Nix. (Den of Mercenaries Book 3) Read online

  He pulled her chair out, pushing it forward once she was seated, then circled to take his own seat at the head of the table where the place setting was waiting.

  It shouldn’t have been anything difficult, sitting at a table to eat like a normal person, but she almost felt clumsy as she adjusted in the chair.

  Over the last few years, she couldn’t remember the last time she ate at a table as opposed to on the floor. Sitting there, she felt out of place, like she didn’t belong.

  “Have you any allergies?” Kit asked, resting his elbows on the table. “Best I know now lest I kill you by mistake.” When she winced, he amended, “Poor choice of words.”

  “Nothing that I’m aware of,” she answered, voice barely above a whisper.

  She didn’t understand what it was about him that made her more wary of his presence than Uilleam’s, especially with their relation, but she felt on edge around him.

  It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes since they sat down that the doors leading into the kitchen were pushed open, a staff of two coming through them carrying domed trays.

  Lobster Caesar salad, a basket of rolls, amongst other things were presented, but Luna didn’t think she had the stomach for any of it anymore.

  It was the lobster, the smell of it. She could remember all too well why she hated the aroma.

  Lawrence liked to toy with her every few days, bringing in the dish every chance he could.

  Sometimes, she had been able to hear the heavy waves crashing against the shore, making her think they were close to the ocean—it would also explain all the seafood he ate.

  So many nights, he would come into her room with plates of food, forcing her to kneel on the floor next to his feet as he ate his meal, but not before he made it a point to show her exactly what she was missing. He would spear some of it, holding it beneath her nose to make her hunger grow, and only when she begged did he finally eat without giving her any, laughing at her weakness.

  No, she really hated the smell of lobster.

  Kit’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Is something wrong?”

  Though the smell of it was making her mouth water with the urge to vomit, Luna shook her head, forcing a smile.

  She was supposed to be grateful, that was what Lawrence had always told her.

  Kit didn’t leave it at that. “Better to tell an unkind truth than to tell a lie.”

  That was easy to say, but she had seen the consequences of unwanted opinions. “I’m fine.”

  He looked like he wanted to argue further, but he remained silent, not speaking again until their plates were placed in front of them. “How well do you know Uilleam?”

  “Not very well.”

  Kit looked skeptical. “But well enough that he told you his name.”

  Luna didn’t realize her mistake until then, but she didn’t get the chance to correct herself before he went on.

  “Have you crossed paths with him before?”

  She shook her head.

  “Are you sure you just don’t remember him?”

  Luna shook her head again. “I don’t think I would have forgotten him.”

  Kit’s lips thinned. “No? Why’s that?”

  She couldn’t say why that question rankled her. “Because I haven’t forgotten any of them. I’ve never seen him before today.” Or yesterday … she wasn’t sure what day it was.

  “That, I believe.”

  Luna looked at him, not understanding his change of response.

  Kit explained, “Lying, you’re terrible at it. When I asked if you were fine, you clenched your hand, but when I asked if you knew Uilleam, you didn’t tense. Learn to break that habit.”

  He’d barely finished that statement before she was ducking her hands beneath the table. It was unnerving, the way he watched her—studied her. She couldn’t understand for the life of her what he was seeing that made him stare for so long.

  Luna’s gaze flickered over to Aidra, where the woman was now seated in a chair across the room, a tablet in her hands as she scanned something.

  If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought Aidra had no longer been in the room.

  “Would you care to tell me why you don’t eat lobster?” he asked, drawing Luna’s attention back to him as he raised his fork.

  She blinked in surprise, looking down to the plate in front of her, wondering when she had given him any indication she didn’t like what was offered. “I—”

  “The truth this time.”

  Chewing her lip, she thought about not answering, but figured there was no point since he would probably force it out of her. “It was his favorite,” she said eventually.

  “He?”

  “Lawrence Kendall. He—”

  “Emmett Kendall’s son,” Kit said thoughtfully. “I’m familiar with them both.”

  Did that mean he frequented the Kendall Estate?

  He was attractive, more than attractive really, but then again, maybe he needed the power kick like Lawrence. It wasn’t about the girl anymore, but rather the strength they could wield.

  When she didn’t answer, Kit’s gaze shifted to Aidra, words falling from his lips in a language Luna didn’t understand. The other woman responded in kind before she nodded and started off into the kitchen, taking Luna’s plate as she went.

  “It’s really not—”

  “How did you find yourself in Emmett’s brothel?” Kit interrupted, picking up his glass of water. “Did he find you or did you find him?”

  He made it sound as though she had a choice in the matter—that she had actively sought out being a slave to Lawrence’s wants. “Neither. I was given to him.”

  He nodded, but like his brother, he didn’t seem very interested in the information, making Luna wonder why he had even bothered to ask. “And I assume you were then offered to Lawrence?”

  “Not exactly.”

  Kit looked confused. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

  Luna fidgeted with her hands in her lap, her leg bouncing beneath the table. “I was supposed to be one of the girls—Emmett’s girls—but Lawrence wanted me to himself.”

  “Was that not preferable to the other possibility?”

  “Are you serious?” The question exploded out of her before she could swallow it back down.

  The way he made it sound, she should have been appreciative that Lawrence had chosen her, as though everything he had put her through couldn’t have possibly been as bad compared to what she might have suffered at the hands of others.

  Kit didn’t look apologetic, but he was regarding her differently now. “I—”

  “No, I never considered who I would prefer to be raped by when I was there. And no, when I was fourteen, or the three years since, I didn’t want Lawrence, or his friends.”

  What suspiciously sounded like a curse sprang from his mouth as he dropped his fork with a clatter on his plate, the rest of his food left untouched. “It was a poor choice of words. I didn’t mean to imply—”

  “If I was given a preference, I would have chosen not to have Lawrence’s attention.” Her eyes stung with the need to cry, her fists clenched tight. “There was a time limit for the men that came there—I’m sure you remember that well—so they took what they wanted then left. There was no leaving with Lawrence. When he wanted to rape me, he did. It didn’t matter when, where, or who was watching. So if you think I wanted that, you’re as sick as he is.”

  “My apologies, Luna,” he whispered.

  And he actually sounded sorry, but Luna didn’t care—she was under no obligation to.

  “Can I go?” she asked looking down at her hands.

  She wanted to get out of there, to escape from this disaster—at least before she made a fool of herself and actually cried. She had learned to hold them in when she was with Lawrence because he craved them—hey were what got him off the most besides her pain—and she wasn’t going to let him make her cry just because he hurt her feelings.

  “Yo
u haven’t eaten,” he pointed out, oddly.

  Did he think that really mattered?

  “I’m not hungry.” It wouldn’t be the first time she went to bed on an empty stomach. Another day wouldn’t hurt.

  But Kit wasn’t willing to give up that quickly. “I offended you, that wasn’t my intention.”

  Maybe he hadn’t, but the damage was already done. So for once, Luna did something she usually didn’t.

  She squeezed her eyes shut a moment before saying, “Please.”

  Kit looked like he wanted to argue further, but ultimately he sat back with a sigh, and nodded once.

  Luna was out of her seat in seconds, careful not to disturb the new plate setting as she slipped out of the chair and darted off back down the hallway.

  But when she got back to her room, she didn’t go to bed as she’d intended, but slipped out the French doors, sitting down near the very edge of the stone balcony where she had the best view of the moon and stars.

  This, she thought with emotion squeezing in her chest, this was as close to freedom as she would ever get.

  But … it didn’t have to be.

  Uilleam had told her before he disappeared that she was free to walk the grounds, so at the very least, she could leave this room.

  She wanted to feel the grass beneath her feet—feel the cool air on her skin and breathe it all in.

  She wanted to feel alive.

  Glancing over the balcony once more, she tried to gauge the drop before carefully swinging one leg over, checking her balance, then did the other. Carefully, she laid her palms on the stone and dropped, wind whistling through her hair as she rushed to the ground, landing with a stumble before losing her footing.

  With a triumphant smile, Luna rolled onto her stomach before pushing to her feet. The blades of grass were slightly damp, though the sky was clear.

  She was walking at first, content at just feeling the blades of grass beneath her feet, then she was running, away from the château, away from the man inside it, and away from the reminder that her life was not her own.

  Luna didn’t know where she was going, if there was anywhere to go, but she ran as fast as her feet would carry her.

  There was a lightness to her step as she darted across the lawn. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Luna didn’t stop until she was yards away from her new home.

  Out here, the strain lessened.

  She could do this.

  She could survive for a little while longer until her debt was repaid.

  In her haste to get away, Luna hadn’t considered where Kit’s guards were stationed. She was just coming around a marble sculpture when she stopped short, nearly running into one of the four from earlier.

  His mask, or rather the glowing art that decorated it was all Luna could see—the only one that hadn’t added any design to his besides the void where the mouth should have been.

  Never mind the disturbing mask he wore, he was still dressed as though he were going to war with a gun in his hands.

  He didn’t speak, and she almost wished he had because the eerie silence they were standing in only made her more nervous. When she took a step back, his head canted to one side like an animal.

  When she took another, he cocked the hammer back on the gun in his hand. She didn’t move another inch.

  Though she couldn’t see his face, she could tell he was looking at her as he pressed a button on the side of his vest.

  Not a minute later, footsteps sounded behind her. She was almost too afraid to turn around and face whoever was standing there—and despite their conversation, a part of her hoped it would be Kit, if only because he could call this man off.

  Her wish was granted as she turned and found him standing there.

  Was he upset?

  Was he annoyed?

  She couldn’t tell, his face revealed nothing. Not sure if she was in trouble or not, she remained silent, clasping her hands behind her back, though she quickly moved them back. She wasn’t with Lawrence anymore.

  Kit caught her movement though, his eyes darting down a moment before returning to her face. “Perhaps you would like to go through the door next time? And don’t,” he said when she opened her mouth, “don’t apologize. There’s no need. You’re not my prisoner—you can venture where you like.”

  Gaze going beyond her, he offered clipped words to the man standing behind her, but she got the gist of what he was saying as the guard stashed his gun away and started around them, though not before giving a two-finger salute as the shadows swallowed him.

  Unbidden, Luna asked, “Is he always so silent?”

  “Tăcut can’t speak.”

  “Is that a rule of yours?”

  “His vocal cords were removed.”

  Luna put her own hand up to her throat, looking to where he had disappeared. “Why would you do that?” Luna didn’t think that anyone would want that willingly.

  “It was before I knew him.”

  An apology was at the tip of her tongue, but she remembered the way he told her not to, and decided to keep it to herself.

  She had been looking so intently toward the château that she hadn’t realized Kit was studying her until the silence seemed to echo.

  “I apologize for what I said earlier,” he said, his voice a touch kinder than before. “My intention wasn’t to offend.”

  Luna couldn’t remember the last time someone had apologized to her, especially for something that most wouldn’t consider a big thing. The ridiculous urge to tell him that it was fine, he hadn’t hurt her feelings that bad came over her, but she swallowed those words back down.

  Instead, she said, “You don’t have to apologize.”

  “When I’m wrong, I will.” Holding his hand out toward the house, he asked, “Shall we?”

  He led her to a door, stepping off to the side to allow her to go ahead of him. She could smell the chlorine scenting the air wherever they were, but it wasn’t until he had the door closed once more did the lights suddenly flicker on and she could see the pool.

  It was … amazing.

  At home, hers had been one of those above-ground pools that was large but unsightly. This one was a beauty to see.

  Blue mosaic tile lined the interior of the pool, making the water shine brighter, but it was the light fixtures on the ceiling that made the water sparkle.

  “Constellations,” Kit explained reaching her side.

  She had figured they were stars, but she had never been very good at seeing the patterns. “Is it the Big Dipper?”

  A corner of his lips tugged, but he didn’t smile completely. “Look here.”

  He pointed, tracing out the shape for her to see, but even as she smiled, she still didn’t know what he had shown her.

  “The Phoenix.”

  If she squinted, she could almost imagine it up there. “Why the phoenix?”

  His smile was distant, secretive. “You’ll learn soon enough.”

  Outside of the pool room, there was a sauna and a personal gym, and once the hallway narrowed, there was a stone staircase that led back up to the main floor of the château.

  Luna thought that he would venture off now that she was back inside—and probably thoroughly locked in—but he walked her to her room instead. And when they got there, Luna understood why.

  There was a tray of food waiting for her in front of the door, laden with more than she had seen in days.

  “Aidra will find you in the morning,” Kit said glancing from it to her. “If there’s something you don’t like, let her know and she’ll make sure the chefs are properly informed.”

  “You don’t have to go through that trouble.”

  “It’s not a problem at all.”

  Well … “Thank you.”

  “Rest. I’m sure you’re tired.”

  Now that she had come down from the high of being outside, Luna was more than ready to climb into bed and shut her eyes.

  “Tomorrow, we’ll discuss things more so I can give you
a better understanding of why you’re here. Should you need me, my room is one floor up, last door on your left. I—”

  “Is everyone upstairs?” she asked quickly, not having considered that at some point, the guards had to sleep.

  The idea of them walking around while—

  “No one is going to hurt you here,” Kit said, interrupting her train of thought. “And if it makes you feel better, this door has a lock on it—feel free to utilize it.”

  It was hard not to express how relieved that made her feel. Maybe now she could actually sleep without fear of someone coming in while she was unaware.

  “Thank you again, Kit.”

  He smiled when she said his name, one that reached his eyes and made her want to smile back.

  The notion was baffling.

  Before she made a fool of herself, she quickly grabbed the tray and walked back into her bedroom. By the time she finished setting it on the bed and coming back, Kit was already gone.

  Chapter Five

  “It’s not often you put your foot in your mouth, Nix. I thought they trained you better than that,” Aidra pondered aloud while Kit walked to his office after seeing Luna to her room.

  Luna.

  There weren’t many complications Kit faced that he couldn’t overcome, that was one of his specialities, but he could already see that she was going to be one.

  After his blunder at dinner, he hadn’t expected Fang—one of the Wild Bunch—to find him, letting him know with an amused sort of smile that the girl had hopped over her balcony, and taken off.

  She had to have known she wouldn’t get far, not with the tracker affixed to her leg.

  “Where did you find her, exactly?” Aidra asked.

  Tone clipped, Kit responded, “I didn’t. Tăcut did. She was nearly to the tree line when he saw her.”

  “Do you think she was running?”

  Even if she wanted to, there had been no point in trying, not when Uilleam had put a tracker on her, and he had guards around constantly. She had to have known she wouldn’t get very far, but Kit didn’t think she was trying to run.