Brumous whined softly, pressing his nose against my leg, and I finally unclenched my hands and reached down to rub inside his ears, earning a rumble of approval. The moment stretched, fragile and raw, before Zane finally broke the silence.
“If you’re telling the truth about being a lunar witch, why can’t we smell it on you?”
“Because Arabesque—”
That invisible hand choked me again, and I closed my eyes. Would her torment never end?
“Wait.” An idea popped into my head, and my eyelids flew up. “Maybe I can tell you what Amabel—”
Cut off again. I dropped my forehead to the table and banged it lightly, and three large hands suddenly slid between my skull and the cloth-covered wood.
“Don’t do that,” Casimir scolded as Koa’s fingers pushed my head back up. “You don’t need a concussion on top of all your other injuries!”
My bottom lip wobbled as my eyelashes grew damp.
“No, no, no!” Koa’s hand moved to cup my cheek. “Don’t do that! We’ll help you learn about your magic. We’ll find a way to break Arabesque’s hold on your voice. Whatever you need, we’ll figure it out. Justpleasedon’t cry, baby. I can’t see tears in your eyes.”
“That’s right. I’ll even call Lucian if we have to, darling.” Zane’s smile lacked its usual hard edge. “Pops has got connections everywhere, even though he’s only been on the throne for three years.”
I didn’t know the details of their relationship, but I saw how uncomfortably they shifted even mentioning him.
“Thank you,” I said, blinking until my vision cleared. “May I ask a question that’s personal?”
“As I said before, any time.” Casimir rubbed the space between his eyes with the knuckle of his index finger. “You don’t need permission to ask your husbands a question, personal or otherwise.”
“Arabesque said King Lucian wouldn’t send his true heir.” I turned to Koa, whose thumb still stroked my cheekbone, his palm rough against my skin. “How are you three related to him?”
“We’re his sons. All by different women.” Koa’s dark eyes flooded with a sorrow I recognized. His mother was dead. He didn’t even need to say it.
“And yeah, all born within nine weeks of each other. Old man had a serious sex—”
“Father’s human beloved died giving birth to our eldest brother, Sebastian,” Casimir cut Zane off. “He grieved in a variety of unhealthy ways, one of which produced the three of us. There are two other half-brothers, completely human, living human lives with their human mothers and entirely unaware of the supernatural world.”
“And Lucian wants to keep it that way,” Zane added, “so we’ve never met them.”
“You said he’s only been king for three years?” I asked, and Casimir gave me a quick history lesson.
“Isaac and Crina Black ruled the court for more than two centuries. After Crina was kidnapped by a traitor, it took Isaac a century to get his beloved back. Once he did, he abdicated the throne to focus on her. Since Isaac had no heir, a blood lottery followed, and Father won.”
“And what about you, beloved?” Koa moved his fingers to carefully trace my jaw and the mark left by the edge of Eluned’s shoe. “How are you related to Arabesque Harrow?”
“She married my papa. Five years ago, he went to a witches’ council and returned with her andthem.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my tone. “Her twin snakes. While Arabesque slowly isolated Papa, Amabel and Eluned made my life miserable.”
“You reallyareCinderella, aren’t you?” Zane snorted.
Dropping my head, I curled in on myself, fixing my eyes on my new shoes. I was staring at the blinding white leather so intently, I almost missed the blur of motion that was Casimir’s fist as he reached across the table and punched Zane on the jaw so hard, he tipped out of his chair with a crash and a shout.
I flinched hard enough to nearly fall out of mine, too, and it was only thanks to Koa that I didn’t.
“He didn’t mean anything by it,” he assured me as he picked me up and moved me to sit on his other side. “Zane’s mouth runs to release his emotions. Casimir’s mind works like a military compound to control his. Sorry, beloved. You’re not getting normal husbands.”
My breathing had turned ragged at the violence, but there was something calming about Koa’s deep voice and his bottomless eyes and his gentle touch, and I clung to his hand as Casimir and Zane got into a war of words, Brumous barking excitedly at them.
“Is a beloved the same kind of bond for dhampirs as a mate is for a shifter?” I asked once my heartbeat had slowed a little.
“Yes. Would you rather we say mate?”
“No, it’s fine,” I murmured. “So long as you don’t mind me calling you mates when I slip.”
