The Fortunates (Unfortunate #2) - Skyla Madi Page 0,46

across the sharp rocks.

It wasn’t Portia’s fault he was in such a mood. It’d been three hours since he left Nine in her room and that made him uneasy. Vince’s presence at the Sario house instead of the Milanos’ eased him a little, but the worry of someone hurting her when Kade wasn’t there to protect her still lingered. He hated that he had to baby her, to treat her like a weak female when she was anything but, but that was the way it had to be. It was a dangerous world and she was in the spotlight.

“I have something important to tell you, but I’m waiting for the opportune time,” Kade told Portia, slipping his hands into the pockets of his slacks and glancing over his shoulder.

“Yes, Master Kade.”

Kade couldn’t help it. A smile tugged at his lips. Nine would have demanded he tell her. She rarely made anything easy. Always snooping. Always curious.

“Make sure that envelope I gave you goes straight to Oliver Crow,” he ordered as he ducked under a low hanging tree branch at the back of the Milano residence. “It’s an order from the City.”

“Yes, sir.”

Portia stepped around him and he glanced at her feet. She lifted her heel off of a dry, pale leaf and a light smear of blood printed clearly against its smooth texture. The sight of it stabbed right through his heart and impaled his soul. All the bacteria it must be accumulating…all of the dirt and muck.

“When you’re done…” He scratched the back of his head. “Go back to my room, lock the door, and soak your feet in the bathtub. There’s a bottle in the cupboard on the top shelf. Put a few drops into the water. It’ll clean your wound and decrease your chances of an infection.”

Portia frowned. She frowned the way Nine did whenever he told her to do something she knew she shouldn’t.

“There are a few gems in the bottom drawer of my cupboard.” Kade added, retrieving his order coin from the pocket of his slacks. “Take them into town and purchase a pair of slippers from the Unfortunate store.” He handed her the coin with the Sario lion head on it. “If anyone approaches you, show them this. They’ll leave you alone.”

Portia reached out for the coin with her slender hand, but Kade pulled it back and clenched it in his fist.

“Do your best to keep these shoes from getting damaged. You’re only allowed three pairs in your lifetime and these will be your fourth.”

“I am grateful for your kindness, Master Kade.”

He flinched. Grateful for a pair of shoes to protect her beaten feet. She was worthy of more than that. He knew, Unfortunate or not, Portia was a woman of great integrity. She was a leader, a woman that could change the world if she was given the chance.

And she would be. It was only a matter of time before she had the freedom she deserved.

Kade handed Portia the coin and she turned around and stalked toward the Milano mansion, moving with purpose, her head held high.

There was a war coming and it finally made sense. He had to do it for Nine…

For their children…

For secret friends, like Portia, that he didn’t even know he’d made.

∞ Nine ∞

The door swings open and it takes me a second to register the shadow lingering in my peripheral vison. Blinking, I turn my head in his direction, only to end up with my cheek against the cool stone bar. I’m tired. My eyelids flutter and threaten to close but I fight to keep them open.

Space and time vanish for a moment, a chunk of time disappearing right in front of my eyes, and Kade ends up right behind me, his body brushing against my back.

“What’s the time?” I mutter, closing my eyes as he runs his fingers through my hair.

“Barely lunch.”

I groan.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure its evening somewhere.”

Is that amusement I hear in his tone? I straighten my spine and lift my head, not bothering to pull the locks of hair that stick to my sweaty face.

“You shouldn’t drink on an empty stomach,” he points out, pulling my hair into a ponytail.

I focus on the pads of his fingers as he drags them across my scalp. No one has ever done my hair before. Not like this. I close my eyes and my brain tumbles, pushing me off balance. Gasping, I rest against Kade and stabilise myself. Chuckling under his breath, he piles my hair on