I let myself gape at him. “Jann,” I said quietly, looking left and right in the sitting room. “We’re alone now. You don’t have to maintain the charade.”
His brows drew down to shadow his eyes. “Whatcharade?”
I almost choked. “Are you joking? You can’t tell me you’re okay with that ritual? Thatmurd—”
The tingle of unease in him crackled to me through the bond, and I snapped my mouth closed. But his posture didn’t change, and he still looked at me like he was confused.
“I’ll admit, it was a little dramatic. But a bloodvow is hardly noteworthy, particularly for the royals.”
I stared, stunned, and uncertain whether he played a role, or was truly so callous. We’d just watched poor Istral, frozen in fear, while another slave was murdered before our eyes, and she was drenched in the woman’s blood. All while Gall watched on, seemingly pleased and proud to take his bride in such a brutal way.
I felt the knot in Jann’s chest as I stared up at him, but he didn’t soften. His expression of indifference never wavered.
“Jann—”
“Stop worrying, Dee. I’ll run you a bath. You need to rest, to help your body and the babe. Let go of what’s happened, it can’t be changed.”
“Let go?” I hissed. “You think we should justlet that go?”
Jann’s forehead furrowed. He glanced over my shoulder towards the door where Caelan had left, as if checking it was closed, then he leaned closer. “Yes, Dee. I do.”
My lower jaw dropped, but Jann acted as if he didn’t see it. Or perhaps, didn’t care.
Those muscles at the back of his jaw flexed as he looked down to take my hand again, and his words grew tight. “What’s far more important is your health and—”
“My health?My health?Jann we just watched a woman brutally murdered!”
“And you’ll see many more in your years here in Valgorath City. My people are ruthless, Dee. You knew that.”
“Yes, but—”
“No buts.”
My head jerked back as the barest thread of alarm reached me through the bond. Jann warning me? Or afraid of me?
‘What haven’t you told me?’I sent through the link, in case his concern was that we might have an eavesdropper.
But Jann shook his head and answered aloud. “There’s nothing. You know everything.”
The first thread of caution in him…
“Then what… why… What do you mean there’s no charade?”
I expected him to shush me. Or to get angry if he thought he was covering for someone overhearing us. Instead, he looked confused.
“Diadre… are you truly still unclear?”
“About what?”
“My eyes,” he said bluntly. “Mygoldeneyes.”
I swallowed hard, as the first surge of pleading reached me through the link. “What about them? You’ve always had them,” I said hesitantly.
He huffed. “Precisely.” As if that were an answer.
I drew my hand out of his and folded my arms. “Jann, what are you saying?”
“Nothing you don’t already know—though now I wonder if you’ve deceived yourself? My eyes are yellow because I am of Nephilim nobility. My primary loyalty is to Lucifer. To the Fallen. Especially now.”
