Born of Fire

She cleaned up the juice spills Kasen had left on her counter and tried to appear nonchalant as she pumped her sister for more information. “Have you known him long?”


“I only met him about four years ago. Him and Cai go way back. They met through Caillen’s friend, Darling. And according to what Darling’s said, Syn practically raised him and still watches out for him.” She threw the last bit into her mouth. “Syn’s the friend who’s always paying our fines and boosting Cai from jail after his fights. Hell, he even paid to repair my ship last week after I had that run in with those Gondarion officials.”

Shahara froze as she realized who Syn was. Caillen had never mentioned his mysterious friend and benefactor by name. He’d always told her that she wouldn’t approve if she knew and so she’d never pressed the issue.

Now she wished she had.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Syn had to have known who she was.

Why hadn’t he mentioned the fact that he was Caillen’s friend? His benefactor?

His boss?

Maybe because you were trying to kill him?

Like that mattered. And why hadn’t she caught his slip and asked him about it?

Because he threatened Caillen and you were scared . . .

Forcing herself to calm down, she said as conversationally as she could, “Syn didn’t tell me he knew you guys.”

Kasen snorted. “No duh. As possessive as Caillen is when it comes to you, I’m sure Syn figured Caillen would rip his tongue out just for speaking to you.”

Biting her lip, she considered Syn’s threat to Caillen’s life. Had that been a ploy, or would Syn really hurt Caillen? “Syn indicated to me that he might want to hurt Cai.”

Kasen laughed so hard she choked. After several coughs, she cleared her throat. “Syn hurt Cai? Lay off the hallucinogens, Sis. Syn would sooner cut off his own balls than hurt Cai . . . I’m sure it was a joke. Syn’s got an odd sense of humor. Takes a while to get used to him.”

She couldn’t believe this. Kasen had to be wrong. She had to be.

“Hey, now,” Kasen said as if an idea had just occurred to her. “Why were you with Syn anyway?” Her face turned serious, frigid. “You didn’t do anything to him, did you?”

Trying to act as nonchalantly as possible, Shahara wrung out her dishrag. “What do you mean?”

Kasen stepped up to the counter and glared at her. “You know what I mean. You don’t hang with men and definitely not people like Syn, you hunt them down.” Her look intensified. “If you’ve done anything to him, I swear I’ll tear you apart.”

She gaped at her sister’s threat. “You would choose him over me after all I’ve done for you?”

“No, I love you. But me and Cai would both be roasting our ass in prison if not for him. Syn even took the blame for me when I got caught filching files, and covered my tracks so that I wouldn’t get arrested.”

“You did what?”

“Don’t you dare get mad at me.” She pointed one bony finger in Shahara’s face. “I’ve had it with your moralizing. Tessa needed the money and you didn’t have it as usual. I did what I had to, to help out. Besides, I already had my ass chewed sideways from Syn over it. I don’t need to hear any more lectures.”

Kasen scratched her nose. “Like Caillen, I get tired of always borrowing money from Syn to cover things. Even if Syn doesn’t say anything, I still don’t like it.” She gave a short laugh. “Course I won’t do any more filching. I stink at it and I’m not about to get Syn into any worse trouble.”

Shahara blinked. She couldn’t be hearing this.

Had Syn paid off the hospital because of Caillen? Honestly, she couldn’t fathom anyone being that nice. Not unless he was getting something out of it.

“Why does Syn help the two of you? What do you and Caillen do for him?”

She shrugged. “Nothing really. Syn’s never asked for the money back or asked us to do anything for him—come to think of it, he never asks anyone for anything. Caillen makes a few runs for him every now and again, but Syn always pays him for it. Personally, I think Syn has more money than he knows what to do with.”

Another gut-wrenching thought occurred to Shahara. “Do you sleep with him?”

Kasen snorted. “Oh please, I wish. He’s gorgeous and ripped to the devil and back. I would give just about anything in the universe for a taste of that deadly Syn. But he’s never been interested in me, and the last time I made a move on him, Caillen almost tore my arm out of its socket. Lesson learned. Syn off limits.”

Shahara bit her lip as she processed that latest bit.

What had she done?

You arrested your brother’s best friend. Idiot!

She had the terrible feeling that she’d made a horrible mistake. One, by turning him in. Two, by signing a deal with the devil to help out her family.

If half of what Kasen said was true, Caillen would never forgive her for doing this to his friend. A friend who’d helped all of them over the years . . .

What was she going to do? She didn’t want Caillen to hate her. Or even Kasen for that matter.