps having a bodyguard is the best course of action with her tendency to be sucked into tasks. I’d assumed that only applied to when she crafted charms.

“There’s just—” Stella breaks off, realizing I’m the one addressing her. She jumps, and her eyes widen. Yes, a permanent bodyguard would be wise.

“There’s just what?” I ask. She’s looking for something in the records. Foreboding prickles over my skin.

Stella hesitates. She doesn’t want to confide in me. Which is fair. I wanted to possess her, not be an ear for her problems, but this is specific to the territory.

I reach to stroke where she clutches the tablet, and she flinches at my touch.Which iswhat I wanted,I remind myself.

Her words give way in the face of my attention. “I’ve been hearing rumors about something troubling. But there’s no evidence of it in your records.” She frowns. “It must be just gossip.”

“Something like people going missing?” I ask. The coincidence is too much to ignore.

The peach of her skin pales. “It’s true?”

Barnes adjusts in his seat with a frown, reminding me that I’m exposing this to Kalos through him, but this is too important to keep under wraps.

“It’s something we just uncovered. What have you heard?” I ask.

“Just whispers.” She wets her lower lip, and I focus on her words rather than the pink curve of her mouth. “Of people vanishing. Whole families gone in a night. I have a distributor who works between the territories who mentioned it in passing a few months ago, and I shrugged it off. But the number of protective charms he sells here have risen.”

The community knows. People are afraid, and this is the first any of my people have heard of it. The territory did not expect the Leonid family to solve whatever this is. Which indicates a good deal about what sort of protection they’re used to.

“We’ve heard the same,” I bite out. “We won’t know how pervasive this is until we look into it more. Give me your distributor’s details. It’ll be a good place to start.”

Stella’s gaze is on me, expectant, but wary. “You’ll investigate?”

“It’s all-hands-on-deck for this. We take these situations seriously.” Hierarchy and politics aside, the role of a territory leader is to provide safety and peace to those who reside in their domain. It’s possible that it’s a couple of people who innocentlymoved away from the territory, alarming their neighbors, but for this sort of widespread fear? The less innocent options aren’t good.

“What can I do?” she asks after I put my number into her phone, and she forwards me the distributor’s information.

The question takes me off guard, and I frown, glancing at Barnes who acts like he can’t hear the discussion happening right in front of him.

“I can talk to people too,” Stella says, and it takes effort not to snarl at the thought of her walking around this territory with people disappearing and asking questions. She continues, “I should be meeting the people who reside in the territory.” She winces. “Especially the Leonids. The longer we put that off, the more wiggle room they’ll assume they have.”

She’s correct there.

“Your aunt has asked for an audience with you,” I say.

“My aunt?”

“Have you met any Leonids?”

Stella’s eyes fall to the tablet in her lap as she picks off an imaginary piece of lint from her dress. “Never in a setting where I’d be introduced. I’ve traded messages with my brother, Noah, who travels. The first time I met my father was when Kalos barbecued him.”

I shrug. “He was rather obnoxious. You didn’t miss much.”

That gets a tiny smile from her, but it doesn’t change the fact that she has a whole other side of family members who rejected her existence. Who now will be under her in status.

“I will think on what you can do,” I say. A task that isn’t her wandering around an unsecured territory. “I didn’t anticipate your cooperation in this.”

“It seems that you didn’t expect much from this marriage.”That you didn’t expect much from me.The sentiment wouldbe cutting if I wasn’t already hardened to what needed to be. Softness is for others.

“I expected many things but find that you make a fool of my strategies,” I say.

She blinks like she can’t quite understand my words. Which is good. They were too honest, but we are trading truths.

There’s something else I must do.

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