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“Who is he?” I murmured.

Serena shook her head, her hair so long, rubbing against my jeans. “It’s a secret. And I can’t tell you.”

“I won’t tell anyone.”

“But you said you would hurt him; then you said you wouldn’t hurt my family. Which is it, Markos?”

I drew her into my arms. “They’re safe, princess. They’re all safe.”

“English,” she murmured.

But my eyes were heavy, and she was warm. Lulled by the song of the sea, I fell asleep.

Chapter 34 – Markos

Stretching my muscles, I paced across the kitchen. It’d been four hours since I woke to the high tide lapping around our waists and brought Serena upstairs. Refueling my body, working out, and then two hours on the laptop consumed the time before dawn.

And then my phone pinged.

Atlas: Interrogate her.

My response had been to fuck off. Which prompted an irate answer.

Atlas: Do it. Get me answers. Or I’ll do it myself.

Now a choice lay before me.

One option, my favorite, was to fight him. Just because he had a natural leadership over the rest of us didn’t mean he could demand my obedience. But my agency would only go so far if the others sided with him. Did I fight the Twelve? Over a woman—who we knew little about?

The secrets of her past only bothered me because she hadn’t shared them. In time, she would trust me enough to give me the answers. But that wasn’t good enough for the others.

I paused by her room and peered inside. She’d rolled over, curled into the blankets.

“Yes, I will go to war for you, prinkípissa,” I whispered.

It would be better, however, to make her open up. The sooner we laid the secrets to rest, the sooner the two of us could move forward.

And I wanted that. More than I wanted to conquer a slice of the underworld.

Taking some spare fishing poles from the closet behind the front door, I wrote a note for Serena that I would be back by noon to take her out on the boat.

But as I slid it onto the counter, soft footfalls behind me sounded.

I let her make the first move, holding my breath. Last night’s revelation hung in the air. Did she remember the past that she confided in me?

“Good morning,” Serena murmured, slipping beside me. “Care to explain why I’m covered in sand?”

I snorted. “We fell asleep on the beach.”

Serena stretched. The long muscles of her frame arched, and I looked away, feeling bad for enjoying the sight.

“I’m not stiff at all.” She laughed softly. “Slept better there than in a bed.”

“I’ve slept many nights on the sand,” I agreed.

Serena plucked the note, scanned it, and then gave me a nod. “Fishing-fishing? Or mob fishing?”

Betrayal slid thickly down my throat, sticking like black tar to my insides. “Just fishing, prinkípissa.”