“Seems I was better off not having parents,” North said. Then he paused. “Although perhaps not.”
“You didn’t have parents?” she whispered.
“Well, at some stage I must have but as a toddler I was placed in an orphanage in Romania. And then when I was around eight I was placed in a foster home.”
“Well, that’s good,” she said. “Did they treat you well?”
“As well as could be expected.”
That wasn’t mysterious or anything.
“Getting information out of you is like trying to milk a stone,” she told him.
“Why would you milk a stone?” North asked. “That’s impossible.”
“Exactly.”
“I’ve been trying to get more out of him for years,” Jared told her as he held the sandwich to her mouth again. “It is impossible.”
“When did you come to America? You don’t really have an accent. And do you still keep in touch with your foster parents?” she asked.
“When I turned eighteen I moved to South America. I traveled around a lot. And no, I’ve never had much of an accent. Sometimes we keep in touch.”
Huh.
How did he manage to say stuff without really saying anything?
That was definitely a skill.
“Here, baby girl. Leave North alone and eat some more food.”
“Sorry, Northie,” she said, feeling bad.
North just shrugged and finished eating.
She ate the rest of her sandwich then Jared held the iced coffee up for her to sip from. The ice had melted but it was still amazing.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you knew who had killed Rex?” she asked.
That part kind of hurt.
She’d have thought that they might have confided in her.
“We didn’t want you worried about this,” Jared said. “It’s our job to shield you. From everything.”
She shook her head in disagreement. “I know you think it is. But I’m an adult, even though I’m also a Little. I can cope withknowing the bad stuff as well as the good. And shouldn’t I know if there’s a threat?”
“I thought a severed head would certainly be a clue that there was a threat,” North said.
Well. North wasn’t wrong.
“We just want to keep you as shielded and as happy as possible.” Jared cupped the side of her face. He grabbed a napkin and started cleaning her up.
She frowned.
“But perhaps we should have warned you in this instance and then you wouldn’t have run off,” Jared said. He raised an eyebrow.
Sheesh.
