Liam clearly didn’t want to talk about his past and I’d never force him. Lucian didn’t seem to want to, either, but I had a feeling he didn’t really care for conversations like this and wanted it to mean something when he revealed tidbits about himself. He just rolled his eyes.
“My Tata is the king of a small region in the Carpathian Mountains that still has royalty. I’m one of the spares and I’m still furious theyallowedme to be kidnapped because everyone keeps trying to kidnap me because I’m smarter than my brothers. Theyknowhow I feel about being kidnapped.”
“Maybe they wanted to get rid of you. I know I would,” Liam said.
“That’s mean,” I said.
“Apparently, my line has several reincarnations in it. It’s some family secret that’s better kept than the fact that my Tata is bisexual and my parents are in a throuple.”
“Don’t kink shame.”
“I’m not. I think they have the right idea. If one partner is busy or isn’t interested in something, the other might be. Honestly, I think monogamy isn’t for everyone and more people should look into other options.”
“Nice,” Liam said, looking like his opinion of Lucian had changed a slight bit.
“We’d better get the tent set up and get some sleep. We’re about four miles from the marker where the crystal is. No one has jumped in our path yet, but they will. It’s another eight miles to the next quadrant,” Khalid said.
Khalid and Liam took over setting up camp since they knew what they were doing. Lucian came and sat with me.
“You didn’t have to give me your food.”
“I wasn’t going to eat it. I’ve had something similar during extended power outages and I don’t like it. You needed it more. I’m pretty sure you’re so hungry because it’s a hint.”
“I hope not,” he muttered, leaving.
Whatever Lucian saw must have been truly awful.
Iwoke up and someone was going to die. All signs pointed to the posh prince because Khalid seemed decent, even if his father was the law. He said he wasn’t a snitch, and I didn’t gut people without proof. I was trusting like that.
I didn’t particularly care Lucian gotten out of his bag and was spooning Sage. I got vibes she would have woken us up beating his arse or at least giving him a really entertaining tongue lashing if she wasn’t into it. I wasn’t going to complain if she woke up and did, either.
No, all our fecking food was gone. Not in the some supernatural who was super quiet snuck in here and stole itto fuck with us way. There were empty wrappers everywhere. I checked the bag. There wasnoneleft.
Khalid went camping with his Da. My Da never did that with me, but I went with my childhood chum. When I ran, I didn’t want any cabbies or train station employees being kidnapped and tortured because someone spotted me at the station or in a cab and the family thought they knew where I went.
I grabbed a bunch of camping gear and left Ireland by foot for as long as I could. Khalid knew how to ration food when you didn’t have access to a kitchen and so did I. Sage took her health seriously because she could die, so it wasn’t her.
There was one spoiled prat on our team who would put Sage in danger like that. There were no stores or restaurants out here. I could go hungry. She couldn’t. I was livid.
Everyone woke up when I kicked the ponce right in the kidneys. I hoped he pissed blood for a week. I shouldn’t have let Headmaster Mykene have that giant man frisk me and take my blade. I pointed out that knives were useful in all kinds of situations when you were camping, but sheclaimeda switch blade only had one use and she didn’t trust me yet.
I wanted my switch blade back. We had so many good times together, I’d named her.
Khalid jumped up to restrainmeand Sage jumped between Lucian and me.
“What the fuck, Liam?”
“All the food is gone. Not stolen,eaten.There are empty wrappers everywhere. He didn’t even try to hide the evidence.”
Sage looked like she’d been slapped and I didn’t know why Lucian did, too. He was the one who fucked this up for her. He knew damned well she had diabetes, and he ate all the fucking food.
“I swear, I didn’t. I can’t eat that much food and I wouldn’t do that to a diabetic.”
Hedideat that much food. These were the kind of rations they gave soldiers in the field. They were dense meals that were meant to fuel soldiers who might not get to eat for a while. My Da bought a bunch of them and stocked his secret panic room in case he needed to hide from the law or his enemies for a while.
Lucian ate multiple days worth of rations for four people and he didn’t leave a single crumb. If he’d just eaten a few, we could have split things up and managed so Sage could still complete the trials.
“You were the only one who was weirdly hungry yesterday, Lucian,” Sage accused.
