Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 116875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
I sink my hands into the big black robe that Raine found last night.
It’s actually an executioner’s hood.
I feel something in my pocket. She must have put the bottle of Aqua Tofana in there before she took it off.
I hold it up to the light.
Fun fact: Belladonna is almost tasteless. Even slightly sweet. You can poison someone slowly, and they’d never know it. Like the unsuspecting husbands who lived in Rome during the Italian Renaissance.
I know exactly what I’m going to do with Kaiser. I won’t kill him—no, that’d be too easy.
He thinks that might makes right. Those are his rules. Supervillain Rule #2: It’s easy to beat an opponent who plays by the rules. He’s confident in his height and his weight and his physical strength, but physical strength is only part of it.
He thinks that he can overpower me, but there are many forms of power.
Even when you are smaller, you can still win.
I’m going to seduce him. All the dressing up last night gave me an idea. The best offense is a good disguise. I’ve been pretending to be a good girl, and it’s working. He’s opening up. I’m going to turn it up to eleven. He thinks he’s training me, but I’ll be training him.
He’ll think he’s in control, but I’ll make him obsessed with me. I want him to lose his mind. Once he’s feral for me, I’ll have the upper hand. He will be in my thrall and do anything for me.
I will make Fraternitas regret this marriage.
But by then, it’ll be too late. They’ll have lost Kaiser’s loyalty.
I’ll be his poison. He will be addicted to me.
After brunch with my friends, I head to the spot where Kaiser told me he’d be waiting to pick me up. There’s no sign of his Jeep, but there’s a matte black Lykan parked in Kaiser’s usual spot. I’m admiring the car when the driver gets out and faces me.
He’s a big blond guy who looks exactly like Kaiser, except he isn’t.
“Hello, Bella. I’m Jaeger. Kaiser sent me to pick you up.”
“I’m not supposed to talk to strangers or get in the car with them.”
“I’m not a stranger. I’m going to be your brother-in-law.”
He holds up his phone and plays me a video of Kaiser telling me that this is his brother, Jaeger, and I’m to obey him as I would Kaiser. The video ends with the two of them side by side, glowering at the camera.
“I guess you pass the test.” He is an identical twin. They even have a few matching tattoos, although I can spot differences. “What’s your name again? Bagel?”
“Jaeger.”
He opens the passenger door for me, and I slide into the seat, feeling grouchy that Kaiser didn’t bother to pick me up himself so I could start on my nefarious plan. And then I’m grouchy that I’m grouchy. I should be relieved that I don’t have to see him so soon.
Now I’m grouchy that I’m grouchy about being grouchy. I can’t help my emotions. Raine and I were just talking about this. I need to chillax. I have a plan. I just need to focus.
Jaeger puts the car in gear and pulls away from the curb. If I don’t look directly at him, I can imagine it’s Kaiser in the car. But there are a few uncanny differences.
“Where’s Kaiser anyway?”
“On a job.”
“For Fraternitas?” No answer.
“Is he murdering anyone?”
Jaeger grins. “He told me you’d ask me that.”
He smiles too much. Kaiser doesn’t smile that much, so when he does, it’s earned. This guy is a clown compared to him. I don’t like it.
But I should use this time wisely. I want to ask him about his elita, but I got that intel from Honey, and I’ll need a legitimate way to have that information to protect her as a source. “Do you live around here?”
“New Rome.”
“With Kaiser?”
“In the same building.”
“Anything you can tell me about Kaiser? His likes, dislikes? Preferences?”
“Kaiser doesn’t like anyone or anything.”
That’s not true. But I don’t say that. “Good talk.”
Another grin. “He was assigned to guard you in the spring. He was told there would be a reward for keeping you alive.”
“What reward?”
“You.”
“Whoever took the job got to have me?” I don’t know if I’m flattered or incensed. Flat-censed.
Jaeger shrugs. “If they wanted you. And Kaiser wanted you. He chose you.”
All of a sudden, I’m not grouchy anymore. “Really?” He nods.
Kaiser wanted me? He chose me? It feels too huge to contemplate.
Jaeger says Kaiser doesn’t like anyone, but he does like me. I know it. He lets me sleep on top of him and everything.
What would it be like to really be his? To have him care about me more than anything else? I can’t allow myself to even imagine it.
In the end, it doesn’t change anything. He’s still the enemy. Him choosing me doesn’t mean anything more than that I fit a set of his preferences. I should be happy. If I’m his type, it’ll be that much easier to trick him.