Page 71 of Tarnished Queen

I wave his worry away. “Come in.”

The door cracks open, and Belle peeks her face in. “Am I interrupting anything?”

“No. We were just finishing up,” Christo says. His voice is tight, but he dips his head in greeting. It’s not a warm welcome exactly, but it's a start. He turns back to me. “We’ll talk soon. Good luck.”

He closes the door behind him. Belle stares after him for a second before looking back at me. “Good luck with what?”

“Leading a Bratva, probably. It’s a dangerous business.”

“No more dangerous than being a big sister.” Belle drops down into the chair with a groan. “I don’t know why I said that. That’s obviously not true; your job is way more dangerous. But I’m feeling sorry for myself. I came here to throw a pity party. You want to join?”

“My RSVP is conditional. Why are you feeling pitiful?”

She leans her head back against the leather and stares at the ceiling while I stare at the curve of her throat. At the way her collarbones cast a shadow over her skin, beautiful hollows where my lips fit perfectly. When she breathes, her chest rises and falls and it's hard to pay attention. Everything about this woman is a distraction.

“I went and talked with Elise,” she says, gaze rooted upward. “Things did not go how I hoped.”

"You told her about Howard?”

"Yeah. That's the point in the conversation where things started going south." She closes her eyes and whimpers. "It was a disaster."

“You knew it would be bad.”

She nods. “Yeah, I did. But I still hoped she would forgive me on the spot and we’d talk it out. I hoped she would understand why I lied to her.”

“She’s fourteen. Grudges are what she does best.”

Belle lowers her chin and narrows her eyes at me. “I know that. I didn’t say it was a realistic thing to hope for.”

“How mad is she?”

“Beyond mad.” She blows out a breath. “Not only is she mad that I lied, but she had a lot to say about the choices I’ve made for, oh, I don’t know… my entire life. I’m a bad sister, a bad fill-in mother, a bad everything. The overwhelming conclusion is that I’m a terrible person.”

“If she thinks she hates you, tell her to go back and live with Melinda. She’ll change her mind.”

“I don’t want to blackmail her into forgiving me.” Belle sits up. “She didn’t actually say I’m terrible quite that explicitly. She understands my instincts to protect her, but she thinks I handled it poorly. Essentially, I ruined her childhood and lied to her and forced my will onto her. She just said a bunch of casual, heart-shattering stuff like that.”

“I lie and force my will on people all the time. Join the club.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

I shrug. “Depends. Is it working?”

Her hazel eyes are wide and sad. I can practically feel them tugging me across the room, drawing me closer.

“Maybe,” she says softly. She tips her head to the side. “Keep talking, please. I like listening to your voice. It’s nicer than the one in my head.”

“Christo and Yuri met.”

“Really? I’m sure they became fast friends. Instant pals.”

“It went about as well as your talk with Elise,” I mutter. “I had to threaten to kill them both so they wouldn’t kill each other first.”

“Sounds counterintuitive.”

“It worked. They agreed not to kill each other, but Yuri is uneasy. Anyone even sort of connected to the Simatous is under heavy scrutiny right now.”

Belle nods, giving me a sympathetic smile for a moment… until she goes still. “Am I included in that group?”

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