Page 40 of My Trojan Horse Majesty

Not yet, anyway.

I was hoping he’d at least be wearing an orange jumpsuit or something when we saw him, but apparently when you post bail, they return the clothes the loser was wearing when he was picked up. He’s actually dressed in an ensemble that’s virtually identical to mine, which couldn’t disgust me more.

“Izzy.” Tim’s smile’s cloying. “You did it. You sold the horse.” He shakes his head. “When you said you didn’t ask your parents for the money, I was a little peeved. I’ll be honest.”

Izzy’s brow furrows.

“But I never should’ve doubted you. You pulled through.” He opens his arms, inviting her to step in closer for a hug.

Izzy backs up a step, drawing closer to me.

As if he’s noticing my presence for the first time, Tim’s shoulders straighten, and his smile melts away. “Who the heck are you?”

“Heck?” I frown.

“It’s a Utah thing,” Izzy says.

I arch one eyebrow. “Like vodka’s a Russian thing?”

“Sure,” Izzy says. “And Tim, this is Leonid Ivanovich, and he bought the horse. We got the money for your bail from him.”

We didn’t talk about what we’d tell him, mostly because I didn’t care at all what she told him about me or where she got the bail. I’m surprised she’s lying about it, but I suppose it makes sense. The horse did technically disappear and I appeared, so what she’s saying isn’t painfully untrue. We also can’t have him wandering around and asking questions about where the stallion went, I suppose.

She’s smart. It’s one of the things I like about her best. Izzy’s eyes widen. “Speaking of, you know that German man, Müller? He said you had a video feed running on the paddock around the clock. Is that true?”

Tim’s still glaring at me, but he nods slowly. “I do. I have cameras all over the property.”

“Where do the videos go?” Izzy sounds. . .nervous. Then she glances at the cameras in the corner of the room.

Tim smiles. “Don’t worry. There’s a live stream, but the images aren’t recorded. I’d need a lot of space to record the footage from every video camera I installed. It just lets me check on things in real time whenever I want.”

Izzy exhales, and I realize she was worried—probably that my transformation had been caught on camera somewhere. That’s cute. As if I can’t protect myself.

“Well.” Tim glances my way. “Thanks for escorting my girl here.” He steps toward her and slings an arm over Izzy’s shoulders. “I’ll take it from here.”

An emotion I’ve never felt before rises up inside of me, a possessive rage that threatens to consume me. He’s touchingmyIsabel. If I had free use of my powers, I would incinerate him to ash. Actually, I’d drown him first, then electrocute him, and then I would burn him to a pile of smoking cinder. And then I’d bury his remains so deep and so far that no one would ever find them—his relatives would always wonder where he went.

If they even cared.

But I don’t have my powers because he’s stolen my Isabel, so I just stand there, fuming, my hands balled into fists at my side.

Izzy ducks out from under his arm and sidles closer to me. “Actually, Tim, I need to talk to you about a few things before we go anywhere.”

Tim frowns at her, and then he narrows his eyes, focusing his gaze on me. “You need to talk to me—with this guy watching?”

Izzy bobs her head at the corner of the waiting room where there’s a small table with four chairs. “Can we just chat over there for a moment?”

He drops his voice, reaching for her arm. “Can’t we just go home? We can talk all you want there.”

She yanks her hand free. “I need to talk to you first.”

He glares at me, but he nods and walks reluctantly to the corner. “Fine.”

He sits in the chair with its back to the window, squaring off against me. He pulls the chair next to him out, expecting her to take it, but Izzy sits directly across from him, and I swivel the other chair around backward, sitting just behind her and to the side.

“What’s going on?” A muscle in Tim’s jaw is popping. I’m pretty sure he hates me almost as much as I detest him. Thankfully, I’ve had a hundred years to perfect my hatred of people and things, and I have many, many more tools than he does to dispatch my enemies.

“While I was on your computer, dealing with trying to sell Drago, I happened to see an email.”

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