‘The household manager position seemed particularly cursed.Clara was the first to go.He shot her in front of me, left her to die.Fenwick was the second.I was more involved with that death, but the third,’ Lachlan says distantly, ‘was hard to swallow.’
‘What about other bodyguards?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You said he…Ihad a tendency to go through them.’
Lachlan shutters his expression.‘That doesn’t matter.’
‘Were they all killed?’
‘I think so.’
‘Yes or no?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did I know they were being killed when I got them fired?’
‘No, I don’t think so.Although you actually killed one of them yourself, but trust me,’ Lachlan says, taking a turn towards a noisier part of the city, ‘he deserved it.’
‘How did he die?’
‘Poison.’
Kade frowns.‘I didn’t know how to kill yet,’ he guesses.
‘You learnt.’
‘And you taught me the basics, right?That’s how you anticipated my moves.’
‘I told you this before.’
‘Yeah, but I didn’t fucking believe it.’
Lachlan stops and looks at him.Kade does the same.
‘Really?Seven years and nothing before.I tell you about Jules Penhalyx and his sister dying seven years ago.I show you a photograph—’
‘That doesn’t look like me.’
‘You were akid.You’re an adult now.You’ve had your nose broken.Your jaw filled out.But I still see you in there.I still…’ Lachlan shakes his head.‘I don’t understand how you can’t see it.Harker must be right.’
‘Oh don’t fucking start.’
‘Start what?’
‘MaybeI’ve lost my memory, andmaybesome deeply buried trauma is stopping me from accessing anything beyond seven years ago, but thiscursebullshit is nothing but Riley’s fondness for Paranatural-adjacent crap.’
They make a sharp left into a noisy bar.Kade smells cheap beer and sweat.
‘You know, it’s pretty fucking rich to hear you talk that way about Brightlings,’ Lachlan tells Kade as he holds the door open for him, ‘considering youareone.’
?
‘You’re lying.’
‘You’re in denial.’
