Daimon (Guardians of Hades #6) - Felicity Heaton Page 0,27

herself and ask Daimon about it, but more than that, she wanted to watch him, drinking in this side of him, this quiet thoughtfulness, and how handsome he was when he wasn’t snapping at her.

If she revealed herself to him, he would push her away.

He frowned and lowered his head, pulled a phone from his jeans pocket and stared at it, the screen illuminating his face. He pocketed it again and turned away from the view, his long legs swiftly carrying him back the way he had come.

Where was he going in such a hurry?

She trailed after him, curiosity gripping her. That curiosity only increased when he stopped where the pedestrian pathway met the road and hailed a cab. She hurried to catch up with him, hailing a taxi for herself when she reached the road and slipping into the back of it.

Felt like a cliché as she said, “Follow that cab.”

It was strangely thrilling as the vehicle pulled away, tailing the one Daimon was in as it moved deeper into the heart of the city, beyond the business districts and high rises to smaller buildings and a more suburban setting.

“Stop,” she hissed as the cab Daimon was in pulled up outside a long stone building that had a colonial air about it.

Daimon stepped out of the taxi and jogged up the steps, pushed one of the large double doors open and disappeared inside.

Cass paid her driver and slipped out onto the pavement. She eased towards the three-storey building, her heart hammering in her throat and that curiosity tugging her forwards, even as part of her screamed to leave and not snoop into things for once.

Her gaze drifted over the building, with its columns and tall sash windows. It looked like a bank or the head office of some grand company in Europe, was out of place among the tattered buildings that surrounded it. Someone had taken great care of this one building while the others of its age had fallen into ruin around it.

She came to an abrupt halt as she reached the five steps that led up to the door, her gaze snagging on the brass sign mounted on the wall beside it.

An orphanage?

Why had Daimon come to an orphanage?

She was so busy staring at the sign trying to find an answer to that question that she missed the door opening.

“It’s no problem. If anything happens again, call me. Little guy needs some extra attention to help him settle in, that’s all.” Daimon turned away from the middle-aged Chinese woman and froze. “What are you doing here?”

Cass tensed, her eyes leaping to him, instinct pushing that same question to the tip of her tongue.

He huffed and for a moment, she thought he would lash out at her, but then he calmly turned to the woman behind him and offered her a warm smile. “Anything, really. Just call.”

She nodded and disappeared inside.

Daimon closed the door, the sound of it slamming cranking up the tension Cass felt.

She braced herself.

Rather than turning on her, he casually walked down the steps and up to her.

“This goes no further. Got it?” he said, and she wanted to argue with him, because she hadn’t meant to snoop, and she knew he was angry with her but she didn’t want him kicking her out of the Tokyo mansion or banishing her or whatever he had in mind. She would stop irritating him, would pretend she didn’t give a damn about him, if he would relent and let her stay. He scrubbed a hand over his hair. “None of my brothers know about this place.”

Her eyes widened.

Oh.

He meant, knowledge of this place went no further than the two of them, not things between them went no further and she was out on her backside.

“I’ve never seen you come here before.” Her shoulders went rigid when he frowned at her and she realised she had just confessed to following him before tonight. “I had to study all of you. I had to be sure Mari was in safe hands.”

Daimon looked back over his shoulder at the building.

“Is that what you do here?” She glanced at the sign and then back at him. “You keep children safe?”

He sighed, raked fingers through his hair again and looked as if he wouldn’t answer those questions.

But then he nodded.

“There’s a lot of less fortunate children in this city. Kids who have no parents… Kids who have parents who hurt them. I opened this place for them. Everyone gets an education, food