Page 128 of Iris
Emmie sighs, holding her hands together. “Hellooo. Who are you?”
He somehow seems to conjure sun and smiles because he suddenly goes down on one knee to kiss my girl’s hand. “Hello, there. I’m Heath.”
“You are so pretty,” she says and blinks at him.
“I think that’s you.”
God. Emmie basically swoons. She’s fucking four. I have a horror filled glimpse of her grown up and surrounded by men.
“Heath,” Pen says, not unkindly. “What are you doing stampeding in here like some wild animal?”
He raises to his feet again and takes in the room. The glower returns to his face. “I’m taking my sister home. Now.” He marches over and goes to grab her arm, but Penrith’s cane swings out to stop him.
“If you drag her out of here in a tizzy, you’ll be creating a scene,” she says. “Iris has been with me this week, and we’re here now to discuss the drinks for the ball I’m holding. If you want, you can help out. Be joint host.”
“I’m not doing that,” he mutters.
“Mom will, though,” Iris says, eyes on Pen. “She’s love to.”
Wow, Pen isgood. She may have saved all our asses.
“Iris has been with you?” he asks her hesitantly.
She nods. “Of course. That was the plan all along, wasn’t it?”
Heath eyes me, then Killian, and then he looks down at the shiny-eyed Emmie, and whatever he wanted to snap at us is shelved. “Well, yes, but?—”
“Then, again, I don’t understand why you are here, except to offer your assistance for the ball.”
Freya has come back and now leans over the counter. “I like her,” she whispers to me.
“So, Mr. Black,” Penrith says again to Killian. “Do we have a deal or not?”
I step outside as Penrith wraps things up like a pro. She’s so unlike the Monarch that I wonder how they could even be related. She’d be a great ally to have.
Pulling my cigarettes out of my pocket, I light up. With Emmie front and center and being paid compliments by Heath, Killian’s going to behave. Besides, the chance to officially supply a party, officially and not in an underground kind of way, is an opportunity we can’t turn down.
We’d be there, we’d get a feel of the land on the other side, and maybe we’ll get close to the Monarch, close enough to hold her down for a conversation.
The door opens and they leave. Iris is in between Penrith and the other servant, and her brother right behind. None of them look at me.
Iris is blocked from doing so.
Heath takes off in his car, and I wait, taking in the onlookers to see if anyone’s acting odd, or not from here, but it’s hard to tell as Penrith comes up to sign to me.
I nod, and she turns and gets in her car. It takes off, and I continue to try and read the crowd as I smoke, but most go after the fancy cars do.
The ones who stay are other business owners.
And two people who are in the shadows. They leave, too.
Onlookers, I tell myself. People around here love a spectacle.
But I don’t know.
Iris changes everything.
