Page 130 of Gemini Hunted
“Nope.” I pop the P for emphasis. “Way to downplay all that shit Xiao pulled. I’m not buying it. Your boy toy literally tried to slit Ronin’s throat on your mom’s royal yacht—not to mention put a bullet in me—at my own twenty-first birthday bash.”
“But he did these things without my consent.” Her slitted eyes narrow and she purses her lips in a pout. “That night is precisely when I realized we have—both of us—outgrown him.”
I give way to a skeptical snort.
My self-control isn’t the greatest right now, with the Horn singing in my head like a choir, my dragon screaming to challenge her sea dragon rival, and my body on quantum superheat fire for a fuck.
Plus I still expect Xiao or Nikolai or those House Tiberius bullies to come slinking out from behind a crate. Even when my shifty senses tell me we’re alone in here.
“Yeah. While we’re on the subject ofthat night,” I cradle the Horn protectively to my chest like a football and make air quotes with one hand “thanks for broadcasting that private warlock sex tape—you know, the one my guys and I never consented to you filming?—all over WNN. Thanks for humiliating Neo, trying to steal my crown, stabbing me in the back, and basically ruining my life on live TV.”
I tick off her offenses on my glittery fingers till I don’t have any fingers left, then tap my bare toes and scowl at my ex-bestie. “You gonna saythatwas done without your consent too?”
Shit.
I’m getting worked up despite myself, exactly when I need to keep a cool head.
She tilts her sculpted chin with a tiny wince. I’m distracted all over again by the wide silk ribbon tied around her elegant neck above the prim collar of her schoolgirl blouse, knotted in a jaunty bow. That ribbon isn’t part of the Academy uni, and neck ribbons aren’t trending on the runways, so I can’t figure out why she’s wearing it—
Until I recall, with a stab of remembered dread, the way Ronin discharged his speargun into her throat at seven fathoms.
Clearly, my ex-GF heals fast. Shifty-swifty. Faster than I do—just one more thing to hold against her. But Ronin’s aim was ruthless, and that injury was almost mortal. Shifter or no shifter, you don’t bounce back easy from a hit like that.
A pang of concern tightens my chest and hitches my breath.
Then I’m pissed all over again, this time at myself, for being so ridiculous and so soft-hearted and just so goddamn gullible.
Forcaring.
How many times does my bitchy ex-bestie need to betray me before my stupid heart gets the memo?
She doesn’t love me. And she fucking never did. She lied to me from Day One.
Just like you lied to her,my inconvenient conscience pipes up.You didn’t tell her who you really were either. Your whole relationship was built on lies.
“Your humiliation was Nikolai’s plan.” Something fractures in Cleo’s voice when she says the dude’s name, but you’d never notice if you didn’t know her like I do. “It was never mine. And it was Xiao and not I who filmed you with your lovers.”
Like she’s totally not responsible.
For any of it.
When it was all—every bit of it—done inhername.
If the bullshit in here gets any thicker, I’m gonna need galoshes and a raincoat. Plus the burn and ache of this quantum superheat between my legs is really straining my patience.
Despite the fact that I’m practically nakey and it’s uncomfortably cool down here in the Vault, I’m burning up. Not to mention the lingering tomb scent of myrrh and frankincense in this pyramid is clashing with Cleo’sylang ylangperfume in a major way.
I shake my head till my ponytail flies, just to clear my brain. “Are you really gonna play Little Miss Innocent? With me of all people? Because trust me, Sunshine, it’s not a good look on a future fuckingqueen—”
“Cavolo, bella,I told him his plan sucked.” Finally, Cleo too sounds impatient. I wonder if she can hear the Horn the way I can, if it’s eroding her control the way it’s eroding mine. “Leave it to Nikolai Romanov to order a sex tape starring his only son to be broadcast on live TV—exposing his hidden queerness to the world—merely to serve a political purpose.”
In startled silence, I absorb the sucky impact of that pending revelation on Vasili. The only guy in my harem who’s ever broken into this Vault on his own. The one I’m hoping will come swanking through the front door with the rest of my warlocks in tow any minute now.
Assuming that part of our plan isn’t toast.
A fresh stab of worry for V and all my guys, including the ossified Mordred, needles my tone with spite. “Yeah, well, you shoulda tried harder to exert some influence,bella. You know, since you aim to be the next queen, and your bitch-witch mom is the actual sitting queen? Like, maybe you could exert some agency over your own fucking minions?”
“Myminions? Is that what you think Nikolai…” Under the flawless facade of cosmetics she’s wearing, an intriguing hint ofcolor climbs in her cheeks. “This entire damned situation is far more… complicated… than you seem to think. Unlike yourself,amore mio, I was never given a choice. Remember?”
