I gave him a nod.
Jessestood and wandered over to the windows. The sun would be coming up any minute now, but its lethal rays posed no danger to me. The windows were treated to protect us from it, and nothing short of Godzilla could break them.
He turned away from the cityscape and faced me. “Well, vampire? What’s the plan?” As I opened my mouth to speak, Jesse held up one hand, his head tilted slightly as though he were listening to something.
He’d done this a lot when we’d spent time together in the dungeon. He was listening to the voices that whispered in his ear.
“Wait, wait. Yes, I forgot. There’s something else you need to know before we start.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back in my chair. “And what is that?”
By the look he gave me, Jesse wasn’t fooled by my calm façade, and he also didn’t seem surprised. I knew he could hear my rushing pulse, my heart beating hard and fast within my chest. The rage that had driven me when I’d escaped the dungeon was gone, and the insanity that came with it was swiftly following in its footsteps, though it still had a tenuous hold on me.
And that, more than anything else, was what still gave Jesse the power.
But, for now, he needed me. Because without me, the others would not follow.
Jesse waved his hand in the air and refocused on me, his golden eyes the same eyes that haunted my nightmares. “I need to tell you about Ryan.”
I frowned. “Ryan? Christian’s mate?”
Jesse gave me a nod.
“What about her?” I narrowed my gaze on Jesse, allowing him to see the mistrust in my eyes though my expression remained controlled.
“She is my sister.” With that piece of information out in the world, he turned back to the window as I processed what he’d just said.
Ryan? That wasn’t possible.
After a long moment, I said, “I’m sorry. Would you repeat what you just said?”
“She is my sister,” Jesse told me again, as the first rays of the morning sun began to lighten the sky. It was truly beautiful after the night’s rain, the way it reflected off the buildings. “My twin, actually. Fraternal.”
“That means she is—”
“Half djinn and half witch. As am I.”
I had no words. However, if I really thought about it, it did make some twisted sort of sense. Ryan heard voices, too, though she had little control over them. Not like the warlock, who seemed to treat them like a group of annoying younger siblings buzzing around him.
“She isn’t aware of our relationship,” Jesse said. “We were separated shortly after we were born. She doesn’t know who I am.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
The question was not what he was expecting. “Why would I lie about something like this?”
I leaned one elbow on the arm of my chair, studying Jesse as I rubbed my temple with my fingertips.
“By the way,” Jesse said. “My last name is Moss.”
I became unnaturally still, the way only a vampire—and perhaps a djinn—could. “What—” Before I could finish the sentence, the most delicious scent assaulted me. My nostrils flared as I breathed it in and my head snapped toward the door.
Keira stood in the open doorway, wrapped in a thin white robe. “What did you say?” she asked. She took a step inside and her voice rose. “What did you just say?”
I stood up so fast my chair flew back into the wall behind me, and from the corner of my eye I saw Jesse watching us with an amused expression as her horrified eyes flew to my face, silently begging me to tell her it wasn’t true.
I tilted my chin in the direction of our bedroom. “Keira, go back to bed.”
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized my mistake.
