Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 144908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
“Well then, that’s perfectly fine. You should try the apricot scones. They’re just delicious,” Mama Anat advised, her tone forgiving. Keys was once again back in her good graces.
Keys looked relieved. “I’ll do that.” He took an apricot scone off the tray.
Ambrielle thought the dynamics of the club and these women were interesting. She would have to ask Master how they fit in with Torpedo Ink. The little hat bells tinkled merrily, and Blythe, Czar, Maestro, Reaper and a little boy came into the store. The little boy looked to be about six. He had shaggy thick blond hair and blue eyes, and one side of his jaw appeared to be swollen. He looked miserable. Blythe looked as if she’d been up all night.
She and Czar brought the little boy up to the counter, all three holding hands. Ambrielle thought Czar looked very cute holding his son’s hand. It was obvious the boy was growing his hair longer in order to look like his father.
“Sabelia, is Hannah here today?” Czar asked.
Sabelia nodded. “She’s in the back with Preacher. Master’s throat is pretty bad, and she’s showing Preacher the mixture of ingredients to use in order to soothe it and promote faster healing. I can get her if you need her.”
“How long do you think she’ll be?” Blythe asked. “Jimmy had to go to the dentist with a bad tooth infection. I thought Hannah might be able to make something to help him.”
“She’s almost finished, but she’ll put what she’s working on aside for a child,” Sabelia assured them.
“He’s numb at the moment,” Czar said. “We have time for a cup of tea and scones. I’m sure Reaper and Maestro just can’t wait for tea.”
Reaper had already backed all the way to the door and was standing to one side of it, leaning a hip against the wall, chin down, his gaze on the street and up on the rooftops. “I’m good.”
A little giggle escaped Anya, and she hastily pressed her fingertips to her lips to stifle real laughter. “He’s a man of few words.”
Maestro took up a similar position on the other side of the door, hip to the wall. Ambrielle studied both men. The way they stood, sideways, their feet under their shoulders, they presented a slimmer target. Anyone looking into the shop would have a difficult time seeing them, yet they had great visibility, taking in the entire street as well as the buildings across from the Floating Hat.
Ambrie was trying to learn everything she could from these men and women. Her parents had taught her so much. They’d put her in self-defense classes almost from the time she was a toddler. They’d had her shooting guns and learning to handle other weapons, but she recognized the caliber of those club members surrounding her from Torpedo Ink. They were trained from childhood as assassins. They moved in shadows and had knowledge even her father didn’t have. She wanted that knowledge for herself. She was determined to find and kill the men who had murdered her parents.
“When I bring your tea and scones, I’ll bring something for Jimmy to drink that will help him now,” Sabelia said. “I’ll just be a minute. Let me consult with Hannah.”
Blythe, Czar and Jimmy sat at the table across from the large table where Ambrielle was seated, but one table ahead of Savage, Keys and Destroyer.
Ambrie listened to the animated conversations swirling around her in the tea shop. Two women came into the shop and began to wander around the aisles, looking into the various tempting baskets of lotions and oils. She watched them as she inhaled the wonderful healing fragrance of the shop, aware that the scent had changed subtly. How? When? It was different now, soothing and yet clarifying at the same time.
The two women appeared to be in their late forties, although Ambrie thought they could have been a little younger or older. She took another sip of the lavender-honey tea, her favorite of all the teas she’d sampled, while she contemplated the age of the women. They wore pencil-slim trousers, one in a black houndstooth with a white blouse and black cardigan, the other in simple black and a black-and-white-checked blouse with a black cardigan. Both women had short haircuts, although the similarities ended there.
The shorter of the two had her hair in soft brown waves that fell to her chin in an attractive bob. The taller woman was a dirty blonde with very short hair that she wore almost in spikes. It should have looked masculine, but on her feminine face, the hairdo looked intriguingly timeless and even elegant. She looked like a trendsetter. Both wore drop earrings and sparkling bracelets. The shorter of the two wore nearly three-inch heels on her boots. The taller woman wore two-inch strappy heels.