Page 12 of The Arbiter

“Yeah, let me tell you. It’s already been quite the experience,” I say, fidgeting with my fingers.

My eyes snap back to his as his hand shoots out to stop my fiddling. “Do I make you nervous, mon cher?” he asks.

Well, using the French words for ‘my dear’ surely isn’t helping.

“Not at all,” I lie. It’s an obviously bullshit answer.

A loud familiar laugh comes from behind us. The three of us spin in our seats to locate the reason for the offensive sound even though I already know who it belongs to.

My stomach drops into my ass.

“Why are you still here?” I growl viciously.

“You showed up early as well, I see,” Monroe states at the same time.

We both look to each other in confusion.

Enoch stands behind us with that arrogant smile plastered across his face, and it makes me want to find something to legit murder his ass.

My shocked face quickly changes to a glower as he walks toward us. Enoch is one of the most egotistical bastards I’ve ever had the misfortune of giving my body to. We’d had a passionate affair when I was young and stupid, then he left me without a second glance back.

Well, he’s got a rude awakening coming if he thinks that what just happened changes anything. He’ll learn quickly that I’m not the easygoing minx that I was before. I’m a kick ass first, ask questions later kind of bitch now, and most of it is his fault. I don’t know what he’s up to, but two can play this game.

“I’m here for the very same reason Liege Monroe is. To see the new Arbiter, of course,” he says. “I must say though, I’ve never known you to be nervous around men like us.” He looks to Monroe. “Surely even you knew that was a lie.”

I grind my teeth together, wishing I could smack that smirk right off his face.

My resolve to not play his game slips. “Fuck you, Enoch. You don’t know shit about me anymore.” Out of the corner of my eye, I see Monroe watching me.

He signals between us. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you two know each other?”

Enoch’s smile gets even wider as I say, “Not anymore.”

His eyebrow arches as he answers Monroe for himself. “Actually, very much so, Liege Monroe. We caused quite the scandal back in the day.”

Yep, definitely still the same egomaniac as always.

Monroe’s eyebrow goes up in question, but I just roll my eyes.

“I thinkEnoch is giving himself a lot more credit than what’s due. It was actually fleeting and not all that impressive,” I reply to Monroe’s unasked question at the same time my eyes dare Enoch to even think about mentioning the storeroom.

“Hardly. MistressNocturna is just downplaying our righteous love affair,” he says, using my familiar title.

“I’d call it a serious lack of judgment,” I supply to Monroe with a real smile. “We’re all allowed that young and stupid stage, right?” Returning my glare to Enoch, I say, “You’re just a smug bastard who has issues with telling the truth.”

“Oh,” he says, “I know that I’m smug. But I remember quite fondly that it was one of the qualities you loved about me.”

Monroe and Raphael’s heads move back and forth between us like they’re watching a tennis match while we argue.

I feel the anger inside of me growing ready to erupt, and he’s the flame that lights the fuse to the fuming bomb inside of me. I temper it though and say, “Again, why the fuck are you here?”

“Nocturna, he’s one of the Infernal,” Monroe says. “Clearly, he had the same idea I had about showing up early for the meeting tomorrow.”

I try not to let my shock show on my face. After all those years of us being together, he never mentioned it, not one time. Omitting the truth is just as bad as lying, and I hate him even more for it now.

Just looking at him brings back the memory of how we met.

I had just finished a well-needed year-long vacation around Europe. I was excited to finally set foot back on American soil and eagerly boarded the ship that would take me there. While traveling, I had come up with the idea to start a sanctuary for both the Damned and Divine, where all could feed and mingle without judgment. All of the bad blood between the two was next to none in Europe, and I wanted to take that back to America with me.

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