Lethal Game (GhostWalkers 16)

Amaryllis frowned. “Like what? I wouldn’t like it either.”

“She makes the most beautiful lacy webs and hangs them for privacy, like curtains. If she puts them around the babies at all, the nurses rip them down. Cayenne has been good about it, but Trap can see that her patience is wearing thin. He can’t tell them to leave the webs alone because to them they see a giant spider somewhere close, not beautiful lace curtains.”

“I see. That could be bad.”

“That’s why it’s good Bellisia is staying. She isn’t the closest to Cayenne, but she’ll help the situation. Zara is the one who kind of throttles everyone back. She’s more like Nonny in that way. She has this kind of gentle mediation thing she does, and everyone just gets along, especially the little ones. Cayenne seems to react very well to the way Zara mediates as well. Bellisia is more of an ‘in your face’ kind of girl.” He grinned when he said it.

Amaryllis couldn’t help smiling. “You like that.”

He shrugged. “She’s a little spitfire. She’s my little warrior. She’ll stand up for anything or anyone she believes in.”

“What’s Shylah like, Draden’s wife?”

“She’s harder to explain. She’s kind. Very compassionate. And she’ll drop you in two seconds if you’re her target. Pepper is Wyatt’s wife and she’s the nicest woman you’ll ever want to meet. She was scheduled for termination along with the triplets, Wyatt’s little girls. Pepper can get brain bleeds around violence, although she will back us up and protect the babies fiercely if need be. She has something on her skin that if touched, can make someone crazy for her, so there’s a continual sexual thing that she has to counteract all the time. It’s a difficult life for her. Nonny’s been a great help there.”

“And Cayenne?”

“You met her. She was raised in a tiny cell. Never had a family, raised only on rations. Used only to train in situations of life or death. She wasn’t treated very well ever by anyone. Trap was the one who got her out, got her clear. She came back and helped Wyatt and Pepper get the little girls clear, but none of us knew if it was because she felt bad for the girls or if she was repaying Trap. Then she disappeared. Rumors started about a thief robbing some bad people of money on their way home from the bars. They never could remember much. Trap became convinced it was Cayenne. He was right.”

“How terrible for her. She must have been so frightened.”

“I guess she was. We were all a little afraid of her. She was lethal, Amaryllis. She knew how to use her silk and her venom, and she didn’t hesitate. She could paralyze and she could kill. Naturally, Nonny felt bad for her. She would have taken in every lame duck in the swamp that needed a home if Wyatt had let her. But it was Trap that found a way to bring Cayenne in.”

“It couldn’t have been easy.”

“No, especially because Trap didn’t trust anyone either. He’s on the autism spectrum and everyone he’d ever loved had been ripped away from him—murdered. Many of his family members by his own father. It has always been easier for him to retreat into his head and just push others away with rude behavior. If someone does act as if they want him, it has always turned out it’s for his money, which he has plenty of. Cayenne had to rely on him for everything, and that in turn made him a better man. He had to learn to adjust, to talk, to give her his best. He made a lot of mistakes in the beginning and he still makes them, but he makes them only once and then he doesn’t again because she’s his entire world.”

“I saw that. It looked like she thought he was her world.”

“She does think he’s her world, that’s for sure,” Ezekiel said. He sighed and stood up, stretching. “This is going to be a very long, hard road, Amaryllis. It won’t be easy for Malichai. I believe this is the one thing he’s always feared.”

“He’s strong. Nonny whispered that to me when we were out in the waiting room. She said he’s strong and that I needed to be as strong or stronger for him. I am and I will be,” she said resolutely. “You don’t have to worry, I’ll stand with him.”

Ezekiel came to the other side of the bed and leaned down to brush his brother’s cheek with his lips and then he cupped the side of Amaryllis’s face. “I know you will. I’m counting on that. We all are.” He turned and walked out of the room.

Amaryllis stared up at the ceiling, grateful her heart wasn’t hooked to the monitor the way Malichai’s was. It would have been beating a million miles an hour, not because she was going to stay with a man whose leg had been amputated, but because she had considered leaving before she’d talked to him and she would have missed her chance to be loved for the rest of her life by an extraordinary human being.