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Chapter Nine

Few things in life were better than ice cream, and Jade savored every spoonful of the sweet treat. Beside her, her best friend groaned in the same appreciation. Jade snickered.

“You sound like you’re dying.”

“Maybe I am,” Lark remarked, her light green eyes flashing. “Perhaps I’ll stay here, eat ice cream, and hide from my father a bit longer.”

Julian, Lark’s father, rarely allowed her to leave the security of the legion capital. For years, he’d warned about the dangers of what’d happen should the broader public know he had a daughter, and she’d remained a closely guarded secret.

Lark had never been out of her father’s territory, and it drove her mad.

She was an adventurer at heart, longing to hike mountains and swim in the ocean, but the 500-mile slice of Legion domain was all she’d ever seen.

Julian reigned over Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee, with smaller parts of Missouri, Iowa, and Ohio.

Outside his sphere of influence, the exiled ran uncontested.

Knowing this, Julian occasionally approved Lark’s requests to visit Jade’s apartment in the city. While it wasn’t out of his territory, it was far enough away that she felt like she was vacationing.

The farthest reaches of the First Legion’s borders were still patrolled by Julian’s scouts.

Closer to the capital, a military-strict discipline had been implemented, and a far more rigid set of rules came into play.

It was a base of operations for the First Legion, but also for the Anchoria and what little remained of the Crown’s structure.

With no royal couple to lead them, Julian’s authority had stretched to ensure everyone was protected.

If he hadn’t stepped up, all of it would’ve come crumbling down.

Trying to distract her friend from her frustration, Jade reached for an easier topic. “Is Quinn still stuck in the infirmary?”

Lark nodded, spoon bobbing along with her head, but it was an absent movement.

Quinn, the third member of their gang of misfits, was the First Legion’s mender, and always on-call for unforeseen emergencies. Tonight, a sparring session between lieutenants had gone from practice to near fatal, and he’d had to stay behind to ensure the patient didn’t lose his life.

A mender’s work was never done , Jade thought ruefully.

In some ways, a mender was more inextricably tied to the legion than even the prime was. Quinn knew when any of his kin was hurting or injured, and could phase to their locations and immediately begin assisting them in the healing process.

Her friend had taken on several protégés throughout the years, training everyone in the legion who showed an aptitude for healing.

Except one. Quinn had always resisted Julian’s attempts to place his right-hand man, Kinnick, in the infirmary.

The senior mender knew instinctively that Kinnick would do more harm than good.

Jade had to agree. As far as she was concerned, Kinnick was evil incarnate.

Fate had clearly been jesting when it gave him healing powers, while he took so much more pleasure from causing pain.

Giving Kinnick more experience healing was like giving a serial killer a doctorate in medicine.

It would only help the villain understand how to hurt people better.

There were only four shifters left in the First Legion. It was one of the reasons why she had grown so close with Quinn and Lark. Their small, eclectic pack of three was a hodgepodge of animals, but no one had wanted the rabid hyena—Kinnick—to join.

Lark’s laughter brought her back to the present. Snuggling together under a knit blanket on the couch in her apartment, Jade and Lark had both agreed on the best movie known to humankind: The Princess Bride .

Niko had been right when he pinned Jade as a romantic.

Romance books, rom-coms, sappy love stories: all of them were her bread and butter.

Real life had only embittered her. Too many tragedies spotted the landscape of her emotional past and jumping back into the thick of things with a stranger wasn’t high on her priority list.

At least, that’s what she told herself. Niko had begun to chip away at the icy exterior of her heart.

“I know that smile.”

Jade hid it immediately. She held her best friend’s gaze, her mask was once more firmly in place. “What smile?”

“You can’t hide from me.” A creamy spoon pointed accusatorially in her direction. “I see you, Jade Lascaux. Who made you happy?”

“Who?” Jade’s twinkling laugh was Oscar-worthy. “How do you know it’s a who and not a what?”

“Nobody gets that dreamy look in their eyes about a business proposal or even the best ice cream this side of the Mississippi. Spill.”

Jade weighed her options. While there was no love lost between her and her father, Julian had a way of knowing Lark’s every secret. Sharing about Niko would be risky. Regardless, the young woman was Jade’s best friend, and the closest thing she had to a sister.

“There’s a guy.”

A delighted squeal and Lark’s ice cream was forgotten. “Who? With the acquisition? At the office? Did you bump into him at the corner flower shop, and he plucked a flower from his just-bought bouquet to dazzle you?”

“Wow, Lark, if anyone ever mistakes you for something other than a babbling romantic, I’d eat my favorite pair of Jimmy Choos,” came Jade’s response. She purposefully ate another spoonful, thinking through what she would be able to reveal safely.

“Gah, you’re infuriating—tell me!”

“He’s at the office. The CEO of the company who is acquiring us.”

Lark’s eyebrows wagged. “Of course he is. You owe me details.”

“As if I could keep them from you. He’s intelligent, handsome, and highly sarcastic.”

“Just the way you like them.”

“He has this charisma that’s almost infectious. Like the room can’t help but revolve around him. From the moment he walked in, it’s been an uphill battle to keep myself from falling into his orbit.”

“Let me guess: he always knows what to say and how to say it?” When Jade nodded, Lark grinned. “Just like the rom-com I’m reading. Gah, I can already picture your wedding day. Lilies, lace, and love. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Jade’s stomach hollowed out as she bit her lip, deciding if she should tell Lark the most important part of Niko’s story. At Lark’s hopeful expression, she set her shoulders and took the leap.

“He’s Sagani.”

Lark jerked backward on the couch. All the playful excitement was washed away in one wave of concern. “I’m sorry, I must not have heard you right. What did you say?”

“The man at the office: he’s Sagani,” she repeated. “From the Second Legion.”

Fear blanched Lark’s features. “Jade, if Julian finds out—if my father learns of this … you can never tell him. You shouldn’t have even told me. This secret: it could kill you both.”

Nothing like the truth to churn her gut.

“His ability manipulation is strong,” she continued. In for a penny. “But my truth seeker magic saw through his barrier. It’s the only way I could tell he was Sagani. If Julian or any other from the First Legion came across him, I’m not sure they’d know he was immortal.”

“That’s a good thing. Can’t have Kinnick killing your beau.” As an afterthought, Lark added, “It’d make me hate him even more—if that was possible.”

“Niko said he already petitioned for access into our territory, but I don’t believe he’s connected his request to the acquisition.” Jade twisted her hands in the blanket, unsettled. “In any case, it’s not like it’ll be for long.”

Lark’s breathing evened out, movie and ice cream forgotten. She exhaled quietly and did her best to bring back her original excited smile.

“If you’re smart about it, hide it well, you should be able to enjoy it while it lasts,” Lark winked. “Go for it, Jade. Seriously. When was the last time you let your hair down?”

With a huff, she admitted, “Too long.”

If Julian found out that she had become involved with male from another legion, her life would be forfeit. Not only that, but Niko’s would be, too.

Regardless of her feelings, she couldn’t act on them.

When she said as much to Lark, the other woman simply chastised, “Your loss. What my father doesn’t know won’t hurt him, and you’ve done far too much for this legion to deny yourself some fun.

Twenty years, Jade. He sent you here twenty years ago to make money— for him —and you’ve done that. ”

Lark sighed heavily, then squeezed her shoulder. “Stop thinking about the reasons why you can’t and look for the reasons why you can.”

In the background, they could hear Inigo Montoya’s famous greeting for the six-fingered man. It was oddly ironic.

***

Now that she’d admitted her feelings toward Niko out loud, Jade suddenly felt inadequate. Instead of arbitrarily selecting one of the suits from her overflowing business closet, she tried on four separate outfits before she went back to the original.

Whoever said immortals grew in wisdom had obviously never studied her.

She’d seldom been late to the office, but the ridiculous outfit parade had taken far too much of her time and the eight am morning meeting was already looming.

Already, Trina had texted to account for her whereabouts. Like her, her right-hand spent far more time at the skyscraper than was socially acceptable, and she’d caught the younger woman sleeping on the couch in her office a few times too many.

Jade called a town car and sent a Trina a text saying she’d be there in fifteen minutes. Wearing out her Louboutins was not high on her list of goals for today.

While she sat idly in the backseat, she scrolled through emails and pulled up the latest list of Julian’s investment options.

Admittedly, her prime was brilliant when it came to stocks.

Whatever she could afford to give him off the top of her salary he invested in the stock market, and those funds typically saw triplicate growth in days.

Julian’s notes on the investment options were curt. He mentioned that his research had found Depredate, a pharmaceutical company, was a solid bet, even though the market was funneling toward Oscario, their competitor.

Typing up a short reply, Jade agreed with his assertions.

He’d already invested the funds without waiting on her input, but she liked to foster the contact.

It made her feel involved in Legion business even if in ninety percent of the cases, Julian did what he wanted—and it typically worked out in his favor.

No reason to dispute his system now.

By the time they pulled up to the skyscraper, it was five minutes to eight. Gritting her teeth, she muttered a brief thank you to her driver and prepared to step out of the town car.

Someone opened the door for her.

“Niko,” came her curt greeting.

“As I live and breathe, Jade Lascaux.”

Disarming charm, seductive smirk. She couldn’t help but wonder how many women he had seduced with that expression. Jade had already allowed him too many advances, and seeing him again reinforced her reasoning to remain stubbornly distant.

No matter what Lark said.

Niko’s hand gently pressed into the small of her back, ushering her into the elevator before leaning over to get a good look at her capped mug. “Do have pity on me.”

“I shan’t.”

Deep laughter rumbled in Niko’s chest, the sound inescapably sensual. It curled around her skin, warming her from the inside. She leaned toward him, drawn to it.

Niko noticed. Dove, I think you’re tilting.

The chalky sound of her own teeth grating filled her ears, but she couldn’t think of an excuse for leaning into him that didn’t make her sound pathetic. As the elevators opened, she exited as swiftly as she could without appearing like she was fleeing from a monstrous beast.

“I’ll see you in the conference room, Nikolas.”