VIOLA
The next few days go by too slowly. As soon as Dante told me where Dino was, I wanted to go to him or at least stalk him. But Lorcan tackled me to the floor while Quinn talked some sense into me.
They only let me up once I agreed to wait a few days. Lorcan likes to plan, and so does Quinn. The two of them together are annoying as hell. But as they explained, not rushing in gives me time to heal and everyone else time to formulate a strategy. I get the latter part. I’m a paid killer. I usually don’t rush into things. But if a job lands on my desk, I like to scope things out right away. I have to see how the land lies for myself. Trusting intel only can get you killed.
For the healing part, I disagree.
All I’ve done is recuperate. I’m done with waiting.
Jude, at least, seems to be onboard, spending most of his time between doing the perimeter checks with me with Dante. I don’t know what they do all day, but it’s given me a little bit of breathing space to know Jude is keeping an eye on my mentor and that my mentor is helping Jude deal with his demons.
Dante is good at that, at least.
Now all I have to worry about is Lorcan. When I told him about the hit on him and what Byron said, he didn’t seem interested. In fact, he told me to forget about it.
“It’s not important.” Those are the words he uses as he looks at me with those intense green eyes.
“My father is trying to kill you.”
He gives me shuttered look. “Someone is always trying to kill me.”
“And you really don’t want to know who your real parents are?” I ask to be sure.
He shrugs. “If what you said is true, they gave me away. Why the fuck would I want to know them?”
All my life, I’ve thought about what it would be like to have different parents. Being the daughter of a monster means one day I’m going to turn out just like him. That’s probably happened already. I can’t escape it.
Adrien made me who I am through both nature and nurture.
Lorcan is upset with them, so I understand that means he doesn’t want to know because of what they did.
But I would be curious.
That’s the difference between him and me.
I don’t hold grudges.
Well, not easily.
But “Fine,” is all I say with a shrug. He sighs and draws me closer, inhaling as he wraps his arms around me.
“I still can’t believe you’re fucking here. Don’t you ever leave me again, or I’ll hunt you down and tattoo my name on your goddamn ass cheek.”
To pass the time quicker, I train with Dante, and we settle into a routine of early morning boot camp and then, after breakfast, sparring sessions. Sometimes Lorcan joins us, sometimes Quinn, but not Jude. Never Jude. The boy likes to have a lie-in way too much.
Dante makes it his mission to get me to yield in as less time as possible. I make it mine to cause him as much pain as I can. Usually, he wins, but occasionally I get a sly dig in.
“You’re favoring your right side because of your wrist. It makes you predictable,” he says one morning. It’s been about three days since we found out where Adrien is keeping Dino, and we’re still here, pissing about. The raw frustration at not being able to do a damn thing, a prickling heat under my skin, has been eating away at me. I want to really hurt someone.
Especially Dante.
“Knives,” I say, huffing. “Let’s go with knives next.”
Dante’s mouth twitches at the corners. “Really, that bad?” We’re alone today, so I won’t scare anyone if I go supernova at my ex-mentor. I know he can take it.
I. Just. Need. Release.
Fucking hasn’t been enough lately.