“I want to talk to you,” he says to Ilsa doggedly.
“Alright.” She shrugs, abandoning her clique of blushing girls.
Ilsa and Hedeon stalk off across the sand to a slightly quieter patch of beach. Neither of them questions why I’m following along after them. Hopefully Hedeon thinks I’m offering moral support.
“What is it?” Ilsa says, standing with legs apart and arms crossed over her chest just as boldly as Hedeon himself.
Ilsa’s older sister Neve is Heir. She’s made no secret that Ilsa will be her lieutenant. Both girls surely know that in our world, the slightest sign of feminine weakness would be deadly to them. They have to be more decisive, more intimidating, and more ruthless than any man, or the Bratva jackals will come for them, just as they’re trying to come for my family.
Hedeon can feel the challenge radiating out of Ilsa just as I can. He’s choosing his words carefully. He won’t get anything out of Ilsa if he offends her.
“I saw a picture of one of your relatives in the annex,” he says. “Evalina Markov—she was a Captain in the Quartum Bellum.”
“That’s right,” Ilsa says proudly. “She won twice.”
“I saw that . . .” Hedeon says. “But then, she didn’t compete in her Senior year. And I thought that was odd.”
“She wasn’t at school her Senior year,” Ilsa replies promptly.
Hedeon licks his lips, trying to hide his eagerness.
“Why?” he says. “Where did she go?”
“She married my uncle Donovan.”
I see Hedeon’s chest rising and falling rapidly. He’s wondering if Uncle Donovan might be his father. Evalina Markov and Donovan Dryagin might have given their baby away to hide the accidental pregnancy, then married afterward.
“Was your uncle at Kingmakers, too?” Hedeon asks, his voice shaking slightly.
Ilsa shakes her head.
“No. Donovan is ten years older,” she says. “They were betrothed when she was, I dunno, fourteen or something. He had to wait for her to grow up a little. You know how it was then.” She rolls her eyes. “How it still is now, for some families.”
Hedeon locks eyes with me.
We both know that means Dryagin can’t possibly be Hedeon’s father. Dryagin was ten years older, established in his career, and had the blessing of the Markovs. If he had impregnated Evalina over the summer holiday, she would simply have dropped out of school and married him, as she apparently did in her Senior year.
The hasty adoption surely shows that Evalina fell pregnant from someone other than her fiancé.
Now Ilsa is frowning, watching the silent communication pass between Hedeon and me.
“Why are you two so curious about my aunt?” she demands.
“I’m not,” Hedeon grunts, with a passable imitation of his usual surliness. “It’s Leo who wanted to know. You know he’s trying to break the record of all the previous Captains.”
“He better hope Adrik Petrov doesn’t kill him if he does.” Ilsa grins. “I met him once in St. Petersburg—he’s pure animal, that one.”
It’s the first time I’ve seen Ilsa admit admiration of anyone. I have to hide my smile, knowing how much Adrik would love to hear it.
“So . . . do you want that drink, then?” Hedeon says to Ilsa.
I don’t know if he’s covering his tracks, pretending to hit on her after all, or if he’s as sucked in by her beauty and boldness as Bodashka and Pasha.
“No thanks,” Ilsa says, tossing her head. “But . . . you can come dance if you want.”
She strides back across the sand, walking as easily as if it were firm ground.
“You gonna go dance with her?” I ask Hedeon.
“No,” he says, looking at me like I’m insane. “I’m not gonna grind on somebody who might be my cousin.”
“Oh, right,” I say, trying to hold back the slightly-hysterical laugh that wants to bubble up inside me.
It’s impossible. I let out a snort, and then a full laugh.
To my surprise, Hedeon chuckles too. His laugh is strangely soft compared to his rough features.
“She’d only be like . . . your second cousin,” I say, trying to compose myself.
“You’ve been hanging around Anna and Leo too long,” he says, shaking his head at me.
That only makes me laugh harder.
“Anyway, she’s not my type,” Hedeon says.
“Oh yeah? What’s your type?”
Hedeon doesn’t answer me. But a few minutes later when we join Dean, Cat, and Bram by the fire, I see him scanning the jostling crowd of students. Looking for someone.
I can’t keep an eye on him any longer. Sabrina and Nix have just made their appearance on the edge of the sand.
A dozen heads turn in their direction—in Sabrina’s direction, most likely. I’ll admit, she’s looking particularly stunning in a silver dress that shimmers like scales.
But it’s Nix who captures my attention, immediately and irrevocably.
I’ve never seen her dressed up before.
She still looks like herself. Everything is just . . . more.
She’s got her hair braided on the sides, running back along the crown before loosening into curls again. The smoky shadow around her eyes makes her green irises look pale and serpentine. Her cheekbones are sharper, her mouth wide and firm.
She looks like a Viking princess, here to celebrate her victory.
She’s dressed all in black—trousers as usual, but this time in a silky material that gleams in the firelight. Her cropped tank top shows a slice of flat, hard abdomen above the waistband of her pants.
I’m drawn to her like a fish on a line, reeled in.
“There you are,” I say. “What took you so long?”
“I put on makeup and better clothes,” Nix says, with that raw honesty that grabs hold of me every time, like a fist in my guts. “I wanted to impress you.”
“It worked,” I say. “You’re stunning.”
“Do you like me better this way?” she asks, looking up into my face to see the truth of my answer, whatever I might say.
“I like you best outdoors,” I tell her. “On the beach, in the woods . . . anywhere outside. It’s where you belong.”
She smiles, letting out the breath she was holding.
“I agree,” she says.
“Do you dance?”
“I like dancing. Whether I’m good at it is a different question . . .”
Desire — Meg Myers
Spotify → geni.us/spy-spotify
Apple Music → geni.us/spy-apple
I don’t know if I’m a great dancer either.
Nix and I seem to move well together, and that’s all that matters. Song after song flows by, faster than I can count them. I’m transfixed by the way Nix’s hair flares gold, copper, and scarlet in the firelight, and how the smoke mixes with the scent of her skin.
Sabrina has already been snatched up by Kenzo Tanaka, who looks overjoyed at his good luck—until Bram cuts in and steals her away.
Anna and Leo are dancing the way they always do, extremely close together, looking into each other’s faces, talking and laughing the whole time.