Blood Vow (Black Dagger Legacy #2)(68)

“I’m okay. I know you guys worry.” Bitty smiled as she tugged Rhage to his feet. “Come on, let’s go have Last Meal—and before you tell me to clean up the mess, Fritz doesn’t let us.”

Right on cue, a whirring started to fill the foyer.

“He loves his wet vac,” Lassiter said. “Don’t that sound dirty?”

“Not in front of my kid it doesn’t,” Rhage muttered.

Everybody turned to the butler, who, sure enough, had fired up the canister-and-vacuum combination and was cheerfully sucking up the splashes on the mosaic floor in his formal black and white uniform. He paused and looked concerned.

Turning the wand off, he inquired, “Does anyone require aught? Last Meal is going to be served in ten minutes. Perhaps a libation?”

“We’re good, Fritz,” Rhage said, sounding exhausted. “But thanks, man.”

The doggen bowed deeply and then resumed his sucking. Which, Lassiter was right, did sound dirty.

“Come on, Father, you’ve got to be hungry.” Bitty pulled at Rhage’s arm. “Right, Mom?”

God, that hurt. Those names … were like broken glass in her heart.

“Yes,” she said slowly. “I imagine he should be eating something right now.”

That didn’t mean he wanted to, however. And yet Rhage could not deny the little girl, and the two of them went off for the dining room, a tiny sprite who had her mobility back skipping next to a mountain of a male who was walking like he was half dead.

Mary jumped when a hand to help her off the floor appeared in front of her face. Lassiter was back up on his Nikes and staring down at her from his great height with a somber expression.

Abruptly, the fact that the butler was wet-vac’ing up the remnants of a water balloon fight became crystal clear, largely because the grand and colorful foyer—with its malachite and red marble columns and its three-story-high painted ceiling and its grand fireplace and great stairway—was exactly where you didn’t ever want to have one.

Meeting the eyes of the angel, she said, “You knew, didn’t you.”

“That Fritz was going to love the wet vac?”

“That her uncle was going to show up and that Rhage and I were coming home a mess. You knew the distraction was going to help.”

“Oh,” he made a pshaw motion with the hand she had yet to take. “I’m not that smart.”

“And you couldn’t stand to see her in pain any more than the rest of us could.”

After a moment, Lassiter sank down onto his haunches next to her. Reaching out to her face, he brushed one side of it with his right hand and the other with his left.

Then he made a pair of fists and squeezed hard enough to make all the veins pop up in his heavy forearms. A second later, he unfurled his hands. In the center of both his palms, there was a faceted diamond, the two gemstones reflecting the light around them with rainbow flashes.

“A mother’s tears,” he whispered. “So hard … so beautiful.”

“I’m not her mother,” Mary choked out. “Oh, God … I’m not really her mother.”

“Yes, you are. And I’ll keep these so that I can give them back to you when this is over.”

“He’s going to be real. I can feel it. The uncle … is real.”

“Maybe so.” Lassiter stood up again. “But why don’t I keep these just in case, ’kay?”

He strolled off, hair dripping, clothes a mess, all that gold jewelry he wore like part of the sun stuck with him even when he was indoors.

Mary looked at the archway through which Rhage and Bitty had disappeared.

When she felt like she could walk that far … she got up … and did.





TWENTY-SIX


The following evening, Elise was in her bathroom, blow-drying her hair, when her phone started shimmying across the marble counter.

She went for the thing so fast, she nearly fumbled her Conair right onto the floor.

But it wasn’t Axe.

“Finally,” she said as she turned off the dryer.

“What kind of hello is that?” the male voice demanded over the connection.

“The kind you give somebody who takes this long to call back.”

Peyton, son of Peythone, cursed softly. “I’m sorry. I’ve been busy. But I’m all yours now. You okay?”

She turned away from the mirror and leaned her butt against the counter. It was hot in her fuzzy pink bathrobe, but she was keeping the thing on: Even though they weren’t FaceTiming, it didn’t seem right to be naked while she talked to her cousin.

“Why did you try and buy off Axe?”

There was a silence. “So this is about your new bodyguard, huh.”

“That was really insulting to him.”

“Lemme ask you a question, here. Exactly who do you think is guarding you? Do you know anything about him?”

“Is that a leading question? If it is, just answer it already, will you. I don’t want to play games.”

“Elise, your family has already lost so much—”

“Spare me. I’m living in this house, okay? Like I don’t know how much people are hurting?”

“Yeah, and I was the one who had to look Allishon’s parents in the eye when I told them she was dead.”