Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 132437 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 441(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132437 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 441(@300wpm)
He closed his eyes briefly.
“Even though… I love you.”
Allhan’s peepers popped back open. As shock reverberated through him, she remained utterly calm and steady, as level as the floor he was standing on.
“I love you, too,” he said immediately.
Yeah, they were waaaaaaay past holding back or worrying about what made any logical sense. Unfortunately, given their situation, the joy and happiness they should have felt did not follow the mutual confession.
“The male I am supposed to mate is my mother’s Tretary. He’s responsible for interpreting the stars, and she asked him to do that reading for me on the night I went through my change. Everything that was foretold was supposed to start when two falling stars crossed on a winter’s evening.”
“When we met,” he breathed.
“That’s right. Except there’s something wrong with my chart. Or at least, I think there might be. I noticed when I went through everything last night.”
Nodding his head, Allhan said softly, “And you asked me my birthdate and time. So you went and looked at my chart, too.”
“I did. It’s an invasion of your privacy—”
“I don’t care. If it’s right, you already know my secrets and how ugly they are. And if it’s wrong, it doesn’t matter anyway, does it.”
“I think it does.”
“So what did mine say.”
“I just need to know. Did you ever kill one of your parents.”
Now he was the one back with the wander, and as he crossed his arms over his chest, he wished he had a better backstory. It also felt, after half a year of lying, very weird not to hide behind a fiction he’d made up.
And yet perhaps he had to look at this all in a different way.
Especially given everything he’d been thinking about during the day: It was possible that there was another way to deal with that lesser.
Something he’d never considered before.
After what surely was an eternity, Allhan faced her. “I killed my father. I beat his head in with a candlestick.”
To Denne’s infinite credit, she didn’t recoil in horror. Then again, she was probably armed and he didn’t even know it. Either that or she knew that he would never, ever hurt her.
Her black eyes went up and down him, as if she were recasting her opinion of him.
“Your sister,” she said softly. “You did it to protect your sister.”
Tears disrupted his vision. “Yes. He had hurt her for years. And then he did something that put us both in mortal danger. I couldn’t… I couldn’t not take care of my family. Which was the two of us, against him. I did what I had to in order to protect Carmen, and to ahvenge what had been done to her as a young.”
“I understand that.” Denne nodded her head gravely. “I love my parents, and if they were in danger, there is nothing I wouldn’t do to defend them. In fact, I’m prepared to mate a male out of duty to make sure they’re safe. If that’s what I must do.”
Allhan closed his eyes briefly. “Thank you for not hating me.”
“How could I, when you’re protecting your blood.” Then she rubbed over her brows like she was trying to manually unjam her thoughts. “And your chart said something else.”
Allhan winced and thought of his planned betrayal of the Brotherhood. “What’s that.”
When her eyes finally returned to his, they softened with a gentle emotion. “You will love one, and only one, female your entire life, however long that is.”
He sucked in a breath. And then his heart started pounding. “Denne, can you answer me something, even if I don’t think I believe any of this?”
“Sure.”
“What did it say about… the future of my family.”
He wanted to know if his sister would be okay. Had to know.
Even if he wasn’t sure he believed in astrology.
Denne grew pensive and then shrugged. “Just that you had a big one. A big family who loved you very much… and that you loved in return.”
Allhan took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “That can’t be right. It’s only my sister and me. We’re all that’s left of our bloodline.”
“Not according to your chart. That’s not what I saw. You were surrounded by people who cared for you.”
He put a trembling hand over his heart. Then he spoke in a shaky voice. “Denne, I need to tell you… everything that’s been going on for me.”
CHAPTER FIFTY
Vishous was at his desk in his fishbowl office when the call came in to his cell. As he looked at who it was, he snatched the Samsung.
“You okay?”
At least he knew where Allhan was. The male hadn’t turned off his location ping tonight. He’d been at Sal’s for the last hour and a half, and while that would have been great news under other circumstances, given the little news flash from the Shadows last night, there was no feeling good about anything involving the male and Denne.