Page 58 of Gold Sector
Although, it’s interesting that she didn’t ask how he knew her mother. Only her father.
“Do you know who I am?” Rio asks her, his tone more curious than arrogant.
“No. Should I?”
He smiles. “You should, but that’s not your fault so much as your father’s. I’ll be sure to comment on it the next time we speak.”
“So you admit he’s one of your spies?” I interject, somewhat relieved to hear he knows Keegan—because that proves the Alpha told me some truths yesterday. But I’m also equal parts wary, given what it all means.
“I would never send such an obvious plant, Golden Boy,” Rio drawls, using a nickname I despise even more than Rumpel and Rumpelstiltskin. “You know me better than that.”
I snort. “Didn’t you once tell me the most obvious enemies are the ones standing right in front of you?”
He grins at the mention of a conversation we had over a century ago when the Infection began to spread through the human masses.
It was a memorable talk, one that allied us for over a hundred years.
I hope that alliance isn’t about to crash and burn today.
But it will. Especially if I find out he’s been working with Basalt all along.
Onyx silently takes his favorite chair while I settle in the one beside him and drag Taliana into my lap. The gold clasps thankfully keep her cloak closed, hiding herbeautiful body from Riordan’s view. But that doesn’t stop him from casting another appreciative glance her way.
Something I ensure he knows I noticed by shooting him a look.
Which earns me another grin.
“I had no idea you could smile so much,” I tell him.
“And I had no idea our conversations were memorable enough for you to recite my words verbatim,” he retorts. “But I’m glad to hear they had a lasting impact.” His smile is gone as he leans forward to add, “Because I think we have some important items to discuss, and trust is going to be imperative.”
I hum, agreeing with him.
“But before we get to that,” he goes on, his focus returning to my Omega. “My name is Riordan.”
She stiffens. “The Jasper Sector Prince.”
“One and the same,” he murmurs. “But you can call me Uncle Rio if you prefer.”
“Keegan’s your brother?” I ask, sharing a look with my own brother. We at least have the same stature and similar facial structures.
But Keegan and Rio look nothing alike.
Keegan also failed to mention the familial link.
“If she’s your niece, why did you send her here?” Onyx adds, suspicion deepening his tone. Probably because this is all beginning to feel more and more like a trap.
Yet all Rio does is sigh. “He’s not my blood brother. But he is my best friend.”
“Then my question still stands,” Onyx grinds out. “Why send them here? Why not accept them into Jasper Sector?”
“You know why,” Rio bites back to him, his tone considerably sharper as he speaks each word through his teeth. “Jasper Sector is full of purists.”
“Seems convenient as far as excuses go,” my brother says, clearly unimpressed. “But I guess that’s standard where you’re concerned.”
Riordan’s gaze narrows. “I won’t tolerate your brand of verbal sparring this early in the morning, Silver Kiss.”
“Fuck you, Red Rock.”
