DIVISION 52 - BOOK II

CHAPTER LXII

A L E X

Makayla shamelessly flaunted my ring on her finger in the dimly lit booth. It suited her well. As did a certain dress in our wardrobe worth more than palace in some districts.

But something else was lingering in those sky blue eyes between flashes of the Crypt's coloured lights. A glint of mischief trademark to Xavier.

"What have you done." I stated casually, pulling a drink to my lips.

"Why is it always like that Scorpion..." She rolled her eyes before drumming her fingers on the table between us. I watched them a moment longer before slapping my glass on the table and stopping her fidgeting in a hand.

Those eyes met mine steadily.

"I should start with this first–" She smirked, pulling a box out of her cloak. I eyed it curiously. The Sector 1 design looked fresh out of the Empress–

"Tell me you didn't steal from Sector 1 Makayla."

"You can't steal what's already yours!" She laughed despite the warning in my expression.

"You can when we're about to start a war. We need all the head start we can get, not attention drawn to–" She shut me up with a hand over my mouth. The only person on this earth that could pull off such a stunt. I glared over her hand and she winked lowering it.

I think the last man that had managed to touch my face had a throwing knife sent through his–

"Just open the damn box like a good little crime lord." She said, dripping sweetness.

My eyes landed on the ornate wooden box large enough for a wristwatch or bracelet. Navy and silver. Former Silver Sun colours. I sighed and thought of the number of items the Empress could now have missing in her jewellery box and the rage that would follow it all because my.... fiancé couldn't help herself.

The lid flicked open under my thumb and I froze into my seat.

Her smile around her drink didn't help. But she didn't comment as I dropped my head lower to stare at the gleaming silver ring with a blue gemstone I had never seen outside of a museum.

"You stole. This?"

"It's not hers." She answered flatly not bothering to specify who, making me tear my eyes up to hers again. It startled me to realise that they were the exact same shade as the sapphire. But sapphires disappeared along with the rest of ancient gems long before gold did...

I dragged a glove over my face and spoke through it.

"Makayla, please just tell me you didn't escalate a conflict for some jewellery..."

"My father kept this." She said so low under the music I almost missed it. She plucked it from the box and tossed the wood off the edge of the table like it was worth as much as her father's memory. I watched her face intently as she held the gleaming ring before her eyes. "It was the one piece of my real mother I was ever told of–yet he kept it from me too."

She met my eyes and shrugged.

"I had Matty steal it for me. And now it's yours."

I found it hard to swallow suddenly. Perhaps my drink had been spiked.

She proceeded to drop it straight into my glass with a splash.

"Makayla! What the hell?!" I demanded, ripping it out of the Junak and scanning it for damage.