Kraving Khiva by Zoey Draven

Chapter Thirty-Two

Later that night, Madame Allegria came.

Khiva even seemed to be expecting her, as if knowing that she would appear. They were in the sitting room in the front of the townhome, sitting together near the fireplace, though Khiva made sure not to lean against his back. They even saw her driverless car pull up to the curb.

Eve saw her bright red hair as she emerged, and felt fury just as red that she would dare to come there, to her home. Then, she thought of a way to get proof to show her father’s contact at the United Worlds.

Khiva stood from the armchair and asked, “What are you doing, leeldra?” when he saw her go over to the Nu tablet imbedded in the wall. There was also one next to the front door, but they weren’t set to record on default.

“She might say something we can show to Phe’vee’ka. We need anything that might warrant a deeper investigation.”

“She is too intelligent for that,” he told her plainly.

Eve sighed, turning to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “It’s worth a try.”

A pounding came at the door and it didn’t stop.

It was Eve who went to answer it before Khiva could.

“Stay out of sight for now,” Eve whispered. “Let me see if I can get something out of her.”

Khiva obviously didn’t like the suggestion, but he inclined his head, which meant a lot to her. That he trusted her.

Eve unlocked the door, wanting blood.

Madame Allegria was a beautiful woman, a woman who looked twenty years younger than she really was, but whose age and jadedness showed in the glint of her color-altered eyes.

When she saw Eve, she looked her up and down, no doubt hoping to intimidate her. Her face was devoid of any wrinkles and looked so soft that Eve imagined it melting right off.

“Miss Tesler, I presume,” Madame Allegria said, her voice perfectly polite, but edged like a blade.

That was when Eve knew exactly the type of monster they would be going up against. And she realized that this meeting would just be the first step, that it would take them a very, very long time to seek justice for what she’d done to the Keriv’i.

But Eve straightened her spine. Not long ago, a woman like this would have made her cower and grow silent.

Not anymore.

“Madame Allegria, I presume,” Eve returned, lifting a brow. “I thought client confidentiality was your strong suit. So why do I find you here on my doorstep so late at night? I wonder if you make house calls to all your clients like this. I wonder if their husbands appreciate it.”

Eve realized that the woman was taken aback by her words, by her tone, but only for a brief moment. She shook her head, reaching out a red-tipped clawed hand to push Eve aside, but Eve pushed her back with all her strength and the redhead stumbled in her heels.

“Excuse me, this is my home,” Eve said, shocked that she would try something so blatant. “You are on my property and if you take one step into this house without my permission, I will alert Patrol immediately.”

“So alert them. They will be very interested to know you have something of mine, Miss Tesler,” Madame Allegria hissed, righting herself with a fierce scowl. Eve wouldn’t lie but pushing her and making her lose her footing felt damn good, in a juvenile way. “And I want it back.”

It. Like Khiva was a thing, a possession, something to be played with and used and then tossed away.

Eve’s nostrils flared, hatred burning through her veins and for the first time, she knew what it was like to want to physically hurt someone. Badly. It both frightened and appalled her. But it didn’t stop her from thinking it, from desiring it.

“Leave,” Eve said, her tone quiet, moving her finger over the emergency button on the Nu tablet next to the door. “Or I will alert Patrol.”

She’d meant it only as a bluff, but Madame Allegria saw the movement and in a flash she lunged forward, grabbing Eve’s wrist in a tight grip that would bruise later. Eve cried out in surprise. Barely a second went by before she saw a blur out of the corner of her eye.

A moment later, Madame Allegria’s knees banged onto the foyer floor hard, but she didn’t make a sound. Khiva stood above her, her wrists in his grip, holding her arms high up so she couldn’t move them. Eve couldn’t help but notice the position was what Khiva described when Madame Allegria chained them for whipping.

Shocked, Eve saw Khiva’s forearm flex as he applied pressure to her arms and she knew without a doubt that he was strong enough to break them if he wanted to. He could crush her bones without a second thought.

“If you ever touch her again,” Khiva said, his voice the darkest she’d ever heard it, “it will be the last thing you ever do. I have never harmed a female in my life, but I will make a special exception for you. Never doubt that.”

Madame Allegria’s arms struggled in his grip but he never let go, never let up the pressure. She was forced to kneel in the strange, uncomfortable position.

“I could challenge you in the Courts, Miss Tesler,” Madame Allegria hissed. “This Krave is under my employ. He had a client tonight and him being here is costing me credits.”

“You want to take me to the Courts?” Eve repeated softly. “When you have a false contract stating a wage you do not pay them? When you tell your employees to lie to clients? When you whip them and abuse them in the bottom floor of your brothel, leaving them chained and bloody with their backs stripped off?”

Eve bit her tongue so hard that she tasted blood, but the look on Madame Allegria’s face was worth it.

“We have evidence,” Khiva said, surprising Eve, but she didn’t show it. Madame Allegria’s head whipped to him, her eyes narrowed, though her face revealed nothing.

“You’re lying,” she said, a slow smile crossing her face. “You have no proof because I run an honest business. I have nothing to hide.”

“Are you willing,” Khiva started softly, “to bet everything on that?”

Her smile died just as slowly as it had appeared. “I will have you punished for this,” she said. “You dare to harm an Everton citizen, Krave? This would warrant death if I alerted Patrol.”

“It is warranted,” Eve said, “considering you attacked me, an Everton citizen, first. You are the one who entered my home uninvited. You have no say here.”

“He would be imprisoned the moment they came since he has no visa on his person,” Madame Allegria said, her tone gloating. “So try it.”

“Doesn’t he though?” Eve asked. Madame Allegria’s game was deceit and lies. Eve could play that game too. “You can’t possibly think that you are the only wealthy woman in Everton with connections and credits.”

Madame Allegria said nothing, just snapped at Khiva, “Let me go.”

“I have never seen you like this,” Khiva said softly, his eyes peering directly at her, into her. “So unhinged. You always prided yourself on being in control, but when you are not…you are nothing. You are a shell. They are afraid of you when they do not need to be. It’s all a front, all a mask.”

“You will be punished for this the moment you return, Krave,” Madame Allegria said, her voice dripping with hatred.

Eve realized, with a start, that it hadn’t occurred to her that he’d left, that he had no intention of coming back. She was simply too arrogant to see otherwise, thinking that she did own them. It was unfathomable to her that they were capable of making their own decisions.

Khiva realized it to because he played her game. He released her wrists immediately and Madame Allegria pushed to her feet, her knees as red as her hair.

“You’ll be hearing from me next week,” Eve told her, furthering the charade, “about a Court appearance. For wrongful trespassing and assault.”

“You have no proof,” Madame Allegria said, her tone like ice, smoothing her hair.

Eve cocked her head to the Nu device next to the door. “Don’t I?”

Madame Allegria swung her stare to Khiva. “Get in the car. We’re going back.”

Khiva didn’t move an inch. “No.”

“No?” Madame Allegria repeated.

A word she probably didn’t hear very much.

“I will return when I have healed fully from your whipping,” Khiva said, reminding her of the massacre she’d made of his back. “You wouldn’t want the clients to see.”

Madame Allegria didn’t like that answer but when she turned to Eve, who went to stand next to Khiva, she hesitated. She looked at the Nu device on the wall, back at them, and said, “What whipping?”

Eve had never hated someone so much in her life.

Madame Allegria straightened, smoothing a hand over her long, tight skirt. Her expression morphed into one of perfect indifference and she said, “I expect you back by tomorrow afternoon. Don’t make me return here or I will bring Patrol with me.”

“If you ever come here again, I will report you for continued harassment,” Eve said.

Madame Allegria’s nostrils flared. She looked at Khiva. “Tomorrow afternoon.” Then she looked at Eve. “You are not welcome back to my establishment. I never want to see your face again.”

And because it might buy them time, because it might throw Madame Allegria off their trail for a little while longer, Eve exclaimed, feigning shock, “You can’t do that!”

The smug arrogance that morphed over her face was so sudden. “I can. So enjoy your last night with him, darling. It will be your last time with a Krave.”

With that she swept out of Eve’s townhome and through the front door, her heels clacking angrily on the stones before they heard the driverless car door slam shut.

Eve quickly shut the front door and breathed out a sigh of relief that she was gone. Even the air felt cleaner without her presence, though Eve could still detect the sickly sweet smell of the perfume she wore.

Immediately, she went to Khiva. She reached up to cup his jaw and asked softly, “Are you okay? Seeing her after what she did?”

Khiva nodded and gently lifted her wrist. “She hurt you.”

Her skin was slightly red and a couple of Madame Allegria’s nails had scratched into her skin when she’d lunged for her. “I’ll be fine. It’s nothing.”

Khiva blew out a breath and then reached forward to crush her to him in a tight embrace. “You were remarkable,” he murmured to her softly. “I have never seen her at a loss for words.”

Eve flushed at his praise.

“She underestimated you,” Khiva said, pulling back to look down at her. “You caught her by surprise with that sharp tongue.”

“As long as she’s gone,” Eve said, her hands beginning to shake slightly, adrenaline coursing through her system. “As long as we can stall her for time. Do you think she will come back tomorrow afternoon? We could leave for the Port earlier.”

“I do not think she will,” Khiva said. “Knowing her, she will need time to learn about you, to dredge up something on you, before she gets Patrol involved. That is how she operates. Through blackmail and threats. I fear you have just become her latest target.”

Eve nodded. “By then, we will be long gone.”

“Pax,” he said, dropping his forehead down to hers. “We will be.”

Eve led him upstairs to her washroom, needing something to soothe the nerves that were running rampant in her. Seeing Madame Allegria…speaking with her for the first time, it had shaken her. Not for the reasons she’d expected. Everyone had seemed so afraid of the woman that Eve had half-expected a Hydian dragon to burst from her clothing.

No, it was because of what Eve had discovered in herself that had shaken her.

“You’re trembling, leeldra,” Khiva murmured, watching as she filled the tub with hot water.

“Can I tell you something ugly?” she asked.

“You can tell me anything,” he said, touching her shoulders, concern evident in his tone. “You know that.”

“I wanted to hurt her,” Eve said, looking up to his eyes. “I wanted to hurt her for all the things she’s done, for all the ways she’s hurt you and Valerie and the other Keriv’i. I’ve never wanted to hurt someone so badly in my life.”

Khiva exhaled, bringing her to him to smooth a hand down her back.

“I knew if I hurt her, I would be just like her. And it scared me, because I still wanted to,” she whispered into his chest.

“But you did not,” he said simply, his gaze on her. “You did not, leeldra, though you wanted to. That is why you are different. Violence is something all species are capable of. It is the being themselves that determines whether they act on it. Madame Allegria does. You do not.”

“Why…” she started, “why are you still so inherently good, after everything you’ve been through?”

Khiva huffed out a breath, but his shoulders relaxed. Slowly, he began to rid her of the dressing robe she wore, unknotting the front and pushing it off her shoulders until it fell in a pile to the floor, until she stood naked in front of him.

“I wanted to hurt her too,” he confessed, his hands coming to the curve of her waist, sliding upwards to her breasts before cupping her shoulders. His hands were warm, which relieved her. They’d been so cold before. “I could have hurt her so easily. A slight jerk, that would be all it took. But then I realized I had more to lose if I did. I could have lost you. I could have lost our future. She is not worth that. Not even close.”

Eve nodded slowly, understanding what he was telling her. Slowly her hands moved over him, tugging off his shirt, his pants. She left the bandages on because she would change them before they went to bed anyways.

“I realized something tonight,” he told her once they were settled in the washing tub, as hot water relaxed their tense muscles.

“What?”

“That I don’t even hate her anymore,” he confessed. “I was looking at her, right before she left, and I felt nothing. Indifference. Pity even. Because I realized that she is no one to be frightened of, despite her power and wealth. She hides behind it all because she has nothing else.”

“You called her a shell,” Eve murmured, leaning back against him, feeling the steady thump of his heartbeats against her skin. They comforted her more than the hot bath did.

“Pax. A shell of a soul. Once you have lost your soul, you are nothing,” he said, his voice soft. “A shell without a soul has no power. It is lost. And so is she.”

Eve took his hand under the water, lifting it to her mouth, and pressing a kiss there.

“Khiva?”

“Pax, leeldra?” he whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her hair.

“I love you. Have I told you that today?”

“Pax, leeldra. You have.”

He kissed her under her ear. They fell into a comfortable silence and they didn’t speak, even when the water began to turn cold.

Finally, Eve commented, “It is my last night in this townhome. I don’t think I realized it until just now.”

“It is hard leaving one’s home. Are you sad?”

“A little. Naturally,” she said. “Mostly because I feel like I’m leaving a part of my father behind. He loved this house.”

“You will never leave him behind, Evelyn,” Khiva said. “He is always with you.”

“I know,” she said, smiling. “I’m more frightened than anything.”

“That is a good thing, remember?” he murmured, trilling in his throat. “You told me that only the things that are worthwhile are the most frightening.”

“Exactly,” she said, feeling warmth and courage, knowing that he would be at her side the entire time. That they would have one another as they found their footing in a strange new place.

It was frightening.

But it was also unbelievably exciting.

“Leeldra?” he murmured.

“Yes, Khiva?”

“Have I told you that I love you today?”

Eve grinned.

“Yes, Khiva. Many times.”