Page 118 of Cruel Kiss

I could say yes to her. It would be the easy thing. It would let her go to school with a light heart, and that's worth everything.

But I don't lie to children. I learned that from a woman who never lied to hers, who told her daughterit wasn't a dream, Mr. Ronan was here, you're safe, instead of wrapping the truth up in a comforting story. I watched her do it and I understood, in thatmoment, exactly what kind of mother she was, and exactly what kind of man I wanted to be near her.

So I crouch down beside Isabella's chair and look her in the eye. "That's the plan, brave girl," I say.

She studies me. She's got her mother's eyes, the ones that can tell when a grown-up is fibbing. Butthe planis a true thing. Itisthe plan. I'm not promising the outcome. I'm promising the intent.

"Okay," she says happily. "Say bye to Doctor Fuzz before you go."

I do. I tell a chrysalis in a shoebox to have a good day, and I mean it. Then I take my coffee and go get ready to make my rounds across the city.

Navi is propped up when I get to him, which is worse than if he were flat, because propped up means he thinks he can get out of the bed. Sure enough…

"Take me with you," he says, before I've even sat down.

"Not a fucking chance."

"Ro." He tries to push himself higher and goes gray and stops. "You're walking into askhodkawith a woman and a laptop. You need somebody in that room who can shoot."

"I'll have Grigor."

"I'm not sure if you noticed this, but Grigor's sixty. And half-blind."

"He's the best I've got, and you took two bullets four days ago. I'm not sure ifyou'venoticed, but you're hooked up to a fuckingfax machine so your heart doesn't quit on you." I sit in the visitor's chair. "You're not coming. That's final."

He glares at me. The morphine's got him a little slow, but the fury is pure Navi, undiluted.

"You know what happens if it goes bad," he says. "You know what Lev does with a crown."

"I know."

"And you're bringingherinto that world?"

"She's bringing herself. I stopped being able to keep that woman out of anything a long time ago." I lean forward, elbows on my knees. "She found the crack in the frame, Navi. She's the only person alive who can stand in that room and make them see it."

Navi squints at me, waiting to see if I'm messing with him.

But in the end, he knows my serious face when he sees it.

"Goddammit. Fine. Then take her," he says. "But listen to me." He grips my forearm with the hand that isn't stabbed full of tubes and needles. His grip is weak but undeniable. "You better come back. Both of you. Because if you don't—if you let that old man put you in the marshes—I will drag myself out of this bed, I will hunt down whatever's left of you, and I will kill you again myself. Understood?"

"Copy that, cousin."

"That's my blessing," he says. "And that's my threat. They match. Now, go, before I start crying and pull a stitch."

I stand. At the door, I stop. "You're a good man, Navi Akov."

He rolls his eyes. "Jesus Christ. You're softer than baby shit these days."

Chuckling, I slip out.

But I could swear I hear him mutter under his breath as I go…

"You're a good man, too, Ronan. Remember to duck when the bullets start flying. I won't be around to save you this time."

Technically speaking, I don'thaveto go to Anna House. There's no pressing business for me there today. But I go anyway. It just feels right.

Louisa meets me at the door, surprised. "Mr. Akov! We didn't expect you. Is everything alright?"