Page 13 of Empress of Ruin
“If my request to have him killed goes through, this’ll all be moot.”
“That’s the problem. The council is leaning towards denial, on account of the fiancée he supposedly attacked running away fromyou,as well.”
“She didn’t run away from me. She took a break from—”
“Spare me your bullshit, please. I don’t have time for it. You’ll need to try a lot harder to make your story believable, because from all angles, it would appear that shedidcut and run away from you.”
“I can mitigate the damage.”Hopefully. Having her on my arm, playing the doting fiancée at every opportunity, should go quite a long way. The Eyes can suspect all they want; there needs to be hard proof for them to take action against me. I’ve been too useful to be easily discardable.
“Youcan, yes. Whether you’ll be able to is up for debate.”
I take another sip, even as I try to calculate variables. I’ll need to keep Lyra in line, and have her out in public regularly far sooner than I’d intended. That’ll take threats. Threats will extend the timeline of her warming up to me.
Of course, she doesn’t have to be warmed up to me, but I’d prefer it if she were. I don’t want her to be an empty shell, a doll I can do whatever I want with. I want her fire, her fight.
How do I preserve that while getting her in line?
Chapter Six
Killian
Step one: remind Lyra that she belongs to me, and she always has. Her body is as good a place to start as any.
It also wouldn’t be amiss for us to have a conversation regarding my expectations of her. I don’t really see a reason why we can’t engage in both at the same time. She does becomefarmore compliant after I’ve warmed her ass and played her body like my favorite instrument.
Instead of the master bedroom, I find my Little Bird holed up in a guest bedroom when I return home. There’s a lot on my mind—Silas, The Eyes, how I’m going to navigate the coming shitshow—and I’m in the mood to get some of my turmoil out of my system.
I don’t bother knocking on the door, because this ismyhouse. But when I turn the handle, I find it locked.
It’ll be a battle at every turn. I’m actually quite looking forward to seeing how our war progresses.
I retrieve the master key from our bedroom, where Ishouldhave found her, and open the door to the guest room.
She’s seated on the bed, with a notepad and pen in front of her, scribbling away at something. I tilt my head to the side.Where did she get those?Probably charmed my housekeeper. I don’t mind her having hobbies or pastimes, so long as they don’t interfere with my time with her.
“In the future, please don’t lock doors in our home.”
Her eyes flash up. “This isnotmy home.”
Yes it is. It’s best if she accepts that right away.
“Your home is with me, and this is where I live. Ergo…”
“I know your ego might not be able to take this, Killian, but my home willneverbe with you. Youkidnapped me—”
“Persuaded you,” I correct mildly.
“—Spanked me—”
“Turned you on and made up for a fraction of the time we missed while you had your tantrum,” I interject.
“—and locked me in your penthouse!”
“Ourpenthouse.” I glance around the room. King-sized bed, velvet curtains, en-suite bathroom, wardrobe instead of walk in closet. “If you don’t like the décor, redo it. Add your touches to the place. I don’t mind.”
She stares at me with open confusion. “You really are insane,” she whispers. “You’re a fucking sociopath.”
“That’s a bit harsh. Maybe I have some sociopathictraits, but I also have a range of emotions.”
