Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
She’d made peace with her cousins long ago. Her cousins hadn’t forced Tristan to work with them. She’d come to the conclusion that if her cousins hadn’t offered Tris a place on their team, he would have found another way. She didn’t have to lose her family because one man couldn’t love her the way she needed.
Tasha grinned. “Oh, you can ban weapons all you like, but I assure you there are some here, and it’s not just my gang.” She closed the door behind her. “Why are you in here all alone, Carys?”
“I needed a couple of minutes.” Her mom was running around ensuring everything was perfect. Avery O’Donnell was dealing with the photographer.
She didn’t like to think about Serena Dean-Miles being left out. She was merely another guest at this grand affair when she’d been such a big part of the planning.
I know he’s going to come around, Carys. I know he loves you. I think he’s in trouble and he doesn’t want to bring you into it.
Serena had tears in her eyes the night of the rehearsal dinner. She’d had some wine and gotten emotional.
Carys had been shut down. Like she always was now. She was standing here in the dress of her dreams, ready to marry a man she loved, and she felt…numb.
“You could change your mind. You could walk out there and tell them you want to turn this into a fun party and wait,” Tasha offered.
“Would you like to tell me why I would call off my wedding?” The words came out harsher than she meant them. Or maybe not. Maybe this was one of those times when she resented her cousins’ secret world.
Tasha’s face fell. “I would like to, but you know I can’t. I can only tell you he loves you and he wishes things were different. We’re going to figure this out. I promise. Right now I don’t think it’s safe for him to be around you.”
“Are we talking about Tris? Because it’s so not safe for him to be around,” another voice said. “Carys, dude, how am I supposed to kick ass in this thing? I can’t even hide a knife with how tight this is, and Devi was real rude when I suggested an adjustment.” Kala Taggart. The murderiest of her cousins was in the house.
“Hey, stop. We talked about this.” She was followed by her twin sister. Kenzie was Tigger to Kala’s kind of evil Eeyore persona. She was bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy, fun fun fun fun fun. Right up until she had to assassinate someone, but then Carys was sure Kenzie did it with pep to her step.
The twins were perfectly identical physically. Down to their scars. Seriously, when one got shot, the other had to find a way to fake the scar if it was visible to the public. From what Carys understood from context, the twins were known through the intelligence world as one person. They’d run an op at the club she and Aidan played at a few months back. Aunt Charlotte had sat down with the women of The Hideout and explained they were to call Kenzie Kara for the night and to not ask about why Kala was hiding in the locker room while Kenzie hung out with some dude who was probably a spy.
Carys had done what she always did these days. She’d convinced Aidan to take her to a privacy room and pushed him to spank her until she cried. She’d avoided all the spy stuff.
“You are not ruining the lines of that gorgeous dress with a small sword on your thigh.” There was only one way to deal with her cousin. Boundaries. They had to be firmly in place. But simply because she had some rules didn’t mean she hadn’t thought of Kala. For all her rage, there was something oddly fragile about Kala Taggart. A deep vulnerability that always made Carys think about her comfort.
Kala frowned, looking at her sister and then her twin like she’d been caught doing something terrible. “I’m sorry. I was joking.”
“No, you weren’t.” Sometimes it was fun to get Kala in an awkward position. Carys couldn’t help the impish feeling rising inside. It was good to feel anything at all.
Maybe she was coming out of her broody era. Maybe she could do this.
Kala looked to her twin. “I don’t know what to say because she’s right. I’m not joking. I know, like, we’re supposed to be all about the bride, but what if someone decides to attack the wedding? This bouquet thing doesn’t even have thorns. I can probably take out a couple of eyes with my shoes, but I’m at a loss for anything else.”
Yes, it was fun to tease her, but it was time to let her off the hook. After all, she’d thought of everything. “No, but I made sure the bouquet is long enough and wide enough for you to hide a knife or a small pistol in.”