Page 4 of Empress of Ruin
“You might want to take the safety off before threatening me.” Carter is annoyingly unconcerned. “You sure you know how to use that thing?”
I flick off the safety and cock it. “Reasonably sure. What do you know?”
“Many things. For example, I know that I’ll have her killed if I don’t walk out of this office alive.” A slow smile spreads on his lips. “I like you, Killian. Do yourself a favor and put down your toy. Let’s have a conversation like adults.”
I don’t. For several long moments, I stare at him, gauging his sincerity. He wants something from me—that much is clear. And if I give it, I just might get what I’ve been desperate for. What I’ve longed, yearned, and been obsessed with for months.
He could, of course, feed me a bunch of false information that leads to a dead end. In that case, I’ll have him killed later. I suppose there’s no real pressing reason to kill him now.
I set down the gun. Carter’s eyes dance with amusement. I briefly allow myself to picture carving them out, one at a time. Severing each optical nerve individually, listening to him scream in agony.
“I came to you once before asking if your reporter’s friend was under your protection. You said no, but then you made the idiotic decision to fall in love with her, so I assume your outlooks have changed.”
“You want Annalise,” I surmise. “Why?”
“None of your concern.”
“Are you planning to harm her?”
“See my previous answer.”
“Are you going to kill her?”
“I’ll say it for the last fucking time, Killian. My plans are none of your fucking concern.” Carter’s eyes are hard, unyielding. He won’t give me what I need unless I sanction his plans. If he kills Annalise and Lyra finds out, she’ll truly never forgive me.
Then again… that doesn’t really matter, does it? I don’t require her forgiveness. I require having her by my side, at all times. I needher. She can hate me all she wants. She’ll still come on my cock and bend over when I command it. She’ll still carry my heir inside her as soon as I can knock her up—and I intend to dedicateampleefforts to make that happen.
“Fine,” I seethe.
“Excellent.” Carter smiles. “Now, if you’ll humor me—”
“No.” I reach up to rub the bridge of my nose. “I don’t have the fucking time for this.”
Carter goes on as if I hadn’t spoken. “You know, history is such a fascinating thing. It’s the best way to predict the future; all you have to do is consider its rhymes and rhythms.”
“Do I look like I’m in the mood for a fucking poetry lesson?”
“You are very smart, Killian. But you have tunnel-vision. That’s the reason why, in a match between us, I will always win.” Carter’s tone remains light, but the threat and implications are clear. He sees himself as the bigger bear.
My fingers itch to pick up my gun and prove him wrong.
“You compiled a very thorough file on Lyra, but you looked at heractions,not her motives. You might’ve guessed at them a bit, but didn’t truly dedicate enough time to them. I did. That’s the difference between you and me; I want to crawl into someone’s head and overtake it like a parasite. You’re content to make them a puppet on strings.”
I could dispute that, but it wouldn’t do any good. I’ll let Carter have his little ego-inflating monologue if it leads to him tellingme what I want to know. In the interim, I’ll fantasize about all the ways I could torture him.
“Anyways.” He snaps his fingers. “Your girl. She’s sentimental.” He makes a face. “It’s disgusting how sentimental most people are, isn’t it? They tradelogicforfeelings.” He shudders; my jaw clenches. If he takes much longer…
“I combed through her history, like you did. Except I paid attention to parts you skimmed. You doubtlessly noticed her favorite coffee shops, preferred gym, routes she takes to work, etc. Did you notice her annual routines?”
I frown. I wasn’t looking for annual routines.
“Anniversaries are important to sentimental people. Quite important. They give a lot of importance to dates. It seems that an upcoming date is not justimportant, butsacredto your girl. Do you know that her sweet, dead sister’s birthday is in five days?”
…fuck. Of course I knew that, but I didn’t connect the dots. Carter is, unfortunately, right; I get laser-vision at times. I was focused so much on tracking where Lyraisthat I didn’t think to look where she’d begoing.
I remember realizing some time ago that she missed her tradition on her late grandmother’s birthday of visiting her grave. I doubt she’ll miss the same opportunity with her sister. No, my Little Bird’s defining, colorful,harmfultrait is her sentimentality. I’m willing to bet that she’ll be at her sister’s grave in five days.
“Do me a favor and don’t kill her,” I say to Carter. I might’ve given him free leave to do what he wants with Lyra’s friend, but I’d prefer not to have to deal with Lyra’s tantrum if Annalise dies.
