More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
He wanted to keep looking at her. He wondered how fast she was. He wondered if he was faster. Ramona raised her eyebrows slightly. He had to say something or do something. He couldn’t just stand there, gawking like an idiot.
“To what do I owe the horror?”
it was perfectly amiable.
If I ever describe my marriage as “perfectly amiable” please shoot me.
“Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to imply that he is an innocent pawn and your wife led him astray. But Gabriel lacks any sort of ambition. He has very little self-discipline, zero interest in business, and no knowledge of kinsmen politics. As long as he is fed, given an ample allowance, and allowed freedom to indulge himself, he’s perfectly content. He is too lazy to start this adventure on his own. I’m in awe of your wife. She has managed to motivate him in a way I never could, and the universe knows I’ve tried.”
“An alliance?” He raised his eyebrows, pretending to be surprised. “A temporary one. Not between our families or our companies. Only you and me.
With his powerful body in a black doublet and his chiseled, harsh face, Matias would’ve fit right in, but it was the stare that cinched it. The scalding-hot stare of a hunter.
Who knew there was fire under all that volcanic glass?
A stray thought flickered through her mind. It must be so nice to have someone like him watching your back. Someone competent. Decisive. Someone who has his shit together. Too bad he is an enemy.
There was no time to feel or to come to terms with anything. She had to save the family. The emergency was so dire it pushed all her emotions out, leaving room for nothing else.
She was on her own. At the time she had simply accepted it, but now, as she listened to Matias, she felt a crushing realization—she was alone. Utterly, completely alone. She would never let it stagger her, but it hurt.
“And how is my favorite nephew?” Matias leaned forward. “Incredibly concerned and saddened by your recent illness.” She raised her eyebrows. “Am I sick enough to require your immediate presence?” “You are.” “And am I refusing all visitors except my precious nephew because he is the only one I will allow to view me in my sorry state?” Matias nodded. “Exactly.” “The shit has hit the fan, I take it?”
He moved his fingers right to left. The sensor in the vid screen obeyed, tilting it toward her. Ramona met the older woman’s gaze. “Oh,” Nadira Baena said. “That bad?”
And in my case, they make no distinction between an argument over the precise calibration of the Kelly-particle agitator or the choice of a faucet for a new heated bubble tub.” “Same.” They shared a look. They were still enemies, but even enemies were allowed latitude when it came to complaining about family.
She was no longer dealing with it alone. She didn’t trust him, but she trusted the rage she’d seen in his eyes when his wife kissed her husband. For the first time since she saw that cursed recording, Ramona had room to take a deep breath. She did, and when she exhaled, she felt angry. Unbelievably, overpoweringly angry.
“It is rather memorable. Where did you find this on such short notice?” It was the dress she wore the first time she met Gabriel. She had worn it in silent protest against the engagement she didn’t want. “I have my ways.”
“I don’t want to hurt them.” He spared her a long, careful look. “Compassion? At a time like this?” “Were you happy in your marriage, Matias?” “Happiness is overrated.” “The Davenports are happy. They just had a baby. I don’t want to wreck that without a reason.”
The woman was insane.
He had decided long ago that he was the kind of man who didn’t start fights. He finished them, and he never stooped to unprovoked murder.
Ramona would execute her enemies without hesitation, yet given a choice, she preferred to avoid killing. Life was fragile and precious.
That only left option three, titled “Open the Cargo Door.” He hated option three.
“Davenport, Inc., has abandoned its seco initiative.” What? “Since when?” Matias asked. “Since the beginning of the month. We can’t stabilize the field fluctuations. I can no longer justify throwing good money after bad. We simply can’t afford it.” Wow. The shock must have shown on her face because Haider shrugged. “It is what it is. Have you been able to stabilize the field?” “Yes,” they said at the same time. “I hate you both.”
Ramona followed him, paused, and tossed a brief message to Haider’s in-box from her implant. “What’s this?” Haider asked. “One of my childhood friends. Two children, natural conception for both. Both born with the Tarim mutation. They are now five and three. I thought you and Damien could use someone to talk to, and Olivia Solis has gone through this gauntlet.” Haider smiled. “Maybe I won’t take all of your money. Just some of it. Happy hunting, she-wolf.”
“I don’t have a problem with you. I have a problem with your last name.”
He realized why he was being petty. He liked this. Without meaning to, Ramona had rubbed his nose in what he was missing. He would never come to a secret room on the Terraces with Cassida. He would never enjoy a delicious meal in comfortable silence and then discuss serious plans and plots with her. His wife had no interest in sharing that part of his world, and she filled every silence with conversation, meaningful or not. He also understood that he had to draft an immediate divorce agreement. If he were ever to find this again, it wouldn’t be with Cassida, and now having experienced it, he
...more
Matias stared at her as if she had sprouted a second head. “What?” “The New Delphi Spaceport Customs crew leader owes you a favor because you remembered that his father likes Conuvian pottery.” “Yes, I make sure to send a piece every year on his birthday. They are a nice family.” “The assistant immigration court clerk loves you because you helped him smuggle in a foo foo dog for his wife.” “It is an Albine Needlehair Spaniel. They’re fierce.” “All seven kilos of them.” “Small dog, big heart.” “The OTC chief cracked a file open for you because you got her and her husband an artist to paint a
...more
He gave her a sharp look. “You’re a spider. You sit in the middle of your beautifully woven web and pull the right strings until your prize lands in front of you.” Beautifully woven, even. She wiggled her fingers at him. “Fear my spider legs, Baena.”
“That’s the beauty of it, Matias. None of them owe me anything. They help me because they consider me a friend. Being kind to people and paying attention shouldn’t be done with the expectation of repayment. I helped them because I could, and it made me happy.”
Back then time stood still during summer. Now it was just another season filled with deadlines. They were a week into it, and she’d barely noticed.
He chuckled. It sounded bitter. “How long?” “Since I spent a summer in the province? Four years.” He held out his hand, showing her five fingers. “Why do we do this to ourselves?” she wondered.
“So much glamour. Sometimes I am so glamorous I forget to take a shower for three days and sleep in my office.”
“If you’re too tired, I can take over,” she offered. “I could fly this thing in my sleep.” Sure, you could. “Bad choice of words.”
“You’re our lifelong potential enemy, Baena. We keep an eye on your possible allies.” “Then I have nothing to fear. Your surveillance is good, but your judgment is crap. The Drewerys have never been my allies.”
“Communication, Matias,” she ground out. “Try it next time. Before you do something like that again.” His eyes turned warm. He leaned toward her, and she had to retract the blade to keep from cutting his throat. “I won’t let you die, Ramona.” His voice was quiet and intimate.
He knew it was for the cameras. He had no doubt they were being watched and that whoever saw that on the other end likely wet themselves. But she had done it flawlessly. Every line of her body, every twist, every movement was the definition of deadly grace. Jealousy seared him. He wished she had done it just for him. He wished he was the one to parry it.
“Did I miss one?” “No. He was dying. I ended it quickly for him.” “It was more than he deserved.” “My apologies. I’ll restrain myself next time.” He remembered her striking on the atrium path. “Please don’t ever restrain yourself on my account.”
She glanced at the walls and the floor he’d painted red, put her hand in his, and let him lead her through the bloodstains.
A duel with Matias would be the hardest fight of her life. She was sure of it.
“Your daughter took something of mine,” Ramona said, keeping her tone light. “She can have my husband. That’s his choice. She can’t have my research. That belongs to me
“Was it good for you?” she asked. “The best.” He grinned at her like a lunatic and laughed.
If she told her family who had watched over her while she’d slept, they would never believe it.
She and Matias didn’t fight in the same way. Their technique differed, but it didn’t matter. They moved at the same time, coordinating their defense and attacks without speaking. It was as if they had the exact same instincts. It was the closest she’d ever come to synchronization.
Something unexplainable happened when two secare synchronized. Ray Adler, her distant ancestor who’d made Rada his home, called it “a perfect harmony” in his notes. He wrote of a bond, a connection that happened on a seco level that was “stronger than love and family.”
Matias in repose. She wished she could take a picture. Her brothers would lose their minds.
She shook her head. “Matias, do you ever relax? Do you even know what that word means?” He smiled. “I do. I have even been known to allow myself a sensible chuckle on occasion.”
“I’m relaxed right now,” Matias said. “This is it right here. You’re watching it happen.” “I feel so privileged.” “You should.”
But right now, asleep, he was relaxed. His expression lost its severe edge. When he forgot to scowl, Matias was a handsome man.
She wondered what it would be like to kiss him. What would his eyes look like when she touched his lips? If she melted that ice and let out the fire, how hot would it burn?
She looked out at the woods shivering behind the gray curtain of the rain. Back when she was a young woman, before Gabriel, before the engagement she didn’t want and marriage she had to endure—when that Ramona dreamed about her future husband, she had imagined someone exactly like Matias. He was everything she wanted. Competent. Smart. Dangerous. Decisive. Loyal.
That last one stung so much. She could have forgiven Gabriel so many sins if only he’d been loyal. If only he’d cared for her. She was starved for affection.
When she looked back at her life of the past four years, it felt grim, a foreboding sketch in black and white. The color didn’t vanish overnight. It was a slow, gradual desaturation brought about by small choices.
