Page 35

MARA

W es stiffened as he faced my cousin. “You’re early.”

Javier cocked a brow, and then shook his head softly with a playful tsking sound as he took a few steps forward.

The rest of his platoon remained standing like perfect little robots.

There were easily double the number of them, outnumbering us.

“I never come too early, Senor Calvernon. Always right on time.”

Edith made a strangled squeak before leaning into me to whisper, “He’s talking about sex, isn’t he? Please let him be talking about sex—”

“Shh! How the hell am I supposed to know?” I whisper-yelled to her.

“He’s your cousin,” she argued back.

“ So ?”

“I’m deciding he’s talking about sex,” and then she literally meowed. Jay’s arched brow at Edith and the subsequent glare toward Javier spoke a thousand words while I was two seconds away from burying my face in my sweater .

“Bueno,” my cousin began again, “allow me to introduce myself and my team, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Javier de la Puente.” Muttering erupted up and down the table. “I’m the lieutenant for this platoon with orders to secure the estate and assist by any other means necessary.”

He took a step back, angling his body so he could point to his soldiers.

“These are the Lotus Libertarians. Tengo cuatro equipos,” he paused, holding up four fingers, “four squads, each with a commanding officer.” His gaze swept across the table and then halted on Wes.

“My men do not answer to the North. They will only answer to their commanding officer.” The intensity sizzling between the two of them felt like a live wire snapping freely during a storm.

“Don’t give them any problems, and we’ll all get along just fine.

?Entendido? Understood?” he said, adding the English translation for our benefit.

Nobody said a word, and Javier didn’t give them much of an opportunity, either. “Allow me to introduce my leadership. Sargenta Pennelope Quills—”

Sergeant Quills stepped forward. She was short—only about five feet, maybe an inch or two more—with a round face and electric blue hair that brushed the tops of her shoulders.

Glacier blue eyes, a nose ring in her left nostril, and two studs on her lips—one on top and the other on the bottom—made her extremely memorable.

Moreover, she had a huge tattoo of a lotus flower on the side of her neck, rising from ripples of water that was inked over her collarbone.

Something about it struck me as familiar.

“Sargento Peter Dails,” Javier announced, and a middle-aged, very muscular man stepped forward. He was completely bald, with a scalp so shiny, it reflected back the lights. He, too, had a tattoo of a lotus flower on his bicep, rising from rippled water that stretched down the length of his arm.

Edith whispered again. “What’s with the Spanish? ”

I whispered back, “Javi’s dad and mother both spoke Spanish fluently. It was important to his mom that he learn to speak it too. It’s just a natural part of him.”

“Sargenta Jada Williams.” I watched as another woman, roughly in her mid-twenties, stepped forward.

She was tall, roughly five-foot-seven, with a beautifully smooth dark complexion.

She sported a black afro, stunning brown eyes, septum piercing, and a lotus flower tattoo on her bicep like Dails’s, but much smaller and only on her upper arm.

“I’m detecting a theme,” Edith murmured in my ear.

I nodded. “Yeah, I think I am too.” My eyes scanned the Libertarians, noticing most of them had a tattoo of a lotus blossom rising from water.

It was on necks, arms, and collarbones, and I assumed those who didn’t have a visible tattoo had one hidden under clothing.

Some of the tattoos were huge, like Dails’s, taking up large expanses of the person’s body, while others were smaller and more obscure.

And then it hit me… “Javi’s tattoo,” I mumbled.

“What?”

I looked at Edith. “My cousin…I remember he had the same tattoo of a lotus flower rising from water on his wrist.” I wrinkled my forehead. I’d never seen the imagery anywhere else but with Javi. Why would all of these people have the same markings on them?

Edith snorted. “Well, looks like your cousin’s a trendsetter then.”

I turned to face Javi again. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Javier stepped to the side as each sergeant lined up next to him. “And finally, Sargenta Liddy Le.”

Le? I scanned the Libertarians and caught sight of a woman a few years older than me, stepping out of the crowd. Long raven black hair, almond-shaped eyes, and perfect alabaster skin. Everything about her…her features, how she moved…it was exactly like—

“Liddy?” Edith said .

The Libertarian shifted her gaze at the sound of her name, eyes locking on Edith. A smile broke out across her face, making her eyes light up. “Edith?”

There was no stopping it. Edith jumped out of her chair so fast, the thing went clattering to the floor. Both girls rushed each other, and in seconds, were a tangled mess of arms. As unbelievable as it was, there was no doubting it. That woman was Liddy Le. She was Edith’s deceased sister.

***

Half an hour later, everyone was eating a second and third helping of breakfast, giving everyone time to meet our new allies. They were all serious at first, but slowly seemed to relax as Northern and Dissenter soldiers asked them questions about who they were and where they’d come from.

Wes and Javier stood side-by-side near the windows, observing the interactions, and infrequently speaking to one another. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that they didn’t like each other very much.

Edith, on the other hand, was acting like she was jacked up on caffeine.

She was practically vibrating from the excitement of having her sister back.

I had scooted over into Wes’s chair to make room for Lin—which I had quickly discovered was Liddy’s nickname—and shoved another strip of bacon in my mouth as Edith rattled on.

“Mom and Dad are going to lose their shit when they find out you’re alive,” she remarked. “What the hell even happened?”

A pained expression crossed Liddy’s face. “I know, and I’m so sorry I did that to you all.”

“Damn right you better be sorry. If it weren’t for the fact that I’m so freaking happy to see you alive, I would have stabbed your ass already.”

Liddy laughed. “You were always a little too knife-happy. ”

Edith crossed her arms. “Since when is that a crime? I happen to think it makes me adorable.”

I snorted. “Not the word I would have used, but we can go with that if you want.”

She glared at me momentarily before looking at her sister. “Spill the beans, Lin. What the hell happened?”

Liddy smiled, but tipped her chin to her chest, eyes resting on her plate of food.

“Well?” Edith pushed.

Liddy rubbed her lips together before she finally lifted her head and looked at her sister. “A guy happened.”

“A guy ? You let us all think you were dead for a guy ?” Oh boy. Edith was not having it.

Liddy winced. “I know how that sounds, but there’s more to it.”

Edith twisted in her chair to face her sister better. “Does he shit out rubies or something? Is his dick made of gold?”

“Eww.” I wrinkled my nose.

Liddy rolled her eyes. “It’s not like that—”

“The sex better be mind-blowing, Lin, because I swear to god if you left us for anything less than a dude with golden genitals and mind-blowing sex, I will kill you.”

Her brows knitted together. “Look, there’s a lot of stuff you don’t know about, and honestly, I’d really rather not rehash the past.”

“That’s BS, Lin.” Edith folded her arms across her chest.

“I know. I realize that. But…” she hesitated. Sighed. “Look, I enlisted because money was tight, right? I didn’t want to, you know that. But I did it for our family. And then—” she faltered.

“ Yes ?”

Liddy worked her jaw for a moment. “Then I met someone and couldn’t do it anymore. So I decided not to come back, okay? Happy now? I bailed. ”

“No, I’m not happy,” Edith said, casting daggers at her. “You put us through hell, you know that, right? We all thought you died . Do you know what that was like for us?”

Liddy grimaced. “I know, I’m sorry. It was wrong, lil’ sis, but I can’t change what I did. All I can do is try to make up for it now.”

“Yeah, well, don’t expect me to forgive you that easily. I expect a whole lot of groveling, and favors, and back scratches, and—”

Lin chuckled. “I get it. I’m your slave until you see it fit to forgive me. Done deal.”

Edith eyed her suspiciously before cracking a smile. “Good. Now, where’s this dude with the golden magic penis? I want a look at him…”

And then I saw it. I caught the quick glance Liddy shot across the table, across the room…right at Javier. My jaw slackened as I looked back at her.

Slight coloring of the cheeks.

Slight quiver in her sheepish smile.

Oh. My. God.

“No way,” I breathed out, completely unintentionally. Both sisters looked at me.

“What?” Edith asked, looking from me to everyone else.

“It’s him, isn’t it?” I asked, still disbelieving. Lin just tucked her chin to her chest, cheeks coloring further.

“Who?” Edith asked, now looking back and forth between me and her sister.

Liddy finally blew out a breath as she looked up at Edith.

She lowered her voice. “We don’t like to talk about it in front of the troops.

It looks bad. Everybody knows, but we just don’t want to rub anything in anyone’s face.

I earned my rank, and so did he. We don’t want people thinking I was promoted because of his status. ”

I could see the wheels spinning in Edith’s head. She looked at me. I arched a brow in response and ticked my head toward the windows. Her gaze darted in that direction, and then her eyes widened. She whirled on her sister. “You’re dating Mara’s cousin!”

“Shh!” Liddy admonished. “Discretion and tack are not your strong points, lil’ sis, but let’s at least try to exercise them now, okay?”

Edith tipped her head back and cackled. “Oh lordy, I can’t believe this,” she said between breaths.

Liddy rolled her eyes, glancing at me. “She hasn’t changed one bit, you know that? Two years, and she’s the same person.” She looked back at her sister, who was still chuckling. “At least you’re consistent, lil’ sis.”

Edith quieted down. “Just tell me one thing,” she began, still reeling from her belly laughs. “Is Rico Suave into sisters? I’m asking for a friend.”

Freaking. Edith.