“Sparrow,” I snapped, not in the mood for his dramatic shows.
He just gave me an innocent grin. “What? I’m only speaking the truth. He looks like he plans to steal her from you.”
Typical Sparrow. Always embarrassing me everywhere.
Seth stepped closer, and I stiffened instinctively.
He and I were like brothers. He was a few years older than me, but we were both outcasts from our own people. But then he wascalled out to be the commander by my father, which meant he was ordered to tell him everything, including any secrets I might share.
So, I had distanced myself from Seth… it didn’t help when the bond started to show between him and my sister. I could never confide in him again. Especially not about Gwendolyn.
“What are you doing here, Seth?” I asked.
Seth’s amber eyes flicked toward Gwendolyn, then back to me. “Following orders and making sure you don’t get yourself killed chasing shadows.”
What was he even talking about?
“Let me guess,” Sparrow said, lazily stroking through the strands of his hair. He almost seemed bored, but I knew it was all part of his show. “Our father sent his golden hound to sniff out some information, hmmm? Cute.”
Sparrow’s flirting was all just a show, it wasn’t the real Sparrow. Because the real one would do anything for Nathaniel and never dare to flirt with anyone else. But this arrangement now… it was a political meeting.
“Someone had to,” Seth said, gaze unflinching. “Damien opened up a portal, creating an open barrier between Aetrum and Marabour… something that didn’t exist for hundreds, if not thousands of years, for a good reason. Then your little human seems to be the one causing it all, like she’s the reason all of your powers are acting up…”
I stepped between him and Gwendolyn, my jaw tight. “She’s not your concern.”
“She is your weakness, Xavier,” Seth replied, too calm for his nature. “That makes her everyone’s concern now.” The silence that followed was almost electric.
“Ouch… that’s bold, even for you, Seth. This is my brother’s land and his mate. Imagine if one of us talked like this about Lydia?”
“Don’t mention Lydia,” Seth hissed.
“So? I can mention her whenever I want. She was my sister first,” Sparrow replied. At what point did this discussion turn into a show?
I exhaled slowly, trying to remember the part of me that wasn’t ruled by instinct and threat. I felt Gwendolyn tugging at my arm, saying softly, “Not here.” Her touch always grounded me, even in the middle of this madness.
“Tell us why you are here, Seth, or leave…” I said again, refusing to look at him. My eyes solely belonged to her.
“Well,” Seth said, “Sparrow came to me, obviously unaware that I knew about the opening of the Veil through the portal…”
“How do you know about that?” And then realization hit me. It was my sister who was able to sense energy shifting. She must have sensed something happening to us and thought it could be a portal. I knew Lydia aimed to save us, and she brought Seth, not because he was her mate, but because he was the best soldier in the Vampire Kingdom.
“What exactly happened, Xavier?” Sparrow asked.
Although we had been friends a long time ago, we never really had anything in common other than our love for Lydia. While he used his abilities for good, I used mine to kill and destroy.
“Your father knows she is also mated to Damien and Malakai now. Everyone does. But Lydia didn’t tell anyone but me. It is your energy, the bond glimmering through. It seems not only my wife but also the others in our land have begun to sense the energy shifting,” Seth explained as he took a seat at the table, not bothering a glance in the direction of Taine or Drew.
“What will you do now? Tell Vad the extent of it? Tell him that even my own people have lost trust in me?” My gaze drifted toward Taine.
“Lydia would never trust me again, if I did that.”
“But you know you have to listen to my father first, he’d kill youif he knew you would listen to my sister more,” Sparrow said.
Seth chuckled, amused. “Yes… however, her words have the highest weight for me. Nothing will ever change that. And when Sparrow came, I knew he was trying to get information about a land between Marabour and Aetrum, which your mother could have hidden somewhere…”
“And?” I asked.
“Well… there might be something… but to search for her there is useless.”
