“I brought you this.” She holds out the small box, and I see it’s a Kindle.
“Oh my gosh! Thank you.” I rush toward her in my excitement, meaning to give her a hug. The next thing I know she flips me, and I land back onto the bed. Kailler’s mouth hangs open for a second.
“I didn't mean to do that. You rushed at me and….” Kailler starts to ramble like I’m going to attack her now.
“That was so bad ass.” I pop back up to sit. “Can you show me how to do it?” She gives me a puzzled look.
“You shouldn't run at people like that,” she informs me. It didn’t take her long to switch back to being cold.
“I was going to give you a hug as a thank you.”
“Sure. The next thing I know you would have stabbed me in the process to steal my keys to get out of here. This is not my first go with a Vieth orphan.”
“I don’t have anything to stab you with. Not that I would if I did.” To be honest, blood makes me squeamish. I am still trying to get past the dead body I saw yesterday and all the blood that was draining from it. Even now thinking about it, I start to feel a bit nauseous. I had a nightmare about it last night.
“I don’t need a hug.” I’m not so sure I agree with her. She looks as if she needs a ton of hugs. She tosses the Kindle box onto the bed next to me.
“Will you teach me?” I ask again as I slip back over to the bed again.
“No.”
“Please?” I push. She stares at me for a moment. She is thinking this through. A small glimmer of hope rises in me that I’m beginning to crack that hard exterior of hers.
“If you’re trying to convince everyone that you really are Karin's daughter you’re doing a terrible job of it.”
“I’m not trying to convince anyone. It’s the truth.” I shrug, not sure it really does matter if they believe me or not.
“Do you need more food?” She ignores my response. I shake my head no. I still haven’t eaten off the lunch cart they brought in. She turns to walk over and inspect it.
“You didn't eat. Do you think we are trying to poison you?” She picks up one of the little sandwiches and takes a bite. “It’s safe. You need to eat. Those are Aidon’s wishes, and you don’t want to suffer the consequences of not following them.”
I hadn't really thought about them trying to poison me. But I noticed it irritated Aidon when I hadn't eaten my breakfast. So I figured not eating was a good way to get him to come back around.
Kailler thinks she’s intimidating me with her subtle threats, but I’m trying to poke Aidon. I can’t seduce him if he’s not around to be seduced. I welcome the consequences as long as they are done by him.
“I’ll eat if you show me how you flipped me.”
“Fine.” She huffs. For the next thirty minutes she tries to teach me. Over and over I try to flip her but get nowhere.
“You have to use your body weight,” she repeats for the tenth time as we both put our hands back on each other's shoulders.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
She lets out a bark of laughter. “You’re not going to…”
I turn and pull her arms with me. My feet knock hers out from underneath her as I pull her over my shoulder and flip her. She lands on the rug. She stares up at me with surprise on her face before she bursts into laughter.
I can’t help but join her. This time she catches me off guard, sweeping my feet from under me and causing me to fall to the floor, which only makes me laugh harder. That’s until she realizes what she’s doing. She suddenly stops laughing and gets to her feet. I watch as the cold mask slips back into place.
“I have to go.” She holds her hand out to help me to my feet. I want to ask her to teach me more, but I don’t. Instead, I rush over to my trunk, pulling out one of the paperbacks they packed with my things.
“Take this.” I give her the book. “We can talk about it after you read it.” She looks at the book in my hand.
“’The Secret’ by Julie Garwood,” she reads the title out loud. It’s one of my favorites. It has two love stories. Not only about the hero and heroine falling in love but about the love of two best friends.
“It’s a classic. I’ll reread it on my Kindle.” She takes the book from my hand.
“I don’t know what game you’re playing, but it won’t work on me.” She doesn’t hand the book back to me as she steps onto the elevator. As the door starts to close, I see her open it. I can’t help but smile. I may be trapped inside this room, but I plan to make the best of it.
Chapter 9Aidon
Two hours later, Bran and Hunt call in from an apartment on the east side. The address makes my eyebrows arch. “The Cloister?”
“Vieth’s orphans are rich, I guess,” answers Kailler. Her voice is odd, and her color is a little pink. I frown.
“You sick?”
“No. Why?”
“You look...off,” I say for lack of a better description. If it were Cora, maybe I’d say she was turned on, but this is Kailler, my right hand. She’s killed more than she’s flirted—if she’s ever flirted.
Kailler shoves her phone into her pocket and glares. “I’m fine, sir.”
“Okay, but if you’re sick you should go lie down.”
“I’m not sick,” she snaps. “And if I was, I wouldn’t risk your life or any of the other members of the crew by
