Page 108 of The Fates We Tame

“That’s what allies do,” Cillian says. “We show up when the other is in trouble and help. We help you on your side of the dock, biker. And you help us on our side.”

I think through everything that has happened. “Wait. Those men were Sicilian.”

Cillian nods. “Indeed.”

“How the fuck did they know we were here?” I ask.

King turns to me. “Your wife running her mouth?”

“Watch how you speak about my wife,” I say. I don’t need to ask her to know she wouldn’t. I trust her. “She didn’t.”

“You have a Sicilian wife. Now I’m fucking intrigued,” Cillian says.

I turn to face him. “My wife is none of your fucking business. But even if she had, how didyouknow to be here tonight?”

King steps up to Cillian. “I’d like to hear an answer to that.”

Cillian’s men step up behind Cillian, their weapons pointed in our direction. “Perhaps I heard something. Perhaps I thought I’d leave you to handle it alone, so you got a flavor of what I’m facing on the other side of this fucking water.”

“You set us up, you motherfucking cunt,” Clutch says.

Cillian grins. “Lesson learned about who your allies are, yeah?”

“We’re not fucking friends,” King says. “If we were, you would have told us what their plans were. Not waited until we were screwed.”

Cillian reaches out and squeezes King’s shoulder.

He shrugs it off angrily.

“I never said we were friends. I said we were allies.Ni mhaireann solas na maiden don lá.No morning sun lasts all day. Most relationships have lifespans. Many come to an end when they are no longer mutually beneficial. You either help me with the Italians, or I let them eat you.”

Spark steps forward. “And what would you tell Iris if I’d been killed tonight? What would you tell our kid?”

Cillian looks up at the sky for a moment. “I’d tell him it was part of the life he was born into, whether he wanted it or not. And that’s always been the difference between me and all of you. And that his father never understood that.”

Spark lurches for Cillian, and we hear the sound of weapons being primed as both Clutch and I grab Spark around the waist and chest.

“Think about it,” Cillian says, looking around at the dead bodies on the dock. “Then call me when you’re ready to truly act like allies worthy of the fucking Irish.”

28

SOPHIA

“Iate too much of that crumble,” Iris says, rubbing her hand over her belly. She’s settled in the corner of the sofa near the fire that smolders as it dies down. Theo left it built and ready to light for us, and it’s added to the comfortable evening.

Ari hands Iris a cup of herbal tea. “I’m pretty sure that’s the baby taking up so much room in there, not crumble.”

Iris takes the cup. “Eight weeks. That’s all I have left, and then Spark and I will have a baby.”

Vi pats her own stomach. “You have the cute bump. I have the second-pregnancy spread.”

“Which Bates can’t keep his hands off.” Gwen sits with the rest of the cheese board on her lap.

Rae sits on the floor, leaning against the sofa, and Briar lies on the floor, her head on Rae’s lap.

“We should all sleep down here tonight,” Gwen says. “Like a proper sleepover.”

Briar chuckles. “You think we should have pillow fights?”