She was in shock, that much was obvious. I glared at Amabella, gesturing to my cousin. “Were you not going to fucking heal her?”
Amabella chuckled. “So angry all the time. You’re ridiculous. Of course I offered, but would you accept healing from a strange woman in an unfamiliar place? She turned me down. Besides, the only injuries she has are a tiny nick on her neck, and those scrapes on her hands. They didn’t hurt her.”
That was a fucking surprise. They’d had plenty of time to hurt her after realizing I’d been stolen away, and I’d assumed they would. Nolan must have seen the wheels turning in my head. “I lied to you before,” he said. “When we spoke, I already had your cousin. She was the first thing I grabbed once I knew you were with me.”
“You’re a fucking asshole.”
He shrugged. “Would you rather I not have procured her right away?”
I grit my teeth. With all the grinding, I’d be better off getting a mouth guard to protect the poor things. Turning back to May, I forced on a small smile. She almost smiled back, probably because it was amusing how my smile looked anything but joyful. “Have they treated you well here?”
She nodded. “I have my own bedroom. They let me shower and put on some new clothes, and fed me. Much better than the other place. He had me strapped to a chair in a dingy basement.”
“Good. Nolan, when are you bringing her home?”
The asshole had the audacity to laugh. It echoed. “We’re not bringing her home. Why would I place her right back into Kylan’s reach? If I do that, she’ll be captured again and you’ll insist I go save her, and it’ll be more difficult the next time around. No, she’ll stay here with us for the foreseeable future.”
“What the fuck? That’s not acceptable. My aunts can protect her.”
I moved away from where May was standing, closer to Nolan. He not only wasn’t scared of my threats, but seemed to find them funny. How funny would he find it when I had a dagger shoved through his heart? He was irritating enough that I may restart my assassination plans and target him instead of Kylan.
“Do you not agree with my assessment? Kylan won’t give up, love. She’s safer here. Hasn’t she told you her accommodations are better than yours? It’s not the worst place in the world to spend some time.”
“Safer? With you? I fucking doubt it. What’s stopping you from using her to manipulate me?”
“Oh, I absolutely plan to do that. It’s not a secret.”
“I hate you,” I said, practically hissing.
“This passion is kind of a turn on.”
“I’m concerned for you if passionate hatred is arousing.”
He shrugged one shoulder. His grin was more of a smirk at the moment. I was becoming increasingly familiar with the several flavours of smile from Nolan. Grinning, smirking, beaming, smiling. They all had faintly different connotations. The only thing that was the same was how they irritated me equally.
“Regardless,” he said, “as long as you’re a good girl your cousin will have a pleasant break from reality here. A vacation, if you will.”
“Call me a good girl again and you will fucking regret it.”
I really was a truly horrible prisoner. No good at keeping my mouth shut. He chuckled and gestured to my small prison home. “Well, it’s a good thing you won’t be let out from behind bars anytime soon. So be good.”
“Taking out the girl and just telling me to be good changes nothing about my response.”
A small giggle burst from Mabel, and I glanced over to find her covering her mouth, her eyes wide as a hint of fear overtook the amusement. She looked to Nolan and this time, his smile was soft. Not teasing like most of the ones he’d sent in my direction. Comforting, like he wanted her to be at ease.
Fuck if it didn’t warm me up to him, just a tiny amount.
When she realized she wouldn’t be penalized for laughing, May’s smile came back and she relaxed. I sighed. He had a point. Clara and Elodie would try to protect her, with Joanne’s help, and they’d be able to protect themselves if Kylan tried for a different hostage. However, if Mabel was out in the world, she wouldn’t want to be cooped up. She had too many friends, both Nulls and supernaturals.
It was better if they forced her to stay here where she was safe, instead of my aunts strongly suggesting she not leave their sphere of influence.
Did it make me a bad cousin, that I was OK with her being imprisoned?
I could work through the morality later. Stepping back over to May, I offered her a smile that she finally returned. “I want to say you’ll be completely safe here, but I can’t,” I said, and her smile flickered. “But honestly, this is the safest place for you right now. I’m so sorry I ended up pulling you into this mess.”
“I’m just glad you’re OK,” she said, reaching through the bars so our fingers touched. “Those other people wanted to do terrible things to you.”
“Unfortunately, I can imagine. I’m kind of used to threats.”
