Just to be a good sport, Váli set a couple tables back to rights and picked up a few stray wooden chunks from the destroyed chairs. But only the ones within a few feet of him. He wasn’t that good of a Samaritan. Karmen did the same as a still irritated Bish helped an equally disheveled Cipher up from the ground.
“I’d say thank you, but I’m pretty sure you could have broken that up much earlier.” Cipher coughed as he reached behind the bar to grab a fresh gallon of Nectar, chugging it like it was the solution to all his problems.
If only, Váli laughed to himself.
Snagging Karmen’s hand once she completed her small stack of kindling, he turned them back to Sin and Death. This was progressing much faster than he’d anticipated, but he wasn’t complaining. On the contrary, sharing a first kiss, that Karmen herself had initiated, was beyond his wildest dreams.
He wasn’t bluffing. After tasting her sweet lips, he wouldn’t—couldn’t let her shut him out.
And his timeline to flaunt his progress to Cipher and Bish had shortened significantly, but this was where he was at. Squaring his shoulders and tugging Karmen gently against him, he faced the two men who would soon know a taste of his particular brand of vengeance.
She tucked herself into his side, and Váli savored the feel of her soft curves pressed against him. The narrow-eyed look Bish cast in her direction and the glare Cipher leveled on Váli almost had his wings arching out. The air around him thickened as Váli’s presence expanded. One of his gifts—he would always be the biggest bad in a room.
Cipher had long-earned his ire, and it had taken Váli centuries to trust Karmen’s heart healed enough to let him extract the pounds of flesh due her. Bish just made the mistake of targeting her. Death needed to get over himself. The baby Keeper was so clearly not into him. That wasn’t Karmen’s fault. If he’d been doing the right thing, she wouldn’t have inserted herself.
The air pressure seemed to amplify, and it was only discipline that kept his wings tucked. Discipline, and the fact Karmen leaned into him and allowed him to curve his arm around her to keep her secure. He spread his fingers over her abdomen, and Cipher’s gaze flicked once to his hand and then back to his eyes.
Raw jealousy flooded his expression, and Váli allowed the briefest of smiles to lift his lips. His spine tingled as the first daggers of vengeance worked their way into Sin. Never letting go of his gaze, Váli pressed a kiss to Karmen’s head. “Shall we return to your day of Zen?”
His voice dipped with the offer. Then she tilted her head, and those deep violet eyes fixed on him. Cipher and Bish just fell away. His awareness of them remained, but they lessened with importance for each passing breath that she focused on him.
“I know just the place,” she murmured, and his smile grew.
“Then I am yours,” he whispered. Her eyes twinkled with the hint of suppressed mischief.
Fuck, he’d always loved that devilish little gleam when it sparkled to life. It meant delicious fun was in the offing. “Are you now?” she dared as she turned her back on both Bish and Cipher to Váli’s utter delight. The act slid his hand to her lower back as she settled her hands against his chest.
“Wait—” Bish began, but the soft plume of violet and deepest blues with just the hint of rose threading through the colors swept Váli away. She moved with the most delicate of precision, like the kiss of a single feather, and Sinner’s vanished in a wash of color to be replaced by warm sun, the call of tropical birds, the damp scent of water, and the sweet perfume of orchids.
The grotto.
Another of Karmen’s charming little sanctuaries. Váli had found it a few centuries before, but he guarded her secret alongside her. She only came here when she truly needed to get away from everyone.
Even him.
Respecting that, he kept his distance but also watched over her.
The years following her break with Cipher had been the hardest.
She’d divided her time between blood-soaked cases of comeuppance for some truly wretched souls and lingering here, alone. It was one of the first and only times he’d ever seen her cry.
His plan for Cipher had been born that day.
But she’d just brought Váli here. Granted him admission to such a sacred and cherished space.
“Karmen—” he began, but he didn’t really get to finish it before she gave him a shove, and he suddenly dropped into a pool of water, soaking from head to toe. He spluttered as he surfaced and glanced up to find her staring down at him, hands on her hips.
Eyes narrowed, she assessed him. “What are you up to?”
His lips curved. “I’m having fun, darling, aren’t you?”
The tilt of her head sent all that gorgeous dark hair tumbling over one shoulder. Admittedly, he missed the blonde…a little. Then again, she’d been a redhead in the first memories they shared together, so it wasn’t the hair that pulled him in.
It was the woman.
With a thought, he transported himself back to the little wooden bridge she stood upon, swept her up in his arms as her eyes widened. Gazes locked, he whispered, “Trust me.” Her sweet lips parted, but she didn’t pull away.
Desire speared him. He needed another taste of her. Head angled, he swooped in to claim her mouth. The softest of groans escaped her as her arms suddenly wound around his neck.
It was just as sweet and decadent as the first.
Only better, because his wet shirt soaked hers, and the stiff peaks of her nipples rubbed against him.
Wet.
Wet would be better.
Not letting go of her lips, he jumped.
Chapter 5
Let the players play, let the haters hate, and let me handle my fate. - Karmen
Bish
“I can’t fucking believe they just went poof. Gone,” Bish snapped as he kicked over the only chair in his vicinity that hadn’t been smashed to pieces. What the hell had gotten into Justice and Judgment? Sin was irritating on the best of days, but Bish could handle him just fine. Most of the time. And it wasn’t like he’d ever even hinted at any kind of attraction for Dahlia.
Bish would have noticed.
No, there was something else there, but Bish couldn’t find it in himself to care when he had other more important things on his mind, like making Karmen experience a little bit of her own medicine. Váli had a good idea, but Bish wasn’t the least bit convinced he was the one who should carry it out. He seemed too close to the boon he requested.
If Váli and Karmen were friends, Bish doubted he’d follow through with making her properly suffer. Even if he was completely insane, he didn’t seem completely heartless.
When he’d gotten drunk and shared his grand plan with Cipher, the Keeper of Sin had made a big deal about Váli being their go to guy. He’s Vengeance, he’d said. He’s a ruthless bastard with a broken moral compass, he’d said. Not that Sin would be able to recognize a good compass.
But he’d failed to mention one very important detail—that Keeper was off his rocker.
“Karmen does what she wants, always. That surprises you?” Cipher spit out a bit of blood on the floor.
One of the brothers must have punched him at some point. Bish was kind of sad he’d missed that part.