“You know … the Kingmaker is kind of hot in a way—like you don’t know whether he wants to fuck you or kill you,” Winter remarked thoughtfully, standing in front of the floor-length mirror, examining the tattooed sleeve of roses down the length of her arm.

Luna frowned.

While she would have been the first to admit that Uilleam was unreasonably attractive, he had turned into something of a brother figure to her and that dampened the whole sexy thing she had once thought he possessed.

Oblivious to her slight disgust, Winter glanced back at her through the mirror. “Does your hubs look like him?”

Same intensity in their eyes though the color differed.

Same brooding nature …

Same surly disposition …

They had the same eyebrows?

“A little?” Luna settled on saying, though it came out sounding more like a question.

“Huh.” Winter plopped down on the couch, toeing off the white Doc Marten boots she wore as she then tucked her feet beneath her. “What are family dinners like? Knife play at all? Oh, are there any other brothers? ‘Cause while slightly terrifying, I’m obviously attracted to crazy.”

Speaking of crazy … “How’s Syn, by the way? Last I heard, he was over in Eastern Europe.”

At the mention of Syn’s name, Winter rolled her eyes. “He’s as good as he can possibly be. You know, hunting and killing things is how he gets his rocks off. Oh, and annoying the hell out of me.”

Syn could be a bit … unreasonable when it came to Winter.

“But we’re not talking about him—we’re talking about the mystery man that I didn’t even know existed until like … weeks ago.”

Luna shouldn’t have been surprised that word had gotten around so quickly that she was married, and to the Kingmaker’s brother nonetheless. Of course, no one in the Den particularly cared about this information—unless it directly involved them—but Winter wasn’t like them.

She was helplessly curious, always wanting to know every little detail, but that made sense since she did work as a hacker. She thrived in information.

“I hope not,” Luna answered, thinking about her question.

There were many secrets about the Runehart family that even she still didn’t know, but she really did hope that there wasn’t another brother.

Two was enough.

“I mean the Kingmaker’s family has to be pretty interesting, right? Considering … well, him. And they’re probably far more fun than Syn, anyway.” Winter looked disgruntled as she said, “Only thing he wants to do is tell me what to do, who to do it with, and when I can do it. Shit is super annoying. It’s not like I’m a child or anything.”

Every member of the Den had a handler, but since Winter wasn’t officially a part of it—for reasons no one was really sure of—she didn’t answer to the Kingmaker like the rest of them.

She answered to Syn.

And that was one person Luna didn’t think even she wanted to answer to.

He was already a little crazy—he hadn’t handled his training very well—and he was prone to violence at the slightest provocation, but with Winter, he was a different force altogether.

“Do you know the last time I got to leave that godforsaken home he sent me to? Do you? More than a year. Anytime I have to do an assignment, it’s right there in the damn living room. I need privacy,” Winter ranted, grabbing the bowl of popcorn she’d procured the minute she was in the house. “He’s always watching me—probably is now, too.”

Her eyes narrowed, Winter scanned the room then stuck her middle finger in the air and waved it around.

“Trust me,” Luna said with a laugh. “Syn isn’t surveilling you—in here, at least.”

“Yeah, whatever. He’ll be around once he finds out I’m here. Anyway, business. Who’s next on the hit list?”

Once Uilleam had dropped her off, leaving her with the file he’d been telling her about before they got there, she wasted no time in going over as much as she could before Winter arrived.

There was little inside that she hadn’t known before, but once she got to the last subject, his name had been unfamiliar.

“Roger Fitzpatrick,” Luna said, handing over the folder. “He’s an investment broker for a private bank in San Francisco. the Kingmaker seems to think that he’s the money behind Ariana’s diamond boutique.”

Originally, Luna had thought Carmen financed the business, or even Caesar, but after going over banking records, the numbers didn’t add up, and the only thing that could be found that matched the transfer numbers led back to Roger—it also helped that with Caesar out of the picture, it made it far easier to comb through his business records.

Pulling out a bulky laptop from the backpack she carried, Winter set it up on the coffee table, flexing her fingers as she opened it up.

Her silver hair glowed under the light of the screen, making Luna wonder if she had refreshed the color since the last time she had seen her.

She hadn’t known what to think of the hacker when they first met—Winter had only been fifteen at the time—but in the time since, they had grown closer. In part because Syn trusted that Luna wouldn’t get her into too much trouble and because she was one of the only other females in the Den.

Plus, she had started looking at Winter as the younger sister she’d never had.

“I’m assuming his records are harder to get to?” Winter asked as her fingers flew over the keys, shifting through five different screens before Luna could even lean forward and see what she was doing.

“He says it has something to do with the bank,” Luna said, remembering bits of what Uilleam had told her on their ride back here. “But due to international banking and all that, he couldn’t get everything.”

“You know, I think it’s totally cool that he trusts my abilities. Maybe I should ask for a raise. Most black hats don’t go for less than a few grand for what I do.”

“Good luck with that.”

“Maybe you could put in a good word for—”

The doorbell sounding had Winter cutting off as her eyes widened, looking at Luna then back toward the door.

“Go ahead,” Luna said, even as she reminded herself of the familiar weight of her knives at her wrists. “Probably the Kingmaker bringing another file.”

But that was doubtful, even she knew that.

Though he had a tendency to pop up whenever he wanted, he would have called first.

Then again, no one else knew she was here … except for Kit.

And just the thought of it being him at the door had her heart kicking up, anticipation thrumming inside her.

Seeing him at the theater had done very little to combat her need to be near him, but she hadn’t expected that he would show up this soon, or at all for that matter.

Even so, she palmed one of her knives, staying light on her feet as she approached the door and checked the peephole, and promptly relaxed, a trace of sadness filling her when she realized who was standing on the other side.

But that sadness was overshadowed with curiosity. “What are you doing here?” she asked once she had the door open.

Standing on the threshold looking every bit as fearsome as the day she met him was Tăcut—one of The Wild Bunch.

His lips quirked as he saw her, the closest thing to a smile she would ever get from him before he touched the top of her head with his hand then stepped around her.

His version of hello.

“By all means,” she said, though she was secretly happy to see him since it had been so long. “Come right on in.”

She knew he wouldn’t respond—no, he couldn’t respond—but she talked to him as though he could anyway. At first, she had wondered if she should treat him differently because of his inability to speak, but she had quickly learned that if she talked to him as if he were like anyone else, the tension in him would relax.

Walking him back into the living room where Winter was still seated, she whipped silver hair over her shoulder as she looked back.

“Holy shit.”

Had the girl actually looked afraid, Luna might have hesitated, but Winter was staring with unabashed appreciation.

Tăcut was tall and broad all over, with dark hair that was cropped close to his head, bringing out the prominent cheekbones and cut of his jaw. It was rare that Luna saw him outside of the gear he usually wore, but she also hadn’t seen him in eighteen months—things changed.

“Winter, this is Tăcut.”

Tăcut, whose brow furrowed at the sight of Winter, gave a short salute.

“It’s awesome meeting you,” Winter said shuffling to her feet, sticking her hand out with very little care that she didn’t really know him. “Are you one of the Den too? I haven’t heard of you.”

Tăcut gave a single shake of his head.

Now it was Winter’s turn to look confused. “Does he not talk? Do you not talk?” She punctuated the question by touching his arm—and if Luna thought she saw correctly, she gave his bicep a little squeeze too.

“He can’t,” Luna explained.

“Like can’t can’t or just forbidden.”

Luna didn’t know the story behind what happened to him—Kit had always said it wasn’t his story to share—but Luna had always wondered what had warranted someone removing Tăcut’s vocal cords.

“No, he physically can’t.”

Tăcut’s gaze went to Winter as Luna finished speaking, maybe waiting to see her reaction, but if he was expecting pity, he didn’t get that from her.

If anything, she looked impressed. “Wicked. So do you know sign language?” she asked, even as she signed the question as well, shocking both Luna and Tăcut.

Watching his expression shift from impassiveness to surprise then to the closest thing to a smile Luna had ever seen, Tăcut signed back.

“Huh.”

“What?”

Winter was still studying Tăcut with a tap of her finger against her chin. “I got the gist of what you’re saying, big guy, but you lost me in there.” Now, she looked at Luna. “Where’s he from?”

“Romania?” she asked as a question to him, and when he nodded, she nodded. “Romania.”

“My Romanian is a bit rusty, but Tăcut … that means silent, or something like that, right?”

He nodded.

“You know, you’re pretty hot for a sort of scary, silent Romanian.”

Tăcut blinked as though he wasn’t sure what to do with her, but his stance relaxed, and unlike when Luna had first been around him, he seemed rather amused by Winter.

“So why are you here?” Luna asked.

Digging into the pocket of his jacket, he tossed her a phone—one that was sleek and reminded her of one of the devices Kit used.

Nearly to the second that he handed it over, the phone started ringing in her hand, and this time when she read the caller ID, she wasn’t disappointed.

“Where’s Fang?” Luna asked once she had the phone to her ear, and she was walking out of the room. “You usually send him to do your bidding.”

“Disappointed?” came Kit’s reply, the sound of his voice making her smile in a way she felt down in the pit of her stomach.

There were no words adequate enough to describe how much she missed him—how one day with him just talking had been enough to ease a lot of the anger she felt. And seeing him tonight hadn’t helped that ache at all.

Already, she wished he was there with her, where they could talk and laugh and just be together.

She missed being with him, sharing the same air he breathed, and the way he could take over a room without ever speaking.

Luna missed him.

“Not disappointed, just curious.”

“Tăcut was free tonight, and I need Fang for something else tomorrow.”

“I don’t mind,” she elaborated, lowering her voice. “It’s nice to see him … even if it isn’t for long. It’s not for long, is it?”

With the way everything was going with the Kingmaker, not to mention the surveillance she knew was still on them with Elias, she doubted Kit would venture any closer. They had to tread carefully.

“I’m afraid not,” Kit said regretfully. “But things are going to change very soon.”

Of that, she had no doubt. There were still some details of the assignment that she didn’t know, especially whatever roles Kit and Uilleam planned to play, but she didn’t doubt that with the pair of them working together, Carmen or Elias would be around for very long.

“How’s my mother?”

In the nearly two years that Kit had been working for the Rivera family, this was the first time Luna had asked about not just what he did for them, but his thoughts on them as well.

“Would you be upset if I said I’ve thought of exactly seventeen different ways to kill her without leaving a mark?”

Luna laughed harder than she should have. “Is it that bad?”

“What do you remember of her?”

Not expecting the question, she fell silent, giving it some thought.

It was hard trying to associate the two versions of Carmen Rivera she knew, though there was only one she was intimately familiar with.

There was the mother who had cooked her meals, made her smile, and the warmth she had exuded … but was that reality or just the memories of a girl who hadn’t known any better? Because over the years, those memories had tarnished a bit.

No longer did she see Carmen speaking with loving affection, but rather with narrowed eyes and her lips turned down at the corners.

“Distant memories,” Luna settled on saying. “Why’s Tăcut here, or rather what’s this phone for?”

“In case you want to speak with me,” he said, and there was a hint of something in his voice, something that told her he wasn’t quite sure if this was true or not. “You can probably guess that we can’t be seen together, not yet. Right now, Elias has focused most of his attention on me and has grown a bit lax with his surveillance on for the others.”

“Is that why the two of you are making your moves now?” Luna asked, realization dawning.

It made sense, though she hadn’t put it together yet.

While Elias had given Uilleam the green light to finish the job with Caesar Rivera and had ultimately given him permission to kill Carmen as well, he hadn’t actually given a timeframe for when her usefulness would run out. It could have been tomorrow or ten years down the line.

“You asked me to fix it—I’m fixing it.”

A hint of a smile touched her lips at his words. “Then I’ll do my best to keep away from you.”

“Don’t try too hard, love. I do have another question for you, though,” he said. “D’you miss me?”

Now, she was really smiling. “How is that relevant?”

“It’s always relevant to me.”

She thought of lying, but she had never been able to lie to him—and he always had a knack for seeing through them. “I’ve always missed you, Kit.”

He made a soft approving noise before asking, “And where would you like to take our second honeymoon?”

“Second honeymoon? I can’t even see you, and you’re already making plans for the future?”

“Because there has never been a time when you wouldn’t be in it. Now, answer the question.”

Luna thought of their last honeymoon, of the short time they had spent basking in marital bliss before she had been called home for a job and everything had fallen to shit.

“Somewhere without cell reception,” she said, smiling when she heard Kit’s laughter.

“I’ll see what I can do. Now, you have a job to do and so do I. If you need me, call me from this number only.”

“Will do, kitten.”

“Kitten?”

“Kit has to be short for something,” Luna remarked with a laugh.

He did his best to hide his own amusement. “Call me that again, and I’ll put you over my knee.”

“Is that a promise?”

“Is that permission?”

A thrill shot down Luna’s spine at his question and the implications behind it. “We’ll see how long you manage to stay away, kitten.”

He grumbled out an angry reply before adding, “Be careful, mi pequeña luna—my little moon.”

“You, too.”

I love you was on the tip of her tongue, but before she could say the words she hadn’t spoken to him in far too long, he was already gone. Returning to the living room where Tăcut and Winter were still waiting, she tucked the phone into her pocket

It was time to work.

---

“A strip club?” Luna asked the next day as she slammed the car door shut, glancing over in Uilleam’s direction as they started for the entrance of the building where they’d only just arrived.

He hadn’t mentioned anything about coming here, had only shown up with instructions for her to get dressed and come along with him.

She knew he had a tendency to pick the most obscure of places to hold his meetings—spontaneity kept him alive, he liked to say—but she hadn’t thought he would ever pick a place like this. Especially one that looked like it was seconds from being condemned—or at the very least, failing some kind of inspection.

“The first rule of good business,” Uilleam said as he removed his sunglasses and tucked them away. “Be available to your client. If he wanted to meet in the oval office, I would ensure that money fell into the right hands to make sure it happened.”

Luna would have thought he would pick the place—it was usually other people coming to him anyway—but whatever Uilleam’s strategy was, he wasn’t sharing it.

Agustín Contreras wasn’t low level, she knew, but his cartel was still one of the lesser knowns—though he was starting to make a name for himself and not just because of his connection to Ariana.

A heavy-set bouncer waited at the black doors, a curling wire wrapped around his ear, his inky black hair greased and gelled back severely. His stern expression didn’t waver at their approach.

“Name?” he demanded, looking only at Uilleam as though he were the only one standing there.

Luna had to resist rolling her eyes at his blatant attempt to undermine her. If she were in the mood—and if this meeting wasn’t important—she would have shown him why that was a dumb idea.

“Tell your boss the Kingmaker has arrived to see him.”

Now the man’s expression changed as he quickly nodded, stepping to the side as he opened the doors and waved them in, his gaze dropping to the ground.

At least Agustín had had the foresight to warn his men just who the Kingmaker was.

Despite its outward appearance, the club wasn’t nearly as dilapidated on the inside as she originally assumed. The floors were polished and clean as were the number of tables around the room and the shiny bar top where two women in gold bikinis mixed drinks.

The center stage was currently occupied by a woman with serious strength considering the way she hung from the gleaming silver pole by only the muscles in her thighs.

A number of other girls were on the floor, all wearing the same uniform of skimpy outfits, but they didn’t look miserable or like they were forced to be there. They all happily engaged the customers—and there were a lot of them despite the morning hour—perching themselves on laps and happily helping themselves to the men’s drinks whenever they were offered.

Expertly navigating the floor as though he had been there hundreds of times, Uilleam led her to the back of the club, merely nodding at the next bouncer they passed who didn’t bother stopping them.

Once they reached the office, whose door was made of steel with a latch in the middle of it that allowed the person on the other side to slide it open to see who stood there, they were greeted by another set of men, and this time, they actually carried guns.

Not just any guns but assault rifles that had Luna’s brow arching as she looked them over. She wasn’t sure what kind of trouble found its way into the club—outside of drunken idiots who might get a little too handsy—but they were obviously prepared for anyone.

But then again, considering the man seated in the office chair, it made sense that he would want the best protection his money could buy.

The moment they were inside the room, Agustín’s gaze came to them, first to Uilleam—and he wore that familiar expression that most did when faced with the Kingmaker for the first time—then to Luna, and on her, he lingered.

“Weapons,” the big, bald one to her left demanded, his finger on the trigger of his gun.

Luna smiled, even as she palmed her knife. “I am the weapon.”

He prepared to say something else but not before Agustín made a noise that made the other man back off. “We’re all friends here, yes?”

He was studying her, his brows drawing together as if he was trying to figure something out about her, but before he could study her for too long, Uilleam interrupted.

“I’m pleased you agreed to this meeting,” he said as he pulled out a chair first for Luna then one for himself.

“When someone says they want to make me a deal I can’t refuse …” Agustín shrugged. “I tend to listen.”

He might have been speaking to Uilleam, but his attention was solely on her. He rubbed his clean-shaven jaw, making a humming sound in the back of his throat. “Why do you look so familiar?”

Because you’re engaged to my sister, Luna wanted to say but wisely kept that thought to herself. “I have a very familiar face.” He could have also known of her because of her work in the Den or even at the Kendall estate.

“Maybe,” he said but didn’t look convinced.

“Business,” Uilleam said. “Shall we?”

“By all means, Mr. Maker,” he said with a sarcastic sort of smile. “Make me an offer I can’t refuse.”

“Carmen Rivera plans to have you murdered.”

Even Luna had to blink in surprise at the bluntness in which Uilleam spoke. There was no hesitation, no easing of the way—he just laid it there at the man’s feet without even blinking.

That ease that had been so transparent in Agustín disappeared as he sat up, grinding out the cigar he held. “And you know this because …?”

“She told me, of course. Right after she asked if I could use one of my mercenaries to see it done.”

Just that quickly, Agustín’s guards went on the defensive, looking at each other then looking at their boss as though they were waiting for a kill order.

For all they knew, Uilleam had accepted the job and was waiting for the man to let his guard down long enough to pull off the hit.

“Your mercenaries?” Agustín questioned. “You think one of your trained dogs can make it to me? Tan lejos llega tu alcance—Is your reach that far?”

Whatever good humor Uilleam had walked in with was long gone as he stared the man down. “My reach is as far as I need it to be. Foolish of you to believe that a killer can’t hide behind a pretty face.”

Wait for my signal, he had said in the car ride over. And though she hadn’t known what he meant at the time, she definitely got it now.

Before either of his guards could move, Luna dropped two daggers into the palm of her hands and let them fly, watching them shoot across the room, straight as arrows, until they landed in the men’s chests.

Tăcut would have been proud.

She hadn’t been trying to kill them—that wasn’t the point of this lesson.

This was just the warning.

Agustín barely spared his men a glance besides checking the accuracy of her throw steepling his fingers in front of him.

“Are you asking for war, Kingmaker?”

Now, Uilleam smiled. “You don’t want to war with me, I assure you, but now that I have your attention, let’s get to why I’m here. As I was saying, Carmen Rivera wants you dead, and she hired me to take care of it. That means you are no longer of any use to her—or at least that’s what she believes—but that’s not entirely true, is it?”

Agustín’s expression didn’t change. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Of course, you know what I mean. Caesar wasn’t the only buyer in the trafficking world, was he? Your father was his lead competitor, isn’t that right? And we all know what happens when you step on too many toes.”

Luna had never witnessed firsthand just what Uilleam did, the slow unveiling of the dirt he had. Even she was looking in his direction, waiting to see what he would say next.

“How do—”

“No, no. We’re not at the good bit yet, because you’ve been wondering, haven’t you? How your father wound up in the car with those Brazilian hookers—messy business, I’m afraid. Some small part of you knew that Caesar was responsible, which was why you didn’t blink an eye when he was executed right beside you. Curious that you wouldn’t care, no? Since you had only just made an agreement with the man. Terrible way to treat your business partner, I say. Let’s hope our relationship doesn’t fall to that.”

Uilleam sat back with a sigh, proud of himself. “With him out of the picture, and that daft girl on your arm, you thought you would take over their business, eh? Reclaim what was stolen from your father. But like so many, you underestimated what Carmen Rivera would do for power. Now, here we are. Your men bleeding, and you … seconds from dying yourself.”

It wasn’t easy being backed into a corner—Luna knew that all too well. But even with defiance in his eyes, and his fingers twitching for the gun at his belt, he wouldn’t be able to reach for it before he met his death.

He had to concede. “What do you want?”

“I’m so glad that you’ve asked. I need the time and address of the shipment coming in from San Jose.”

A muscle worked in Agustín’s forehead as he tried to process it all. “If you know about the shipment, why do you need me at all?”

“That’s just it, Agustín. I don’t need you—it’s what so many fail to realize about me. This is my attempt at making you useful again. But if you choose not to aid me, then …”

It was pretty clear what would happen if Agustín’s usefulness ran out.

“Fine.”

“Excellent. Now, on to other matters. I require one more thing from you, and for this, I’m willing to offer you something in return.”

Agustín’s laugh was anything but amused. “What could you possibly offer that I would want?”

“What if I told you I could rid you of Carmen, permanently, as well as that woman you’ve decided to hitch yourself to?”

Now, for once, he looked interested, if a little skeptical. “Go on.”

“Should you provide me with the information I need, as well as rescind your”—he gestured to the men who were holding their bloody wounds—“whatever they are, on a few dates of my choosing, I’ll make sure that your Rivera problem is taken care of permanently.”

“And why would I agree to do this? If she wants me dead, then why not kill her first, sí? Two birds, two bullets.”

“You could,” Uilleam assuaged. “But the likelihood of you having the ability to maneuver authorities away from you after the job is done, well, that’s where my expertise comes into play, does it not? Don’t forget who you’re up against. A humanitarian, beloved by the world for all the wonderful acts she does. They would make you into the poster child of what not to do.”

“How long do I have to think about this offer as generous as it is?”

“Approximately six-point-four seconds.”

It was beyond obvious Agustín hated being backed into a corner, but with no other choice, he nodded once. “Fine … but only if she goes to dinner with me.”

Luna wasn’t sure who was more surprised by his request—her or Uilleam.

But Uilleam was the first to recover as he stared the other man down. “She’s not available.”

“Then there’s no deal.”

“I find it laughable that you think you have a choice in the matter.”

“Here’s the thing, Kingmaker,” Agustín said sitting forward, his earlier confidence returning. “You obviously need me for something, no? I can give you what you want without a fight if you give me something in return. O podemos irnos a una jodida guerra—or we can go to fucking war. Your choice.”

Agustín couldn’t know what he was asking, especially the man he was asking it of. If there was nothing else Luna knew about Uilleam, he was loyal to his brother.

And despite his actions in the past, he wouldn’t ever use Luna as a pawn again. Not because he necessarily felt bad about what he had done before, but because Kit’s reaction wasn’t one he wanted to face.

“She’s—”

Luna knew that he would go back and forth with the man, and even decide on war eventually. Uilleam always had a backup plan, and even a backup plan for that plan, but she was ready for this to be over with, and she was willing to do anything to see it done.

“Agree to his demands, and we can have a meeting,” Luna said before Uilleam could finish.

Agustín’s eyes cut to her as his lips turned up in a roguish smile. “It won’t be a meeting, amor.”

“Don’t get your hopes up on that front,” Luna returned with zero inflection.

Job or not, she still belonged to Kit, even if she didn’t wear his ring on her finger.

“Then a meeting, it is,” Agustín said with a nod, but he didn’t look as though he believed it would be anything less than whatever he was picturing in his head.

“Excellent.” Uilleam got to his feet, buttoning his suit jacket. “I’ll expect an answer in forty-eight hours.”

“Until then, Kingmaker,” Agustín said conversationally, his smile back in place.

Uilleam led her from the room, and they were barely in the car before he was saying, “Far be it for me to tell anyone what lengths they’re willing to go to to get what they want, but I just want to be sure that you know what you’re doing.”

Luna snapped on her seat belt. “Of course, I do.”

“And you understand that my brother won’t be pleased if he learns about your little date.”

“It’s not a date, Uilleam. Besides, you’re not going to tell him.”

“I may evade or even bend the truth, but I’ve never lied to Kit, and I won’t. If he asks, I’ll tell him.”

“If you don’t want me to do it, that’s all you have to say.”

Uilleam smiled, flashing perfect teeth. “Of course, I want you to do it.”

“Then why are—”

“Because I don’t believe you’ve ever seen my brother when he’s truly angry,” Uilleam said. “Despite his self-control, he has a tendency to react poorly when he’s caught off guard.”

“Oh? How so?”

Uilleam was silent a moment before he finally said, “Has he told you much about our parents?”

“He doesn’t like to talk about them.”

“For good reason—he despises them. Did he ever tell you about the winter of 2007?”

“I don’t think so.”

With the way he said it, whatever happened had to have been memorable.

“Kit was with the Lotus Society at that point. He became everything our mother doubted he could ever be. It was the coldest day of the year, and despite attempting to be everything my father wanted in a son, I still was not what he wanted.” Uilleam’s smile was sardonic. “I’d called my brother days prior, asking that he visit.”

Luna glanced at him. “Did you really ask, or did you tell him to come visit?”

“It’s all one and the same, but let me finish,” he said, not unkindly. “As you know, Alexander had disowned him when he chose to leave the family for the Lotus Society, and he expected us, my mother and I, to follow him in that regard. My mother did as she was told, but I’ve never been willing to turn my back on Kit, even as infuriating as he is.”

At first, Luna hadn’t understood their relationship. From the outside looking in, it hadn’t always looked like Kit and Uilleam got along nor did they seem to particularly like each other.

But over the years, she had quickly learned that their relationship was not one easily understood. Even when they were angriest with each other, they still tried to protect one another.

“So when I asked that he come visit me, he declined but promised he would see me soon.” Uilleam took a breath, his expression transforming as he continued weaving his story. “There are no secrets at Runehart castle. Those walls … they listen. I should have known that Alexander would find out what I’d done, but it was two days before he confronted me with it. To say that he didn’t take my doing so very well is an understatement. He decided to teach me a lesson.”

Luna’s blood ran cold at that admission.

While Kit didn’t speak of his father often, what he did say had always made Luna hate the man nearly as much as he did.

This ‘lesson’ could have meant anything, Luna knew. A beating, starving him for a couple of nights, or even have something done to him that would leave him in agony.

“What did he do?” Luna asked, a bit afraid of what his answer would be.

Uilleam’s smile was fleeting, haunted. “I think the imagination might be better than reality.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Never apologize for—”

“A wrong I haven’t committed,” Luna finished for him, remembering the saying Kit often used. “But I can still be sorry that it happened to you at all.”

Now, his smile was a bit more wistful. “Karina once said the same.”

Pulling into the driveway of the bungalow, she killed the engine, but made no move to get out the car.

“Needless to say, his punishment resulted in me being on a ventilator for two weeks.”

“Jesus, Uilleam.”

“That’s not the important bit. You see, it took Kit approximately two weeks and a day to find out what happened to me. You know, he’d vowed he would never go back there,” Uilleam said suddenly. “But he came back … for me—an admirable trait, really.”

“Did he kill Alexander?” Luna asked.

“Oh, no,” Uilleam said as he tapped his thumb against the middle console, “it was nothing as mundane as that. Kit butchered him.”

“Butchered …”

“Where did you think he learned those skills he so benevolently bestowed upon you?”

She had never considered his father, definitely. “He never told me how he’d done it,” Luna said. “But then again, he hasn’t really said much other than the fact that he killed him.”

“Kit didn’t murder the man because he hurt me,” Uilleam went on, his voice low. “He murdered him because Alexander almost took me away from him. Now, I’m just his brother, and you see how well we get along on any given day.” With a short laugh, Uilleam touched her shoulder, the smile on his lips contradicting his next words. “Now, do I really have to tell you what he’ll do to a man at just the thought of him taking you away?”