Page 20 of The Eternal Choice
I slide my gaze in Nario’s direction, curious about his answer, and find his attention focused on me. Refusing to be glared at by that asshole, I raise my eyebrow in challenge.
He’s clearly riled when he snarls, “She shouldn’t be here. We’re discussing clan matters and she’s not part of the inner circle, and a woman.”
Did he really just throw the “she has a vagina and therefore incapable” card in the ring? What a fucking asshole. He’s the prime example of how dragons have been stuck in the stone age and are close to extinction.
I’m about to slam the book in my hands shut and throw it on the table before me so I can get in his face and give him a piece of my mind when Ernestino snaps, “With your fucked-up actions these past few weeks I’m having doubts if you should be here, Nario. So, it’s safe to say that at this point I trust Lilliana more than you.”
A grin slides across my face. Stick that in your pocket, asshole. Damn, it feels good to hear my mate has my back. It’s for this reason I direct my gaze back to the book and continue to flip the pages while sucking up the words.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Nario snarls, and it sounds like two voices molded into one. “You’re really stepping into father’s footsteps. Are you going to become as weak as he was if your woman dies in childbirth as well? If I were you, I’d start looking for one with a similar name because in a few months you might need a runner-up.”
I tear my gaze away from the words and stare at Nario who has smoke wafting from his nostrils. The air feels thin and there’s a negative vibe flowing through the room.
“Oh, fuck,” Leandro mumbles.
He’s staring at my mate, and my ass is out of the chair when I see a blur appearing above the skin of Ernestino’s hands. His eyes are slits and it’s clear his dragon is right there at the surface.
“Hey, asshole.” I give a hard shove against Nario’s shoulder. “I don’t know about your parents’ history, but I do know you’re out of line. Talking to your brother with a big mouth is one thing, talking to a clan leader the way you just did? You lack more respect than a rat wiping his feet right before he eats the food right from your cabinet. And for your information, that means less than nothing. Though, the real point here is why you chose to do it, instead of answering his question. Come on, let’s hear it. Why did you have the prisoner’s mouth sewn shut? In my opinion it’s because you either already know what he might say, or you want to prevent him from saying shit when someone can walk in at any moment. Either way it makes you guilty as fuck and it should be you who is tied to a chair while we torture you for some answers.” I lean in and add with a fake whisper, “Surprise…I wouldn’t be sewing your mouth shut.”
His words are thrown out through clenched teeth. “I. Don’t. Answer. To. Any. Female.”
Weird. Normally someone would say, “I don’t answer to you,” but he specifically said to a female. He’s really from the stone age if you ask me, or he has some serious issues toward the opposite sex.
I feel Ernestino’s hand on my hip before I hear his voice. “You do answer to me, and I’m going to give you one more chance to answer the question.”
“Or what, brother?” Nario sneers. “You’re going to downgrade me some more? Well, I hate to break it to you, but I already hit rock bottom when you made me report to Ivano.”
I shove a finger into the air and can’t help myself when I remind everyone, “And still you managed to fuck that up.”
His mouth opens and a puff of air huffs out. I can feel the heat of it on my skin and I narrow my eyes at the fucker.
“I didn’t fuck it up, I was just following his order which was to thoroughly question the prisoner and not to let him die. If I remember correctly, it wasn’t me who killed him now was it?” He manages to look fucking smug.
I narrow my eyes and repeat the words he threw at his brother, “This is my kill. Those are the exact words you said when we pulled you away from the prisoner. You wanted to kill him, didn’t you?”
Nario’s upper lip twitches. “Yes. So what? He’s the enemy, casualties are expected. He would have killed me too if he had the chance.”
Tilting my head, I try to understand why I tasted two lies.
“He would have killed you?” I ask to clarify.
Nario looks down his nose at me and grits, “Yes.”
A lie.
I keep my cool and casually ask, “Do you know about the tunnels Marshgloom made?”
Nario frowns and looks as annoyed as he sounds when he asks, “What tunnels?”
Another lie. Oh, that slimy fuck. He knows. How? Did he get the information from the prisoner before he sewed his mouth shut? If so, why didn’t he share the details with Ernestino?
Unless… “If Marshgloom made tunnels to get to the gems, would you lead a team down there to shut them down?”
“Now I’m a leader?” he grits and jerks his chin in his brother’s direction. “If there were tunnels then Ernestino would be the one leading the team. You will check I assume? I mean, something as crucial as tunnels in our mines would give opportunity for them to rob us blind.”
I snort and his annoyance spikes. Good. The fucker is full of shit and I’m getting a seriously bad vibe from him.
“Are we done here?” Nario asks Ernestino.
