Honestly, she understood Nero’s protectiveness as it was just how her own sister would have reacted had the tables been reversed.
Nero let out an exasperated sigh. “Do you have any idea how many people are after you right now?”
“Not really. But I do know how many Jayne has taken out for me.”
“Oh.” Nero at least had the good grace to look sheepish.
“Yeah.Oh.So, are we going to keep arguing like morons on parade or are you ready to be human?”
“Shut your stunted ass!”
Hadrian arched a brow at that. “I’m a full head taller than you.”
“And you weigh half as much.”
Sadly true. He’d tried everything he could think of to bulk up, but for some reason he just couldn’t pack on muscles the way his brother did. Another thing about Nero that seriously chafed his ass.
Genes were a screwed-up thing. According to his brother, Hadrian looked nothing like the rest of their siblings. Nero and Auggie had dark blond hair like their mother while Julia and Trajen had been dark-haired like their father. No one knew where Hadrian’s brown hair had come from.
With the exception of Nero, he barely remembered any of his siblings, or his parents. They were more like vague shadows in his mind. Phantoms that haunted him with glimpses of things he wasn’t sure were actual memories or stories Nero had told him about them.
More than anything, he wanted to remember. To have that sense of family that Nero had known.
But his mother had been Righteous Anger and his father was Caution.
Some days, they were Hatred and Pain.
He knew nothing else. The foster parents Nero had left him with had always been afraid of being discovered. After all, they harbored the youngest member of the Trisani royal house and were Trisani themselves.
And their fear had turned out to be valid as both of them had been killed when he was only ten years old.
After that, Nero had begun hiding him out with different people for the next eight years.
Then Nero had moved him around to keep him safe.
Hadrian glanced over to Mordacity and let out a relieved sigh. “Least you didn’t kill an innocent woman.”
“Not from lack of effort.” Mordacity rubbed at her neck.
“Told you I was sorry.”
She glared at Nero. “Sorry doesn’t make my neck stop hurting.”
Jayne was aghast. “He really choked you?”
“With his powers, yes.”
Hauk held his hands up. “I didn’t even have a clue about how to stop it. I was afraid if I shot him, it’d kill her.”
Nero gave him a peeved glare. “I wasn’t trying to kill her as much as gain information.”
Hadrian crossed his arms over his chest. “Did you?”
Nero didn’t answer. Cocking his head, he stepped closer to Jayne. “Why can’t I hear you?”
“Because I’m being silent.”
Nero gave her a droll stare over her sarcasm.
