Trio of Seduction. Cassie Ryan
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still raced through his veins, and he had to concentrate on calming his galloping pulse. Ryan struggled against the urge to run off in search of the Healer.
Katelyn broke off a piece of bread and took a bite.
He didn’t rush her, even though his mind screamed at him that action was needed now. Silence flowed between them as she ate half the bread and drank some of the wine. Color slowly seeped back into her cheeks, and her green eyes sparked once more with intelligence. She broke off a small piece of cheese and then sighed.
“You look like you’re feeling better,” he observed. “Are you ready to talk, or do you need another minute?”
She cocked her head to one side and considered him—a familiar gesture she’d done even as a child. “I’m well enough to answer you intelligently before you explode from practicing too much patience.”
“So much for subtlety,” he snapped then instantly regretted lashing out. Katie-cat was tying to help, and at great physical cost to herself. There was no reason to take out his frustration on her.
He tipped his chin toward his chest and allowed his hair to slip forward and hide the scar he carried since the day he’d turned twenty. At night, he still relived the searing pain of the metal cutting his flesh, along with the deep sense of betrayal and anger that inevitably went with such dreams. He resisted the urge to trace with his thumb the lower edge of the puckered skin where it met the side of his mouth, and he opened his mouth to apologize to Katelyn.
“No need to apologize or to cover your scar around me. Although, one of these days when you feel comfortable, I hope you’ll trust me with the story of how you got it.”
He glanced up into her intense green gaze, which held only fond affection, and knew he couldn’t tell her. Even as much as he cared for her, the memories were too raw and painful.
“You forget. I know you too well.” She grinned and handed him a piece of cheese. “You always were a moody bastard. The Healer will have her hands full.” She nodded toward the cheese he held in his hand. “Your turn to eat while I talk. And, anyway, I think that scar makes you look dark and dashing, like a pirate.”
Ryan bristled against her description of him and then nearly laughed as he realized Katelyn probably knew him better than anyone besides his two boyhood friends—Grayson and Stone.
Both of his male friends were now happily married to women Ryan adored. He hoped he was as lucky when his time came. His Healer had captured his lust and intrigue already, but he hoped she would also capture his mind and his heart. As a full-blooded prince of Klatch, he had always known it was his responsibility to carry on the line, which meant he would marry most likely for duty rather than love. Seeing his two friends so lucky in their matches had made him afraid to hope that lightning would strike a third time.
He took a bite of cheese then washed it down with some wine. The fruity flavor of the wine burst over his tongue and then spread warmth down his throat as he swallowed.
The gentle breeze tousled her unruly mane of red hair, and Katelyn brushed a few strands out of her eyes, tucking them behind her ear. “That vision felt like the future, but I can’t be sure. You know I’m not as accurate with visions I try to call, rather than those that just come to me.”
A tightness in Ryan’s chest that he couldn’t quite name made him long for more action and less discussion. “Is there any way to know where to find her or how much time we’ve got?”
“You don’t think she can take care of herself?” Katelyn pierced him with her questioning green gaze. “I don’t know anything about guns, but I would think sleeping with one under her pillow would tell me she knows enough about them not to blow off her own head.”
“I know she can take care of herself,” he said, remembering her fight with the two Cunt guards. “But—”
“But, you would feel better in all your maleness to go rushing in and kick some ass even if she doesn’t need it, and even if it makes the situation worse.”
Irritation at Katelyn’s sharp tongue snapped through him, and he clenched his fists as he searched for a suitable reply. When he found none, he bit back a sigh. “Damn,” he finally muttered under his breath. He raised his gaze to hers, careful to keep his scar covered with his hair. “Okay, yes. I would feel much better being able to do something rather than sit around here and wait.”
Her expression turned to one of tender pity. “Do you want some advice you’re going to hate but probably need?”
“No, but I have a feeling you’re going to offer it anyway.”
Katelyn shrugged, and a small smile played at the corners of her lips. “I think it’s going to be quite a challenge to bring a woman of half Cunt heritage to Tador. But no matter what, you need to remember that she is a woman first and a Cunt second. She has survived perfectly well without you this long, and probably won’t welcome the Klatch male tendency toward being overbearing.”
She took one of Ryan’s hands in hers, and despite himself, he enjoyed the cool comfort her gentle touch gave. “Regardless of the Triangle or anything else, you need to treat her like a person with her own strengths and personality rather than just as a warm body who will help us with the Triangle ceremony.” A small crease formed between her brows, and her voice lowered with intensity. “Everyone wants to feel special in their own right. Remember that.”
Ryan’s brow furrowed. He had the distinct impression that Katelyn offered something from personal experience, but he would be surprised if Grayson had been that daft in courting her. However, if that had been the case, his Katie-cat wouldn’t have let anyone get away with mistreating her, and Grayson had probably paid dearly. He smiled grimly. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks.”
“Make sure you do,” she said, her voice full of playful challenge. “Or I’ll help her kick your ass, and I’m sure the queen would help, too.”
He gave into his habit and traced his thumb over the roughened skin at the bottom of his scar where it met the right side of his mouth. “Don’t worry, I have no desire to go up against you three. Any man who does, deserves all the pain and humiliation he gets.”
3
“W e just retrieved Danen from the human hospital, my lord.” The barrel-chested guard dipped his chin in an approximation of a bow and then winced and gingerly touched his fingers to his broken nose.
“Fine. Keep him comfortable and away from any of the other council members for a few days.” Until I can decide what to do with him . Marco, head of the Cunt Council, waved the guard away. Danen was an arrogant fool, and Marco was sorry the man hadn’t been left for dead. That would’ve been one less ego-inflated councilman to deal with.
Marco sighed as he turned the situation over inside his mind. He used to believe the Cunt cause was just, and that purely coexisting with the Klatch as they always had wasn’t enough. They had convinced themselves they were the superior race and should hold the throne and the symbiosis of their home world.
It hadn’t taken long after the failed civil war to see that Sela, the self-named Queen of the Cunts, was after power only for herself and not any advancement for the Cunts in general. But by then, it was too late. Marco had continued on, rising through the ranks of the council in hopes he could once again bring true meaning back to their cause.
A short, bitter laugh escaped him. Even that self-delusion wasn’t enough to salve his regrets anymore. And now his inaction had hit very close to home.
Why the hell did Kiera meet with Danen and not me?
Even as the words trailed off inside his mind, he knew the answer. She knew Marco agreed with her cause so, therefore, had arranged a meeting in an attempt to sway others to her way of thinking.
Foolish woman.
He had known Kiera Matthews all her life, and had, in fact, been in love with her mother, Cecily, in his much-younger days.