69

Valentina turns to me and I feel cold from the glare of her ice-blue eyes, “What did you say?”

I clear my throat, heat spreading up my cheeks at how flippant I had been, I lick my lips nervously, and my eyes fly to Eva beside me, she is quiet, I don’t think she has moved once since we started. Trying to be as polite as I can, I look to Valentina so she knows I didn’t mean to offend.

“I don’t have anything against the name Valentina or even Isadora, I quite like it, nice name, I have a younger cousin who goes by that name, we call her Dora.” Fuck, I’m rambling,

I look up from my glass, trying for a smile “But we can add that to the list for any future babies,” Thea included, not Tomasa though.

She looks at me for a moment then turns back to Niko “Names have meaning, a good name from our line, one with good meaning not some coined version” She makes a face as though she tasted something foul. “Change it”

That didn’t seem like a suggestion anymore, it was an order. Still, I hold o