Page 132 of Vicious Princess
“I don’t care for an ex-lovers’ quarrel. It’s bad for business,” Gloria says, waving her hand. From a drawer, she pulls out a couple of papers. We sit in silence while she quickly looks over them and then slides them towards me along with a quill. “Sign these for me, youngling. And your fate will be sealed.”
Daegel’s palm lands on the papers. “What is it exactly that you offered her, Gloria?”
Gloria remains calm. “I don’t see how that is any of your business, Daegel. I don’t march into your father’s establishments and interfere with his deals.”
Daegel’s voice is again full of threat, and it sends a shiver down my spine. “She belongs to me. You know how this works, Gloria. You’re not new here. When you want to strike a deal, I want to know exactly what she’s signing up for.”
I don’t know if I should be offended by what he says. I feel like I should. I’m not some sort of commodity to trade between rival criminal gangs.
I belong to nobody but myself.
“Fair,” Gloria says with a sigh. “It’s a common contract. She agrees to join my talent pool, perform a couple of nights a week, and gets twenty-five percent of all the money she makes me. I’m certain you know the terms, considering Leti has the same contract.”
“Leti is a Caligos, Calia is not. And it better stay that way,” Daegel says.
Gloria’s lips quirk up in amusement. “I don’t force anyone into service. But I told her that if she were to prove herself, and her ambition is high enough, there’s room to grow…”
“I’m fine with that,” I tell Daegel firmly. Purely for show, I take his hand and bring it to my lips. Against his skin, I whisper loudly enough for everyone to hear: “Thank you, though.”
When I meet Leti’s burning gaze, I can’t help the satisfied smirk.
Take that, bitch.
“Can we sign the contract, then? I have a place to run, and this has taken up enough time already,” Gloria says.
With a steady hand, I sign the contract and pass it back to Gloria.
“I’ll be seeing you around, Calia,” she says as Daegel and I rise to leave.
Daegel places his palm on the small of my back and leads me out of Gloria’s office, then down the small metal stairs. We don’t speak until he leads me out of the warehouse through a discreet back entrance that leads to a quiet, dark alley.
A storm rages inside my chest when I whirl on my heel to face Daegel.
“I don’t even know where to begin,” I manage to say calmly. Then my temper gets the better of me, and I shove at his chest. He doesn’t even flinch. “Where the fuck have you been? I thought the General kicked you out of the Order or threw you into solitary confinement!”
Daegel completely ignores my words. “Phoenix, what you did back there was extremely dangerous. Do you understand? Is that a plan Ezkai Gavriel and the rest of the leadership approved? For you to throw yourself into a Caligos organization like that? To sign your life away?”
I shake my head. “It wasmyplan! I suggested we infiltrate the competitions and draw the leadership out this way. And it worked—I have the name of the person who owns this place.”
His eyes flash. “You should have asked me for the identity. I would have fucking told you! Instead of signing your life away—” Daegel chokes on anger. “No fucking cadet should be allowed to do that, not even fully trained Ezkai do that in their early years of service. This is a death?—”
I cut him off. “Would you have? Would you really have given me the answer to who runs this gambling parlor?” A sarcastic laugh bubbles out of me. “That’s hard to believe, Daegel. Considering that you’ve been hiding everything about your Caligos relationships, never answering a single fucking question! And now you tell me I can simply ask. Well, I don’t need to ask—I figured it out on my own!”
“You almost died in there!” Daegel raises his voice at me, which startles me. His eyes are not angry, though. They’re full of desperation and anxiety. “When I saw Gloria’s bouncers drag you to the back, I thought I lost you. Forever.” He grabs my shoulders and closes his eyes. Slowly, he exhales and his shoulders slump. “I—I never want to feel this way again, Phoenix. If I hadn’t shown up in time, Gloria would have had her bouncers slice your throat after learning you were training to be an Ezkai.”
I’m taken aback by his emotional response. I don’t know what to say.
“You weren’t there,” I say, my voice breaking at the end. “You didn’t show up for the mission, and Ezkai Gavriel said you were supposed to join us, but you couldn’t due to professional reasons. Where were you?”
“The General pulled me into another mission at the last minute,” he says. “I suspect it was an attempt to delay or completely prevent my aid in this mission.”
“Why? Why would he not want you here? Is it because of me?”
Daegel hesitates only for a second. “Because the General suspects I was the reason why their last mission to tackle this gambling parlor was compromised.”
The words that leave my lips are quiet. “Were you?”
A muscle in Daegel’s jaw ticks. Then he says, “I was. Gloria asked for a favor from my father when she suspected that her ranks were infiltrated by spies.”
