“You look good together.” Teddy smiles. “I just wish I had done someth-”
“It was destiny,” I interrupt him. “I’m learning to look past the first shit hand fate dealt me.”
“I’ll drink to that.” He slides a wine glass to me and then raises his. “Fuck fate and being fucked by it.”
I knock back the white wine, savouring the hints of stone fruit that grace my palette before swallowing. The uneasiness I feel lessens slightly, and when Orthia tosses her arm around the back of my chair, I relax into it. Her fingers trace the shape of my shoulder, carefully avoiding my hair so we are in constant contact. Warmth laps at my skin like waves on the beach.
“So… how did you learn about all this?” I ask after the server drops off an entire tray of hors d’oeuvres.
“My long-dead relative was a highborn druid.” Teddy sighs. “Very powerful, very disliked by all. I’ve got the last bit of magic left in the lineage, so I am being urged to find a suitable partner to procreate with to continue the family’s misguided legacy.”
“I didn’t mind Milson Bushwipper too much.” Orthia grabs a crab cake and offers it to me, feeds it to me really because she refuses to let go of the thing. “He liked being in everyone’s business, which meant he liked to know things. When I told him my grand mission, he learned to stay the fuck away lest he meet the sharp end of my blade.”
“Others aren’t so open.” Teddy giggles over his wine glass. “But I also have a penchant for needing to know everything.”
“Which is why we are great friends,” I agree. “If I knew of any decent men, Teddy, I would send them your way, but I am happily living without them.”
“I don’t think I really fancy parenting anything, anyway. Not even a plant.”
“Now, c’mon,” Marcus pipes up, distracted from the bidding. “Ted, you’d be a great dad.”
Teddy shivers at the thought, and the conversation moves on. I look around the room and find the back of Mile’s head. I stare at his dark hair, the cut of his shoulders looking bigger than I remember. Probably padding in his suit. He bids on stupid stuff, wins a load of shit that I can only imagine will refill his family’s once empty house if they haven’t done that already. Vases, paintings, Persian rugs— his bill is racking up higher and higher.
He’s enjoying spending my money, while I watch, unable to do anything about it. I’ll never get back my trust fund, whatever is left of it, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy watching it be squandered away. After bidding insanely over the value of a truly hideous balloon animal sculpture, he turns enough to look at me. I hope he felt so inclined to do so because he could feel the daggers I’m glaring at him, but he smirks. Miles looks pleased with himself and not at all scared to see me. Slapping his hand on the back of a man seated next him, he stands to leave.
Unlike Orthia, who had to secure payment early as an unknown buyer, the Bradshaws do not. They are expected to spend large sums of money, and the club knows they are good for it. Well, they are now at least. It means that when Miles gets up and leaves in the direction of the bathroom, I get up as well. Charlotte catches my eye and nods, the only bit of encouragement she can offer me right now.
This won’t be the last time I see her, or Teddy, but there is a sense of finality when I look up at them to leave the table. They understand, I am on a vastly different life path now than I was three months ago, or when I first moved to Gwenmore. The openness in their expressions that I didn’t know I was missing, makes it feel like I’m on a better path than I ever thought possible for myself.
Orthia rises with me. She nods, the frown on her lips is natural and determined. The set of her shoulders is tight, and I know she hates the suit I’ve dressed her in tonight. I am giddy to be done with it all. Not because I have struggled with the task; on contrary, I think I’ve become pretty damn amazing at this vigilante shit. The idea of spending eternity murdering bad people side by side with my soulmate is what I am giddy for.
The lobby to the club is quiet as we follow Miles. He doesn’t head for the bathroom as expected. I wouldn’t have put it past him to need a top up of whatever designer drug he is currently interested in, but instead he takes a left that leads to the private entrance of the wharf. Orthia draws the daggers from her under her jacket and I do the same. I catch the blush on her cheek as I raise the hem of my dress and she sees the thigh holster.
“I knew it was there, but seeing it…” She trails off, eyes glued to the straps until I drop my dress again.
“Later,wife.”
Miles is halfway to thePlatinum Signalby the time we are on the vast rows of docked yachts. Beyond the simple security lighting, there aren’t any security guards around. Everyone is too focused on the charity gala to worry about non-members sneaking in.
When our engagement party was here I remember them mentioning that security does rounds regularly, but I didn’t care enough at the time to really worry about it. The people who dock their massive pleasure ships here are the type of people who don’t want security cameras seeing what all they get up to. What they care about is making sure outsiders aren’t let in.
But we are already in. As Miles steps onto the family ship without a care in the world, we are only a few paces behind him. It’s still moored, so won’t be sailing off, but we are far enough away from the crowd that when I beat the shit out of him before killing him, nobody will hear us.
She takes a long moment to look around before saying, “I’ll go first, make sure there are no ambushes. You have one goal. Don’t get distracted. Ready?”
“Yes, Captain.” I agree without question.
Now isn’t the time for fuck ups. She takes her jacket off and rolls the sleeves of her shirt up to expose the marking on her arms. Already they glow a faint shade of pink, a hint of power slipping through her cool I. Orthia is ready to take on an army so I can kill my ex.
I grab her by the holster and kiss her, smearing whatever remains of my lip gloss on her mouth. She pries my mouth open and pomegranates burst on my tongue like popping candy. Her tongue tangles with mine for barely a second before she is pulling away.
“Kiss me proper when he’s dead,” she whispers before darting up intoThe Platinum Signal.
A heavy breath blows past my lips. I am going to do so much more than kiss her when this night is done. We are going to have the fucking party of the century, the orgy of the century. There won’t be a part of Orthia that goes without my mouth on it.
Ahead of me, it’s silent, so I focus on breathing when I step on to the yacht. My stomach rolls slightly, my knees wobble for a moment, but I push through. The halls are dark, and as much as I want to turn on my phone light, I don’t. The element of surprise should make this easier. My free hand fumbles for the wall, and I use that to keep my balance as we hunt down Miles.
It’s too maddening, and the silence breaks with every step I take across through the lower deck towards the staircase. The purse in my hand weighs twice as much. That pit in my stomach grows the longer I wander around the yacht. There are too many places for Miles to hide. I end up at the back of the lower deck, out in the open air again and staring out at the bay, and the Atlantic.
