Page 148 of Iris
Bad things await when plans go off the rails. When the wrong toes are stepped on.
When the brutal have the power.
I shove that away. There’s nothing there but a beast made of assumptions, old rules, prejudice, and history. And that’s more dangerous than one of flesh and bone.
Iris is sweet, and everything about her is divine. From her scent, taste, heat of her skin, to the softness of her.
I pull up to the long, winding driveway, and the gates to the property open.
After parking at the front of the huge stone house, I walk to the yard, and there, under a wide tree on a chaise draped in velvet, is Penrith in a pale green linen dress. She puts down thebook she’s reading and sits up, reaching for her glass of pale purple bubbles.
“I’d tell you to sit, but…” She nods at a tiny chair. “I didn’t think about company when I had it set up this morning. I like to sometimes sit out here, enjoy the weather… But you’re not here to talk about my quirks or fresco deco.”
I sign.
I take the wrapped cigars from the car and return, handing the box to her.
“Thank you.” She holds the package to her face and breathes in. “I’ll have more cushions brought out so you can sit.”
I eye Penrith. There’s another agenda in her eyes, but I wait, hesitating a moment before sitting down on the ground. The carpet placed out here overkill for me, but I’m not a rich fuck so maybe this is what they do.
She picks the drink up and takes a swallowshe signs.
Again, she signs,
“That’s a lie. Everyone steals, whether it a heart, a trinket, or a breath.”
Pen is a hopeless romantic it seems. But I keep it to the point.
She smiles and nods. “And Iris?”
“Her brother’s hellbent on mating her.”
Or maybe, I think, it’s not about the best, It’s what’s good for her, safe for her.
Penrith gives me a look that reads more of disappointment than anything else.
“If you think it’s for the best,” she says as I get up to leave, “then maybe you and Black don’t deserve her after all.”
CHAPTER
FORTY-TWO
Iris
“Sooo…” Violet asks, fixing the lacing in the back of the dress, something she, Mom, and Mari picked for me, “what did you think about the dates Heath set you up on?”
She steps back and rubs a hand over her big belly. I swear she’s gotten even bigger than when I last saw her. But she’s glowing. Pregnancy just…it suits her. More than that, I’ve never seen my big sister so happy.
Or Stephan so anxious and nervy. I’d laugh if it wasn’t all because he adores the actual ground Vi steps on.
