Medea frowned as she tried to understand Lilith’s reasoning. “Why did your mother create the others, knowing the gods would try to kill them too?”
Raking his hand through his hair, he sighed. “The lilit were her decoys to distract Azura and the others from me and my sister. But my mother lost her sanity in the process and with it became the very demon they’d dubbed her. We were quickly forgotten as her children and became tools to be used in her war against them all.”
“And your father?”
“Is a worthless bastard who makes yours appear loving in comparison. All he ever wanted me for was vengeance against the other gods. I never meant anything to him, other than to be used as a tool. If there’s anything or anyone Noir values, I don’t know it. I doubt if he even cares for Azura. I don’t think he’s capable of caring about anything.”
“Well, from what I hear, world domination.”
Falcyn snorted. “Yeah. That would be it. The gods know, it was never his children or sister-wife.”
That made sense. Medea was silent for a while as they made their way through the forest. Her head reeled with this new information about Falcyn and his family. There was so much she’d have never guessed at, and it made her wonder something else.
“Why did you change your name from Veles to Falcyn?”
He shrugged. “I grew bored with pantheon politics. Was never much of a team player anyway.”
“Yeah, I remember hearing those stories about Veles.”
A playful light sparked in his eyes. “Probably all true. Especially the gory parts.”
“And you’re avoiding my question again. Why the name change?”
The light went out in his eyes and pain replaced the spark. “After the destruction of my last temple, I went to live in seclusion. It was my sister who renamed me Falcyn for the reaping-hook-shaped claws I have and because it was always my weapon of choice in battle whenever I fought as a human. Once she was gone, I kept the name to remind me of her as if it was all I had left of Xyn.”
No wonder he’d avoided answering it. Now she felt terrible for having pressed the issue. “I like it, and it suits you better than Veles, I think.”
A twisted half smile curved his handsome lips. “I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
“Good, ’cause I meant it as one.… And tell me, Lord Falcyn, what does the dragon who has lived so long value?”
She realized too late that was the wrong question, as his eyes flared to a deep, dark red and he slowed his walk. More than that, he clenched his fists and lowered his head.
“Why would a Daimon leader want to know?”
“I was only making conversation. But I see now the depths of your mistrust. Not that I blame you. You’ve lived long enough to know better than to open yourself to a stranger. So I won’t fault you for that suspicion. You are a wise dragon, indeed.”
He pulled her to a stop. “Tell me what you value.”
“Nothing, really. Just my mother and Davyn. Some days my father and brother.”
“Only some days?”
She let out a bitter laugh. “Sad, right? I still barely know them. I want to love my father, but it’s hard to forgive him for what my mother went through. For all the centuries I watched her cry for him.”
“And what of Urian?”
“I love my brother because he’s my brother. But by the time I came to know him, he served Acheron—our worst enemy, who hunts us and who trains Artemis’s army to kill us. How can I trust someone who’s in service to my enemy? I understand his hatred of Stryker. I won’t fault him for despising someone who cut his throat and murdered his wife. But at the same time, I’m not dumb enough to trust Urian with anything more than a sister’s love. I carry no expectations of him beyond that.”
“Yet you sought him out in this matter?”
“Only because I trust in his love of Davyn. While I might not be able to put Urian at my back, his history with Davyn is such that I doubt he’d betray his one, true brother. They’ve bled far too often for one another in the past and have too much history with each other. I trust Davyn and Davyn trusts Urian.”
Falcyn scoffed as they came to a jagged edge. He turned to help her up the small embankment. “That is some screwed-up logic, my lady. Sad that I understand it and can relate. As you said, we are similar creatures.”
Medea didn’t speak as he lifted her effortlessly to stand by his side. He was a massive beast. Stronger than any man she’d been with in a long time. And she’d always been a sucker for great strength.
Worse was how much she liked the scent of his skin. He was intoxicating.
