She exhaled heavily as if even saying it out loud tainted her. “Apparently, his parents were brother and sister. They were forced to have a child because the board wanted the purest blood to run it.”
Okay...that wasn’t what I was expecting—
“And the reason Lucien went wild on his ninth birthday and tried to destroy everything was because they’d locked him in his bedroom with five older women. They wanted to see if he could start getting them pregnant—to get a head start on breeding as many babies with his blood as possible. But...he was a kid!” She shuddered. “Probably hadn’t even hit puberty.”
Sickness slammed into me as my head spasmed. “Sothat’stheir plan? To get him to sire as many back-up blood bags as possible, then kill him once they have a puppet of their choosing in power?”
My stomach turned over.
My stress ignited.
Silence fell between us, dark and miserable.
Laura didn’t speak, her gaze locked on the fish blowing bubbles before us.
Time stretched before I asked quietly, “So...he’s been in here ever since?”
“Sounds like it,” she muttered. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. Each time I hear screams at night and see another body carried out, I hate him. I’m petrified I’ll never get out of here and I’ve barely slept in over a week, but...I’d probably do the same if I was him if I’m honest. I would kill all those trying to hurt me, just out of principle.”
In the distance, Whisper appeared.
The black panther stood out like a fairytale beast, his pelt sleek and diamond-black in the sunlight. Sniffing the air, his tail twitched.
He looked directly at us as if he’d smelled me on the breeze.
“Uh-oh.” Laura shot to her feet and went to run. “It’s that monster again.” Reaching for my hand, she pulled me up. “Come on. We have to go. The place I’m staying at isn’t far from here, we can—”
Too late.
Whisper broke into a run and covered the distance in a feline flash. Skidding to a halt, his whiskers bristled. He revealed the tips of his fangs, then came to headbutt my hip.
Laura’s mouth fell open.
I glanced at her as I pried our fingers apart. “I think that’s my cue to go.”
“Go?”
I merely nodded. “I’ll see you around, though, okay? I managed to find a pavilion on the outskirts. Come find me, and I’ll keep you company when I’m free.”
“Okay.” She gave me a shy smile. “Thanks.”
Whisper moved to my side, opening his mouth to grab my wrist.
“No need for that, pussy cat.” Holding my arms up to avoid his bite, I nudged past him. “I know the way.”
Laura didn’t say a word as the panther herded me toward the palace, no doubt instructed by his master to collect me.
The entire journey I wondered what fresh torture Lucien had planned and why, despite my imprisonment here and lack of certainty about my future, I no longer hated him.
I’d already felt something I shouldn’t thanks to last night, but now...now I struggled in entirely different ways.
How could I hate someone far more tragic than me?
How could I fear someone who hadn’t stepped outside in twenty years?
I had a nervous system that liked to make me blackout in stressful situations.
But Lucien?
