Page 31 of My Trojan Horse Majesty

“You’re saying that you hate this guy, and you think he’s trash, but you’ll justgiveme a hundred grand to save him?”

“Not to save him,” I clarify. “To save you from him. While he’s tied up in there, you’re tied up on him.”

“So to helpme, someone you barely know, you’ll just drop a hundred thousand dollars.”

“It’s a smart move for me,” I say. “I’m connected to you, and you recently saved me. But you’re distracted. You’ve been distracted since whatever connected us connected us. I need you to focus, because I need your help. I have to regain my powersimmediately.I can’t have you distracted anymore, and I’m willing to buy your attention.” I lift both eyebrows.

“Do we have a deal?”

She stands. “I want to test your statement.”

“What?”

“I want to see you pass out when I walk away.”

I roll my eyes. “For the—you must be kidding. What possible reason could I have to lie about that?”

She shrugs. “It’s easy to test, is it not?”

“Not if I don’t fancy going face-first in the dirt.”

“I’ll sit you in a chair,” she says. “I just want to see whether we’re really connected like you say, because if we aren’t. . .”

“Then I’m just a creepy horse-man who’s pushing you into doing things and giving you large sums of money for inexplicable reasons.”

“It seems odd,” she says. “I know you say we’re connected, but I can’t feel it, and I can’t see it, and I have no idea how we possibly could be when we’d never even met.”

“Fine.” I grab the chair by the back and pick it up on my way out the front door. I have to set it down to rummage around for a pair of shoes from the rack near the door. In addition to being an idiot, Mr. Heaston’s also got terrible taste in shoes for his small feet. I finally manage to shove my feet into a pair of ghastly sneakers, and then I pick up the chair and continue outside.

After watching my shoe troubles with a half-smile, Izzy trots after me. “Okay, so I’ll leave you here by the house, and I’ll jog off, and then if what you’re saying is true?—”

I point. “Set up your phone over there. You can run the video so you can see up close exactly what happens when you move away from me. I’d hardly have time to tamper with it while you run back. I’ll be unconscious.”

“That’s actually a pretty decent idea.”

“Because I’m telling the truth.” I drop the chair and sit. “But I want you to do something for me, too. A show of good faith, if you will.”

She stiffens.

“Not something gross. I want you to try andfeela connection between us when you jog away. I want you to try and sense whatever it is that binds us, so you might be able to work with me on figuring this out. I need a partner, not a jailer.”

“Fine.” She nods. “Sure.” And then she sets up her phone, and she jogs away from me. I spin around in the chair a few times. Then my vision starts to darken and then everything goes black.

Moments later, when I wake up, I’m flat on my face, and she’s tugging me over onto my back. “Sorry.” She’s grimacing. “I really thought you’d slump—I didn’t think you’d fall forward like that.”

I brush the dust from my borrowed clothing. “It’s fine.” I stand. “Are you ready to head to that bank now? We have some forms to fill out, I’m sure.”

Izzy once again grabs her jacket, heads out the front door, and locks the keypad with a sequence of numbers. Only this time, instead of seeing her from across the property and panicking, I’m walking beside her. It’s a much nicer feeling. Not that I care about her, of course. It’s just not a great feeling to have her moving away from me. Watching that made me panicky, and I haven’t felt out of control like that in a very long time.

Which is why, a moment later, when I circle the car and finally see the same stupid sedan parked behind Izzy’s truck, I say a very bad, very rude word. The men who were here to collect money from that criminal Tim are back.

And I don’t have my powers.

I’m barely better than useless, which makes me very, very angry.

Chapter10

Izzy

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