Free Jaded by Anya Bast

hands had some magickal quality she could benefit from—to dissolve the past. Perhaps it would rewrite history for her, leave her with another, better memory. However, Byron resisted her every attempt in that direction.
    Then one day she woke to find he’d left the house. Not only that, he’d left the house to her , the deed signed over to her name. He’d left her a bank account as well. It was a good thing, of course, but heartbreaking because he’d been gone.
    She omitted that last part too.

Six

    A lek studied Lilya as she spoke. It was as though she’d left the room, but her body was still in the chair. Her gaze was unfocused, far away, as if she gazed into the past. He felt like he’d gone there with her.
    “I lived in the house for another six months before I grew too lonely to stay. I didn’t discover that Byron was Byron Andropov, heir to a huge elusian crystal fortune, until two years after he’d left.”
    Her eyes focused, found his, then her gaze dropped into her lap. She was back in her body. “That’s it. That’s my history with Byron. It’s not trifling. In fact, even though I only knew him for around twelve months, Byron is the most important person in my life. He says I owe him nothing, but I know I owe him everything.”
    The room fell silent. The fire in the hearth snapped and popped, but was the only sound. During the time Lilya had been speaking, twilight had enveloped the sky beyond the huge windows of the library. He’d been so engrossed in the tale he hadn’t even noticed the time passing.
    Alek sat considering both of them. Byron, for never having shared this story with him. What had kept him from telling Alek something that had had such a huge impact on his life? Byron had spent that year in Milzyr, unreachable to most everyone. He’d told Alek it had been business he’d been doing there, on behalf of his ailing father. He’d lied, rather than share this story with him. To Alek, that said a lot about how important this woman was to him.
    And, Lilya. Now he saw her through different eyes. Her situation was far more layered and complex than he’d ever imagined. Instead of a courtesan sitting in that chair, he saw a woman who had been to hell and come back from it.
    “And Ivan.” Alek broke the silence. “What ever happened to him and his men?” His fists clenched. “I hope Ivan died with a knife through his throat in a back alley. All his thugs too.”
    Lilya met his eyes. “Ivan is Ivan Lazarson. Ah, I see by the look on your face you know who he is. He wasn’t so powerful, not back then. His rise in the crime world was still to come. I would like to see him punished, but for someone like me, he’s untouchable.”
    “Not to someone like me.” Byron’s words came out hard and low.
    Lilya dropped her gaze into her lap. “I’m sorry. This is the first you’ve heard of Ivan being Ivan Lazarson, isn’t it?”
    “He was only a faceless bastard to me before, anonymous and untraceable. Now—”
    “No!” Lilya’s eyes flashed as she looked at Byron. “You will do nothing against him. He had the Imperial Guard paid to look the other way before the revolution and now he’s got the Milzyrian Protectors doing the same. It’s too dangerous. Promise me.” She paused, staring at him when he made no response. “Promise me, Byron.”
    He raised his gaze to hers, a muscle twitching in his jaw. “That’s a promise I cannot make, Lilya, but if you want me to stay away from him, I will.”
    Her brow knit, but the answer seemed to satisfy her. Alek knew him better than she did. He could hear the words he knew Byron had added to his last sentence in his mind.
    For now .
    Alek pushed a hand through his hair. “But I don’t understand why you chose to take up work as a courtesan after what you’ve been through. It seems to me that you would push away all men and, especially, sex. You didn’t need to do it since you had the house and money from Byron.”
    Lilya pulled back the