We aren’t in that situation anymore.
And… well… Even if I could trust that Lucian hadn’t done anything I’d find despicable, my relationship with him is tenuous at best.
He could end up being an enemy I can’t afford to have. He could end up being a spy in our midst.
He could have defended me just to gain my trust. After all, our father took his sweet time acting on his supposed intention to kill Lucian. It could have all been an act.
My brother could lie to me, betray me, and run back to our father.
Lucian is, after all, a dark creature like me.
And now I need to decide if I can trust him.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Rising to my feet, I make my way to Lucian.
The panthers stay close, although they give me space to move.
Lucian eyes them uncertainly but doesn’t stand or try to back away.
I stop in front of him. “How can I trust you?”
He shakes his head. “Trust between dark beings is impossible.”
Too true.
“Did you know about me before we met?”
He nods. “I knew I had an older sister.” He points to the red blood on his face. “The firstborn has black blood. It was obvious I wasn’t the firstborn, and it wasn’t like anyone tried to keep that a secret from me.”
I want to ask him why he looked so surprised and weirdly relieved when he saw my wings, but again, I’m not ready to bring them up yet… Even though I know I’ll need to speak of them eventually and possibly sooner than I want to.
“Whatdidyou know about me?”
His forehead puckers. “It was more what I was told about your mother than about you—because nobody ever saw or met you.”
“Well, then, what did you know about my mother?”
He takes his time answering me, more hesitant than I would like.Cagierthan I would like. “Our father referred to her as a hellhound. So did Vanguard and Jonah. Somehow, they all omitted to tell me about her claws. The same claws you have. Or I might have made the connection earlier.”
“What else did you know about her?”
His forehead creases. “They said she disappeared when she was pregnant with you.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Did you know our father betrayed her?”
Lucian looks away.
I lurch forward but stop myself before I grab him. “Did you know?”
His focus flashes back to me. “It wasn’t hard to guess! Okay?” he snaps. “Dad rarely spoke about her, but when he did, he got this fucking awful look on his face. Knowing what he’s capable of, the chances that hedidn’tdo something to fuck her over were fucking slim!”
His voice has risen. His lips are drawn back from his teeth as he takes sharp breaths. If he were a wolf shifter, I’m sure he’d be accessing his incisors right now. As it is, his fury is evident in the paleness of his cheeks and the way his eyes narrow at me.
