Chapter 16 Cressida
sixteen
Cressida
The scent of gun oil and peppermint fills the interior of Lucetta’s car. Sunniva’s chewing a piece of gum so loudly that I want to shove it down her throat to make her choke on it, and the stupid freaking bond won’t shut up. It never freaking shuts up.
It grates, restless and sharp, like a blade scraping stone.
Konstantin’s moving somewhere in the city, and I’m here chasing ghosts with my girls in the opposite direction.
Fun times.
We’ve already burned through two leads tonight. One was a washed-up junkie who only wanted money for his next hit, and the other swore she hadn’t seen Giselda since before her ‘death’.
My gift buzzed hot against my ribs before she even opened her mouth, and I could feel the lie blooming in her throat like rot.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much we could do without further proof, so we move on to the last name on the list.
Kazimir.
The street we’re watching is narrow and dimly lit, but a busted streetlamp that flickers like a heartbeat. Kazimir struts out of a bar with his coat collar turned up, scarf loose around his throat.
“There he is,” I whisper, as if the girls can’t see him.
Sunniva grins, her eyes sparking with delight. “About time. Third time’s a fucking charm, I say.”
Lucetta shifts beside me, her eyes narrowing as if she’s already calculating the best angle to take him down. Her hand rests on her hip, next to her weapon. “We should wait until he’s clear. There are too many eyes here.”
I swallow hard because she’s right, but the tether in my chest is yanking like a chain. Konstanin feels my focus narrowing, and I swear I can almost hear his voice in my head.
Lisichka, what are you doing?
There’s no way our bond has evolved like that without me knowing, though, right?
My stomach twists at the thought of him knowing I’m keeping something so big as us going after Giselda hidden.
“Sunni,” I whisper. “Luce. What if he somehow already knows we’re doing this? Our bond is growing every day, and I don’t know what he can pick up from it and what he can’t.”
Sunniva snorts. “Of course, he knows. That man knows everything, even without your little woo-woo bond. He’s probably out there right now sharpening his favorite murder toy. The question is, do you tell him before we drag Kazimir in or after?”
Lucetta cuts me a sharp look and lays it to me straight. “You want to be an asset to him? Tell him now, on your terms, before he sniffs it out and makes the choice for you.”
Fuck. I hate it when I have to admit that my best friends are right. Those bitches will hold it over my head forever.
With a sigh, I pull my mobile from my pocket, my thumb hovering over Konstantin’s number. The bond hums harder inside my chest as if it’s daring me.
I hit call and bring my thumb to my mouth to chew on my nail as I listen to it ring. My leg trembles as I fight to keep it from bouncing up and down.
There’s a second where I debate hanging up because I’m terrified of what he’s going to say or do, but before I get the chance, he answers.
“Lisichka,” he purrs in that dangerous, dark tone that lets me know I’ve been a very bad girl. “Where are you?”
I close my eyes and then tell him the truth. “Don’t kill me, but I’m outside of a bar on Twenty-Third. Kazimir just walked out.”
The silence on the other end is so wintry that the chill from it sends goosebumps popping up along my arms. “Stay where you are.”
When the line goes dead, Sunniva snickers. “Oooh, Daddy’s pissed.”
“Stop calling him that,” I mutter, my hands shaking.
She grins wickedly. “You love it.”
Maybe, but I won’t tell that relentless brat that. She’ll tease me into the afterlife.
Before I can retort, black SUVs roll up the block and slide into place not far from us. Konstantin and Misha spill into the night, cloaked in shadows and violence.
Kon’s eyes pierce the darkness and find mine instantly. Our bond slams against me violently like a rogue wave. He doesn’t yell or scold, he just looks . . . and it’s worse than any scream from him could be.
How Kazimir doesn’t feel the threat coming for him, I’ll never know.
He barely has time to blink before Misha’s hand is on him, yanking him back farther into the dark alleyway.
We climb out of the car, hurrying over to where they’re at. They need me and my abilities if we’re going to get anything from this lead. I can tell from the look Konstantin gives me that he’s about to order me back, but I narrow my eyes and bare my teeth at him.
I fucking dare you, I tell him silently, not really expecting him to hear it.
There’s an imperceptible twitch under his eyes that I almost miss before he looks away that makes me curious.
Did he really hear what I pushed at him?
My heart pounds in my chest at the implication. Never, in all the stories I’ve been told, has there been mention of the bonded couples ever being able to communicate telepathically.
For now, I shove it to the back of my mind to revisit later and focus on what’s happening in front of me.
Lucetta presses a knife to his throat like she’s been waiting her whole life for this exact moment, and Sunniva pats him down, all fake sweetness and sunshine.
Honestly, I’m surprised the guys are standing back and letting us take the lead on this. It’s shocking really coming from men in this lifestyle.
“Hi, Kaz,” Luce purrs. “Fancy meeting you.”
Kazimir snarls at her, thrashing in Misha’s hold and causing Lucetta’s knife to dig farther into his skin. “You don’t know who you’re fucking with.”
My skin prickles like static before a storm, every nerve screaming a warning. The truth bleeding out of him hasn’t yet been corrupted, but I feel the shift, the poison threading through his intention.
I can see the lie building. The falsehood coiling in his chest is a slick, black serpent trying to claw its way free. The tase of it coats my tongue—sour, acrid, and slithering across my tongue as if the lie is already alive in my mouth.
Stepping closer, crowding his air, I speak in a low tone. “You’re about to lie.”
His breath stutters, his eyes widening in panic.
“You feel that? Every time you twist the truth, I’ll feel it before you even dare utter the words. And if you do speak them, Kazimir,” I pause, leaning closer so my words feel more ominous, “I’ll peel the lie out of your throat and let it choke you instead.”
Holy shit, the rush that’s pouring through me at my power is so fucking addicting that I remind myself to be careful.
Very careful.
Konstantin’s gaze cuts to me, his eyes sharp and searching. Not just my words, but at the way our bond vibrates between us in agreement with my words. His mouth curves in something that might be pride. Or it might be hunger. Either is dangerous, but I’m learning I have a newfound hunger for danger.
Kazimir pales. “I don’t know—”
“He’s lying,” I snap.
Lucetta doesn’t hesitate to dig her knife farther into his skin until a bead of blood wells up. Kazimir gasps, realizing he’s about to lose his life if he speaks any more untruths, and spills everything in a rush.
“Oleg,” he blurts. “She’s . . . she’s meeting Oleg Belinsky.”
My body sags as the truth rips from him, as if it was focusing so much energy on pulling it from him.
Konstantin’s hand closes over mine and pulls me back. His voice wraps around me like silk and steel. “Enough.”
Misha hauls the man upright while Lucetta wipes her blade on his coat and Sunniva blows a bubble with her gum until it pops.
“We’ll take him and see what else he knows,” Misha says.
Kon nods, never once taking his eyes from me. A shiver works up my spine at the look in them, and I bite my lip.
When Misha and Konstantin’s men drag Kazimir out and the girls follow them, it’s just us left in the shadows. The bond purrs low and heavy, wrapping tightly around my ribs.
“You think I don’t feel you?”
Konstantin’s voice is a dark whisper against me. He steps closer, and the air grows colder, hotter, everything at once. “You are in my blood now, Lisichka. You give my lungs oxygen, my heart it’s beats. You think I will not know when you choose to put yourself in danger?”
My throat goes dry, tasting the truth in his words.
“I told you. I’m not porcelain, monster man.
I can help. I will help. I need you to trust that I know what I’m doing.
My powers . . . they’re changing. I’m not afraid to hunt her, Kon.
Sometimes you forget I grew up in this life.
Kingston and the others tried to shield me as best as they could, but I was born in darkness, just like you. ”
His beautiful eyes burn like coals, and I shiver. “You terrify me.”
“What?” I ask, his words stopping me cold.
“You feel a lie before it’s spoken. You walk into shadows I’d burn to ash without an ounce of fear in you. And still, you fight me.”
His lips brand my knuckles, reverent to the point of ruin.
The warmth scorches, sweetness curdled by something darker.
The menace isn’t only in his words. It’s in the press of his mouth, the way he drinks in the tremor of my pulse as if it belongs to him already.
It’s in the way he lingers, daring me to pull away.
The kiss is a threat, a promise to consume anything I offer him, piece by piece.
“You should be hidden away. Instead, you make me want you more every time you bare your teeth. You were fire before. Now, you’re fire with fangs.”
A soft laugh escapes me, and I place a hand on his chest. “You like it?”
His fingers are reverent as they trace down my cheek. “I fucking adore it.”
The bond shivers between us, a low electric thrum that snaps along my senses.
He leans close, his breath hot against my face.
“In a month, on Samhain, we finish this. The bond fully locks into place, and you’ll be mine.
You’ll be untouchable. Un-fucking-breakable.
Even the ghosts that roam the streets will burn before they reach you.
We’ll be sealed in blood and whatever twisted fairytale the fates have written for us. ”
“Then you’d better be ready, monster man,” I whisper.
“Oh, Lisichka, I’ve been ready since the moment you looked at me full of fucking defiance.”
Twisted fairytale, indeed.
But I find that I’d rather have the villain who burns the world for me than the hero who’d bury me beneath the ashes.