Nix. (Den of Mercenaries Book 3)(20)

If she squinted, she could almost imagine it up there. “Why the phoenix?”

His smile was distant, secretive. “You’ll learn soon enough.”

Outside of the pool room, there was a sauna and a personal gym, and once the hallway narrowed, there was a stone staircase that led back up to the main floor of the chateau.

Luna thought that he would venture off now that she was back inside—and probably thoroughly locked in—but he walked her to her room instead. And when they got there, Luna understood why.

There was a tray of food waiting for her in front of the door, laden with more than she had seen in days.

“Aidra will find you in the morning,” Kit said glancing from it to her. “If there’s something you don’t like, let her know and she’ll make sure the chefs are properly informed.”

“You don’t have to go through that trouble.”

“It’s not a problem at all.”

Well … “Thank you.”

“Rest. I’m sure you’re tired.”

Now that she had come down from the high of being outside, Luna was more than ready to climb into bed and shut her eyes.

“Tomorrow, we’ll discuss things more so I can give you a better understanding of why you’re here. Should you need me, my room is one floor up, last door on your left. I—”

“Is everyone upstairs?” she asked quickly, not having considered that at some point, the guards had to sleep.

The idea of them walking around while—

“No one is going to hurt you here,” Kit said, interrupting her train of thought. “And if it makes you feel better, this door has a lock on it—feel free to utilize it.”

It was hard not to express how relieved that made her feel. Maybe now she could actually sleep without fear of someone coming in while she was unaware.

“Thank you again, Kit.”

He smiled when she said his name, one that reached his eyes and made her want to smile back.

The notion was baffling.

Before she made a fool of herself, she quickly grabbed the tray and walked back into her bedroom. By the time she finished setting it on the bed and coming back, Kit was already gone.





Chapter Five





“It’s not often you put your foot in your mouth, Nix. I thought they trained you better than that,” Aidra pondered aloud while Kit walked to his office after seeing Luna to her room.

Luna.

There weren’t many complications Kit faced that he couldn’t overcome, that was one of his specialities, but he could already see that she was going to be one.

After his blunder at dinner, he hadn’t expected Fang—one of the Wild Bunch—to find him, letting him know with an amused sort of smile that the girl had hopped over her balcony, and taken off.

She had to have known she wouldn’t get far, not with the tracker affixed to her leg.

“Where did you find her, exactly?” Aidra asked.

Tone clipped, Kit responded, “I didn’t. T?cut did. She was nearly to the tree line when he saw her.”

“Do you think she was running?”

Even if she wanted to, there had been no point in trying, not when Uilleam had put a tracker on her, and he had guards around constantly. She had to have known she wouldn’t get very far, but Kit didn’t think she was trying to run.

She hadn’t fought when T?cut caught her, nor did she fight him in coming back into the house.

Luna had needed a moment, he understood that all too well.

Back in Wales, living under the hospitality of a tyrant, Kit had longed for quiet moments where he could get lost in his own thoughts without worry that his time was limited before someone came to hurt him.

Sometimes, those moments had been the worst, especially when that hope for it was crushed the moment he heard excited voices outside his bedroom.

There were still times now that he had to go off on his own to remind himself of who he was rather than who he’d been.

Sometimes, those were the moments he lived for.

“She wouldn’t have gotten far if she was,” he said.

Never mind that he had enough security out there to man a small army, but those woods were treacherous, and she hadn't even worn shoes.

“Still, you haven't told me who the girl is.”

“Because even I’m not sure who she is.”

Or her purpose.

His conversation with Uilleam before his brother had left as quickly as he’d come hadn’t shed much light on the girl’s origins either.



“I’ve known for the last twenty-two years of my life that your actions are reckless and premature, but I would never think that you would let hubris get you killed. What on earth has possessed you to make an enemy of Lawrence Kendall?”

The second Aidra had told him about the eldest Kendall, Kit had made a few calls, wanting to verify the information before he confronted his brother with it.

It had only taken one phone call to tell him that his brother was making moves he shouldn’t, but that was nothing new. Uilleam always made a habit of acting before he thought it through.

“An enemy?” Uilleam questioned with a shake of his head. “He came to me. Apologies that I don’t recount my every move with you, brother. Should I call you when I wipe my ass as well?”