There was a time not that long ago when I would have ignored this new piece of information. Where I didn’t want to know more about Beast, because it’s easier to hate a near-stranger, even if they’re a brother-in-arms. I’m not there right now. I crave getting inside his head in a way I’m not prepared to examine too closely. “Cohen is from your time before Carver City.”
“Yeah.” He’s still not looking at me, still speaking softly. “He was someone very important to me. He and his six brothers were set to take over their part of Sabine Valley when they were driven out. His enemies were hunting him, and we ended up separated.” He exhales slowly. “He was supposed to meet me here in Carver City, but he never made it.”
I was rising up the ranks when Beast arrived in the city and landed in our territory. He’s cold now, but he could damn near freeze a room back then. He scared the shit out of people, which only led to a whole lot of confusion when Isabelle took up with him. It didn’t make him less scary, but it sure as fuck made people more cautious about dealing with her.
Comfort has never been my thing, but I can’t just leave this new information hanging out there awkwardly. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me too.” He gives himself a shake and looks down at Isabelle. “She’s not safe here.”
“Safer here than in her sister’s house, at least until we figure our shit out.”
Beast shakes his head. “It’s our fault she’s sniffing around. And pulling the stunt we did in the Underworld won’t have helped. Hades’s people might not gossip, but everyone else does. If they think we’re using Orsino’s death and the resulting imbalance of power to punish Isabelle—”
“Fuck.” I close my eyes. I hadn’t been thinking about any of that when she showed up. I’m an exposed nerve for this woman. The highest pleasure for the last twenty-four hours still comes with a slice of pain because this entire situation is temporary. It’s always been temporary, even if I was too shortsighted to see it before. Isabelle won’t marry me. She was never going to. Even if she somehow chooses me and we end up exclusive, she loves her freedom too much to put my ring on her finger. Not when she sees marriage as a trap ready to close around her leg and keep her in place.
I don’t know if I have the control necessary to hold her with a loose grip. The control required to keep her happy. No matter how many different scenarios I play out, they all end in heartbreak. Maybe in twelve days. Maybe in a few months or even years.
Why the hell did I agree to this?
“Gaeton.”
I open my eyes to find Beast watching me, a strange expression on his face. He doesn’t exactly shut it down when I look at him, but I can’t divine out what the fuck it means. He gives a small smile. “We can buy ourselves some time with a little show.”
No need for him to spell it out. When people in Carver City want to make a statement to the other territories in a way that won’t start a war, they do it at the Underworld. Relationships announced. Peace pacts made. Even the occasional spat. All of it happens under the protection of Hades’s neutral territory.
“If we go in there and tell everyone that we’re hers, there’s no taking it back. We can’t change our minds later.” Not if we want to stay in the city. It doesn’t matter how much power we have individually, or how great out reputations; if we cross someone we promised allegiance to, no territory leader in Carver City will touch us.
Beast snorts. “You’ve made your decision already, same as me.”
“Yeah, I guess I have.” I smooth the sheet over Isabelle, tucking it a bit higher so she’s covered from the neck down. She shifts under my touch, moving closer to me in her sleep. My heart gives a sickening lurch. We’re on an out-of-control train that’s sure to jump the tracks at the next turn, but I can’t bring myself to give a fuck. I don’t want to get off this ride, no matter how devastating the end result.
I look up to find Beast watching me, watching us. It’s not the first time he’s done it today, and I can’t define the expression on his pretty face. All I know is that it’s dangerous as fuck. “Do I want to know what’s going through your head right now?”
“No.” Just that. Nothing more. Nothing to clarify or shed some light.
I give him a long look. “Pretty sure you won the bet we had earlier.”
Beast laughs, a low rasping sound. “Gaeton, you’re sexy as shit, but when I fuck you next, I want it to be when we’re not both exhausted and about to pass out.”