David stared at this woman, not blinking, not moving.
Processing.
The awful truth spread, a trickle of ice water in his veins. Galadaine had betrayed them, had tried to enslave an entire species, and that same blood ran in David’s veins. He was the progeny of this…villain.
No one would ever trust him, knowing what he’d descended from, what powers brewed in his blood. His ancestor had ripped their realm apart, and they were still suffering a thousand years later. David was tainted by the very blood he’d inherited.
This place wasn’t freedom. It was another prison.
His mother, whoever she was, had known his fate and tried to hide him from it. She’d sent him away…into the arms of a monster.
He was doomed either way. Living proof that no good was ever bred in the hell created by good intentions.
Autumn’s warm fingers laced through his. “Youare not Galadaine. You can do things differently this time.”
But he hadn’t, had he?
The whole hate-at-first-sight thing with Sean made a lot more sense now. He’d always wondered, always sensed something deeper. He’d succumbed to the twisted feelings without second thought. The hatred was innate. Easy.
“Galadaine,” Sean said, studying his clasped hands on the table, “did he always hate Lhynion?”
David’s focus snapped onto Sean, and the vicious loathing speared through him. He tried to shove it away, knowing it didn’t really belong to him, but the effort was futile.
Kywyn shook his head. “They were brothers. For years, they were close. Inseparable. They just?—”
“Fell in love with the same woman,” Isobel murmured, bitterness seeping like poisoned honey through her emotional core.
How could anyone fall in love with such a woman? That stunning outer shell wouldn’t hide the acid within for long, even to those who couldn’t feel what he felt. Less than an hour in her company, and David couldn’t wait to put a great deal of distance between himself and her venom.
Instead, he shifted his focus to Sean, whose moments of anxiety alternated with periods of incredulity so profound, it bordered on comical. Blue eyes vivid as sapphires fixed on David. Falling into old habits, he smirked. “So here we are. Together forever.”
The muscle in Sean’s jaw ticked just as David knew it would.
“Probably should have killed me back when you had the chance,” David added, just to be a dick.
Sean threw on his lovable smile like a mask. “Forever’s a long time. Maybe I’ll get another chance.”
David pointed at Kywyn. “Didn’t you hear the story? I’m not the one who ends up with a blade in my chest.”
At that, Isobel rose from her chair and took his wrist in a vice grip. He could have avoided it, but curiosity kept him still, wondering what move she’d make.
She dug her fingernails into his skin.
“Ow,” he said pointedly.
“Keep threatening him,” she spat. “I dare you.”
Oh.
So this could get tiresome—suffering hatred for crimes he’d never actually committed.
“Bel,” Autumn said in a placating tone, but Isobel didn’t respond. If anything, her grip sharpened. Was she trying to excavate his veins with her fingernails?
David looked into her dazzling eyes and turned on the voice, letting the sugary cadence insinuate into her frontal lobe. “Let go.”
Her pupils dilated, and she released him.
Several seconds of silence followed, broken only when Kywyn hesitantly asked, “So you have such abilities? You—you can control people?”
