She let out a snort of laughter and then hushed herself, remembering his mother was trying to sleep in the next room.

“So, why does Kohl’s approval matter so much?” Teo asked. “You already know he respects you. He trusted you enough to do this job in the first place.”

“That’s true.” Aina twirled a frayed end of the blanket around her finger. Even on that first terrifying night she’d met Kohl in the bar that was about to be bombed, each of his words and movements were like lightning across a bleak sky. It was an innate charisma he bore, one she either wanted to attain for herself or break down into something more human with what she might mean to him.

“Can you keep a secret, Teo?”

“Sure,” he whispered. “You can tell me anything.”

He blew out the candle on the nightstand, leaving them in darkness except for the moonlight coming through the kitchen window. She focused on that beam of light as she tried to voice her thoughts.

“I find him … admirable,” she said. “He’s fearless. Capable. I’ve never seen anyone fight the way he does. So that’s it. I admire him.”

There was a brief pause when she was very grateful the room was dark enough to hide her blush.

Why did I even say anything?

She could practically hear the smile spreading on Teo’s face. “So, what you really mean to say is that you’re attracted to him because he’s good at killing people?”

With a shocked gasp, she pushed him so hard, he nearly rolled off the bed. As he laughed, she pulled the blanket up to her face and turned toward the wall so she wasn’t facing him.

“No,” she answered resolutely, even though her cheeks burned.

“Well, you need to start seeing that you’re good enough with or without his approval. You don’t need him to break out a bottle of champagne every time you kill someone, and starting your own tradehouse isn’t good enough. You have to do what you can to succeed. You need to prove that you’re better than him.”

As if she didn’t already want that. Digging her fingers into the blanket, she asked in a small voice, “How?”

“Beat him. Take him down. Not that I advocate violence, young lady.” He paused for her to laugh. “Once you do, he’ll lose all of his murderous allure. Then you can see whether you actually like him or if that’s all there was to it. And then you can see if there’s someone better for you.”

She glanced over at him at those words, her brow furrowed, but his eyes were closed and his features revealed nothing.

They fell asleep minutes later. As her eyes grew heavy, Aina imagined what it would feel like to have arms around her waist, but failed to put a face to the picture.

The following morning, Aina returned to the Dom. She slid open Kohl’s office door to find him seated at his desk in the middle of writing something, the orange lamplight shining on his vulture tattoo and the sapphires on his watch. Kohl’s eyes, devoid of emotion, slid up to lock with hers.