Page 29 of Empress of Ruin
“I need you to dig up everything you can on Carter Black for me,” I say. “Dealings, businesses, moves, territories.”
“Got it.” Locke nods solemnly. “Anything I’m looking for in particular?”
“Yes, his future plans. Things he plans to acquire—things he wants or needs for survival.” I’m walking a fine line here. If I step too far, I risk pissing Carter off, and then he’ll never join me simply out of spite. But if I find just the right deal… I might get him to change his mind about only helping meafterI kill Silas.
“Fine. I’ll get your team on it.” Locke pauses on his way out of the office. “Lyra looked a bit… off when I saw her.”
My brows slam down, and my hands grip the edges of my desk. “Why were you looking at her in the first place?”
“She was in the living room,” Locke enunciates slowly. “I saw her on my way in.”
I relax, but only by an inch. “What do you mean, she lookedoff?” Has she gotten sick?
Could she already be pregnant?Possibly, but I wouldn’t know for another week at minimum.
“I’m not sure, but she was staring at a wall with a blank look in her eyes.”
Ah, she was probably plotting, then. I look forward to the next move she makes against me. It’ll give me a delightful reason to punish her. So long as it doesn’t endanger her, I don’t actually much care what she does. She can try to run, try to fight, try to best me however much she wants—it won’t make a difference.At the end of the day, I’ll win, and I’ll enjoy every battle it takes before I claim my prize.
“Fine.” I flick my hands, dismissing him and returning my attention to my screen monitors.
He lingers in the room. I let thirty seconds pass, giving him an opportunity to leave, before turning my attention back to him. “Something else?” I drawl.
“Yes,” he replies with a nod. “All these months, you searched for her in every corner of the world. Now that you have her back, have you bothered asking what made her believe that there was no version of staying with you that wouldn’t destroy her?”
“Why ask? The answer’s obvious. She thought I was going to kill her for the expose.” With anyone else, I would’ve, but Lyra should’ve known better. She’s not going to die until she’s lived a very long and very fulfilling life with me. Depending on how my own pharmaceutical endeavors go, her life might be vastly extended.
“Right.” Locke leaves after giving me one final, lingering look. But the words he spoke remain, bouncing in my head for a while and planting a seed of doubt.
“You should invite Anna over,” I tell Lyra later that evening, over dinner. “Or set up a time to go out with her.”
Her eyes flash up from her salmon. “What?”
I cut my steak into cubes. “I won’t prevent you from having friends.” Actually, I was planning on doing just that, but Lyrahasbeen unusually sullen, and Locke’s earlier words got to me.
When Lyra doesn’t speak again, I pin her with a gaze. She’s staring at me with wide eyes, but as soon as she catches my look, she glances back down at her plate. “Thank you, but I’ll pass.”
…What?
“Why?” I inquire.
She hesitates for a few moments, then shrugs. “Don’t feel like it.”
“Give me the non-petulant answer.”
She sighs, toying with her food like a child. “I don’t want to.”
“Okay,” I drawl. “Why?”
“Because it’s different,” she says. “Everything’s different. Any value of a friendship with Annalise is gone. Best case scenario, if she manages to forgive me for disappearing on her, she’ll become leverage you can use against me. But we probably won’t get to that point, because she’ll have questions that I either can’t answer or would have to lie about. And I don’t want to lie to her, and she’d never accept non-answers. So, it’s fucking pointless, Killian. I’d rather keep her away from all of…this, if it’s all the same to you.”
My food momentarily forgotten, I lean back in my seat and examine my caged Little Bird.Reallyexamine her.
Bags under her eyes. Dim irises. Slumped posture. She looks… defeated. That’s not my Lyra.
Was my threat a few days agothatfar-reaching? I only explained what would happen should she choose to go to untenable extremes. So long as she doesn’t attempt to abort the child Iwillput inside her, we won’t have any problems.
So why is she like… this? And how hadn’t Inoticedit until now?
