I glance at Saoirse as I realize what Kian is saying.
The wolves will be on our doorstep soon.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers again.
“Don’t be,” I say firmly. “There’s no point. You did what you had to do.”
Kian shakes his head, but before I can say another word, Saoirse reaches out and puts her hand on his. She sits on the edge of the bed next to him.
He looks at her for a long moment and then he gives her a weak smile.
Slowly, he turns to me.
“There’s at least one Kinahan asshole that walked away from that fight,” Kian tells me. “It won’t take them long to figure out where I am.”
I nod. “They’ll come with reinforcements.”
“And what do we do then?”
“We’ll call in our men,” I say.
“If they can be spared,” Kian says.
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“Divide and conquer,” Kian says. “That’s their strategy. They’re going to hit us in all our known domains. While our focus is split, they’re going to come for us. If they kill you and me…”
“The O’Sullivan clan is all but extinct,” I breathe.
Kian nods slowly.
Before my legs give out, I sit down on the bed next to him. The three of us form a sort of lopsided triangle, but I still manage to draw strength from it.
I look at Kian’s face, weak yet still determined.
I look at Saoirse’s face, worried yet still beautiful.
I look around at the strong walls that engulf us.
We may be in a fucking castle, but it hasn’t functioned as such for a long time. We don’t have the weapons or defense structures we need to keep the Kinahans out of our walls.
I glance between Saoirse and Kian again. They’re both looking at me as though they expect me to have all the answers, all the solutions.
Ironically, I don’t feel pressure.
I feel like I’m where I belong.
“Do you think, if Sean hears about our gruesome deaths, he’ll come back and avenge us?” I wonder out loud.
There’s a split second of silence when both Saoirse and Kian look at me with wide, shocked eyes as they process what I just said.
Then the silence breaks with their laughter.
I join in. And for an instant, everything is okay.
The last moment of calm before the storm.