“It was the done thing back then,” Jase explains. “But not now unless it’s a personal choice.”
I glance at Knight without conscious thought. Of the four Luminary leaders, he’s the only one who didn’t get to marry for love, and I’ve always felt it was grossly unfair. Everyone and their granny knows how he feels about Bree, including his bitch of a wife. Rumor is she’s fucking Knight’s despicable younger brother even though Knight is faithful to her despite not loving her.
“So, what happened?” Abby asks. “And why do you go by Ares now?”
“We had to flee overseas and take new identities,” Ares finishes explaining. “Mom named me Ares as the natural match to Athena, and when we returned years later, I didn’t even remember my birth name.” Ares smirks at Drew, and it’s so incredibly juvenile and petty.
“You lied,” Drew says, taking a few steps back.
“I thought we’d already established that.”
“You lied about every fucking thing.”
“Not everything, and don’t act all innocent. You’ve been lying your entire life. To yourself and those around you.”
His nostrils flare, and I fear I’ve gone too far, but it all seems so blindingly obvious to me now. I instantly regret that little outburst because I see the hurt he’s hiding from others, but he can’t hide it from me.
Ares chuckles, and I see red, whipping around and punching him in the gut.
There’s a collective intake of breath, and I probably shouldn’t have done that, but I don’t feel sorry.
Fuck it.
Might as well own it.
I straighten my spine and lift my shoulders. “I’m not apologizing. You’re acting like an immature brat, and I know that’s not who you are. Drew has suffered enough. Stop trying to hurt him. He’s been hurt enough.” I stomp away from Ares and stand beside Drew, making my feelings known.
You could hear a pin drop in the awkward silence that ensues.
“You’re forgiven,” Abby says, her voice projecting loud and clear. “And I might just have a teeny-tiny girl crush on you.”
“You’ve got balls of steel, Martin,” Baz says, grinning. “If anyone else did that, they’d be facing the gallows.”
“That’s a tad dramatic. We’ve mostly left those days behind us.”
“If the theatrics are out of the way, can we get down to business. We need to be on that plane in two hours, and time is running out,” Knight says.
Abby climbs off Kai’s lap. “I’ll get coffee while you start, and help yourself to food.” She gestures toward the large dining table where plates full of pancakes, fruit, pastries and muffins are laid out.
Kai and Xavier walk into the kitchen to help while everyone else grabs plates of food and takes a seat. Drew pulls two velvet-backed chairs from around the table over to the area beside the couches for us, and we sit side by side with plates on our laps.
When everyone has finished eating and we’re all settled in the living area, Knight clears his throat and begins explaining. “We know you’re all wondering who we are, but there is only so much we can tell you. The first thing you need to know is we are not your enemy, and we have no intention of hurting you or your loved ones. We’re trying to keep you safe.”
“We warned you to back down seven years ago because you were interfering in something connected to our world, and we wanted to handle it ourselves and to keep you protected from the kind of attention you have now attracted,” Jase adds.
“Were you warning me off too?” Xavier asks Ares. “I recall a few times I was shut out of things and received anonymous messages telling me to butt out.”
Ares nods. “I wanted to tell you, dude. I haven’t liked keeping this part of my life from you, but it wasn’t safe to drag you into it. I did what I could to keep you safe.”
Xavier and Ares share a look loaded with emotion and unspoken words.
“Were you involved in what happened to Jane?” Drew asks, tensing beside me. My fingers thread through his like it’s the most natural thing in the world. His palm curls tightly around mine, and his touch feels like my superpower. Like I could do anything as long as he’s holding on to me. I’m enjoying a silent freak-out over those thoughts as Ares’s gaze drifts to our conjoined hands, and he frowns.
I don’t know why he seems to dislike Drew. I know he’s completely in love with his wife and there has never been anything more than casual friendship between us. I only got to know him when we were adults when he returned to Lowell with Daphne and his little sister. It’s probably just a clash of personalities, and both men want to prove they have the bigger balls.
“No,” Ares deep tone bounces off the walls. “We weren’t aware of her until your investigation led to Lowell.”
“That put you on our radar, and when we discovered what you were doing, we reached out to overseas contacts until we found her,” Baz says.
