Page 22 of Dangerous Exile

Her eyes filled with thick tears that overflowed quickly, uncontrolled streams down her cheeks as her voice dropped to a whisper. “The last one was formed, but he came too early. He was formed so well I could hold him. Hold him in my hand. He was so tiny, but everything was there. There for me to hold. I wanted him. Wanted him so badly.”

She paused for a long moment, the tears ceasing before she drew in a sharp breath. “Losing that babe broke me so thoroughly I knew Gilroy could never truly hurt me again. And the only reason I was able to walk through that pain was because Juliet appeared. Appeared out of nowhere and walked with me, an angel pulling me away from the edge of hell. For days she sat by my side when I was willing myself to die. If not for her stubbornness, I doubt I ever would have moved from that bed.”

A crack zigzagged down his chest, the pain he saw in her striking him raw. He’d seen pain like this before, but it had never moved into his own body like that, making him feel it just as keenly—the brokenness.

The lump in his throat raw, he had to take a sip of brandy before he could speak. “That is one of Juliet’s magical traits. Stubbornness.”

A sad smile flashed across Ness’s face. “I don’t know if she should have wasted her magic on me.” Her shoulders lifted high. “Maybe I am worthless. Maybe I should have stayed and let Gilroy do what he was determined to. Maybe I shouldn’t have let Juliet convince me there were more days to live where the pain wouldn’t consume. Let her convince me there was an escape from him.”

With each word, her voice sank into such defeat he wanted to shake her. Shake her until the fire and mirth she’d been in moments ago reappeared. Shake her until she looked around and saw there was still a world to live in—days where she could breathe and live and smile again.

He’d seen it in her, the smiles and laughter she was capable of. Smiles and laughter that had hidden all of this fear and terror from him for the last fortnight.

But at least now he finally had a name from her. The bastard she needed to be protected from.

His stare cut into her. “There is always an escape, Ness. You just need to know how to seize it.”

“That’s what you’re teaching me?”

“I hope. There’s always a way out. Always another day to live, as long as you trust it’s there for you.”

The fingertips of her left hand lifted to clear the wetness from her cheeks as her eyes lifted to him. “I am trying, Talen. I am. Even if it’s other people’s faith that I’ve been living upon these past weeks. Juliet’s. Yours. You both have wills that can move mountains, spit at death.”

He lifted his glass to her. “For good or for bad, sometimes. I don’t know when to stop and I don’t always know how it will turn out.”

A sharp chuckle left her lips. “This is supposed to be the moment when you convince me I’m safe—that you know what you’re doing. Not when you admit that you don’t.”

“Juliet sent you to me to protect, so let’s just say that right now, I’m living off her faith on that point as well.”

A wry smile crept across her face. “She better be as smart as I think she is.”

“Exactly.”

Ness took another sip of her tea and then looked at him, her voice steady once more. “Your turn. Why do you owe her?”

He didn’t hesitate. A deal was a deal. “Juliet saved my life.”

“How?”

“As in, she physically saved my life. A building was burning down around me and I had been knocked unconscious on the third floor. Juliet dragged me out of the building.”

Her jaw dropping, Ness leaned forward in the chair. “She what? By herself?”

“Aye. By herself. No one was left in the building. She had gotten all the women out of the place and then came back in for me.”

“That was the South Selkie brothel?”

He nodded.

Her eyes wide, she stared at him, her jaw still slack. “But Juliet is so small—taller than me, yes, but tiny compared to you. How did she manage that—getting you out when you were unconscious?”

“When I say dragged, I mean dragged. She dragged me down the stairs—I had a disjointed shoulder and the bruises from every step along the way to prove it.” His right hand lifted, bumping along an imaginary line as though going down stairs.

He shrugged. “But she got me out. And she only singed the bottom of her skirts in the process. Then she was beyond irate with me, kicking me awake. I had been under strict orders not to go to the brothel without her, as I’d just purchased the building and the women there didn’t quite trust me yet.But I went alone and brutes from a rival brothel were there. Nonsense ensued. Nonsense that Juliet would have mitigated. Regardless, I was knocked unconscious, and they set fire to the place.”

Her head shook. Whether she believed the story or not, he wasn’t quite sure. She truly had no knowledge of the machinations and danger of the underworld he thrived in.

Her look met his. “No wonder you love her.”

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