Syn laughed again. “Yeah, it looked like she went to the School of Nykyrian for that.”
Caillen wasn’t sure if he should be amused or appalled by what they described. In the end, he was flattered that he meant enough to Desideria that she’d come back to check on him and then had decided he was worth breaking someone’s ass over. On the other hand, he definitely didn’t want her questioning him. Especially after their fight. “And you locked her up?”
Syn shrugged. “Had no choice. She was planning on heading to Exeter to beat the crap out of your uncle’s advisor. We thought it best to confine her until her sanity returned… or they died of natural causes. Whichever comes first.”
Caillen shook his head. “Good call. So what did she find out?”
Shahara’s gaze turned grim and deadly. “The assassin was hired by your uncle’s primary advisor to kill you and your father. Then after you escaped, he was to make sure you didn’t return alive.”
He winced at the confirmation of his worst suspicions. “So it’s true. Talian purchased the contract on my father’s life.”
She nodded. “That’s what it looks like.”
“What about Desideria’s mother?”
Syn passed a sympathetic glance to Shahara. “He claims he knows nothing about that at all. He was only after you and your father.”
But that didn’t go with what Caillen had heard… “The two are tied together. I know they are.”
Syn continued to contradict him. “I’ve searched through every League database and every contract server I could find.” Which was impressive since information was what Syn excelled at. “Nothing has the two related. I think it’s just damn bad luck that the two of them were together at the time they died.”
Maybe Syn was right. Coincidences happened, but…
Something just didn’t seem right. It was too pat and too ironic. Caillen refused to believe that it was all happenstance.
He glanced to Shahara. “Can I get up now?”
“You’re not supposed to, but there’s really no way to stop you, is there?”
“Depends on how much fire power you’re carrying.”
She rolled her eyes. “I worry about you, Cai. All the time. But you know, I saw the look in your eyes just now when you thought Desideria was dead and I saw how insane she went when you were hurt and the anger she broke on the one who’d harmed you. I don’t know what’s between the two of you, but from the outside it looks pretty real and pretty fierce. I just want you to always remember that feeling you had a minute ago whenever you think of her. That desperate choking sensation you had when you thought you’d never see her again and that she was gone forever.”
She cut Syn a gimlet stare. “Relationships aren’t easy. Some days they don’t even seem tolerable. Especially when a Dagan’s involved. There will be times when she’ll make you mad enough to murder her and it’s usually over something truly stupid.”
“Like leaving the seat up at night or forgetting to tighten the cap on bottled water,” Syn muttered.
Shahara ignored him. “But don’t ever let yourself forget that the person you care about fills an emptiness no one else ever has and that while life with them can seriously suck at times, those moments when it doesn’t are worth all the aggravation of falling into the toilet and getting soaked when you’re half asleep.”
“What about the water?” Syn asked hopefully.
Shahara glared at him. “You ruined my computer and lost my data. Don’t even go there, Syn. I’m still mad enough to choke you for that one.”
“I bought you a new one and I got most of the data restored… just a few things I couldn’t salvage.” Now that was a new tone from Syn that Caillen had never heard before. Petulant like a kid, it would have amused Caillen except he’d lived with his sister enough to feel pity for Syn for having incurred her wrath.
She flung her hand up to silence him.
Caillen laughed. “You two have a twisted marriage.”
“And I’m grateful every minute of my life for it and for Syn.” There was no mistaking the conviction in her golden eyes. “I couldn’t live without him.”
And he knew she was right, especially given their pasts. The ghosts that lived inside the best of childhoods could be fierce to fight. The demons that stalked them from theirs…
Those were debilitating.
To have someone who would brave those demons and stand beside him was a miracle he wouldn’t forget.
Shahara stood back so that he could leave the bed.
As he reached the door, Syn’s voice gave him pause. “Just FYI, bud, you might want to put on some pants before you go see her. Hard to sweep a woman off her feet and look badass in a hospital gown when your bare ass is hanging out.”
Caillen slowed his steps as he neared the holding cell where they’d locked up Desideria. Hauk, Fain and Chayden sat in front of the monitors, watching as she paced back and forth in her room like a caged predator.