Liam smiled and dropped a kiss on my nose. "When Connor came of age, Thomas offered to find a master to change him. Connor refused."
My eyes narrowed. "Let me guess. Thomas forced the issue."
Liam inclined his head. "Yes."
Why was I not surprised? That couldn't have gone over well with Connor. He might have been accepting of Thomas's special circumstances, but that didn't mean he wanted the same fate for himself.
To have your humanity ripped away against your will? Been there. Done that. It wasn't fun.
Even as I thought that, I could sort of understand where Thomas was coming from. I'd never been a parent—and now likely never would—but it would take someone far stronger than I to watch my child die while I lived on knowing I could have prevented it.
Better to be hated and have them still out in the world than to live in a world without them in it.
A thought occurred to me. "Why didn't Thomas have your master do it?"
That could have prevented the feelings of betrayal when Thomas circumvented Connor’s wishes.
Liam hesitated. "By that time, our sire wasn't well. Having him change Connor would have ended badly."
I felt curiosity at that. This was the first time anyone had really shared anything about the man who had made both Liam and Thomas.
Liam set one hand on my throat, his thumb moving back and forth across my skin. "Enough of this maudlin topic. Tell me something of you."
I considered him. It was tempting to push, but I knew how it felt for someone to disregard my boundaries. He needed to think of something else. It did no harm to let him.
I smiled as a memory came to me. "Did I ever tell you about when Caroline and I were young?"
He shook his head, his gaze curious.
"I’m still not sure how we became friends. We'd always known about each other because of our parents, but we drifted in different circles. She was kind of popular, but she never really tried to be. I was always the one who never quite felt like I belonged."
Still didn't on some days.
"Like I always seemed to be dancing to a song that nobody else heard, you know?"
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." Liam expression was tender. "It's what first drew me to you."
I quirked my eyebrow at him. "You mean it wasn't my impression of a bird as you hurled me into a kitchen island."
His grin was slow. "That too."
I snickered. "Anyway, one day Caroline tore into an older boy. Really mean stuff. Most of it very high level, the kind of thing you'd never expect to hear kids our age saying. He looked so confused, but he knew she was insulting him, even if he didn't entirely understand."
"But you did," Liam guessed.
I nodded. "Yeah, I did. It made me laugh too. I think that's what made her notice me. She had this arrested expression on her face, like she hadn't expected anyone to pick up on what she was saying."
I let more of my weight lean against Liam as I moved onto my stomach, using his chest to prop myself up.
"That's when the boy lost patience. He tried to slap her. I attacked. I thought Caroline would run. Instead she threw herself on top of us. I think she hit me more than him, but that was it.”
I drew a line along his collarbone. “The very next day she dyed Jimmy Grey’s hair green in her version of a thank you.”
Liam’s gaze was curious.
I smiled. “While sitting in the principal’s office, I may have let slip I liked Jimmy Grey. She said I was an idiot. Turns out she was right. He’d been talking trash about me. The dye was Caroline’s idea of revenge. We've been friends ever since."
How could we not when we’d bonded over beating one boy up and teaching another a lesson?
