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“It is a cave, much more rustic, you might say, than most modern dwellings.” He shifted his gaze to the arched doorway, also chiseled in rough strikes, then to the wall opposite that housed a tall antique armoire. “I own several.”
“I’m recalling that you mentioned a ‘cavern-based’ world. Is this your home?”
“One of them.”
“How many do you have?”
He turned to her, chuckling. “Are you cataloging in order to collate and analyze later?”
She looked sheepish, but her eyes crinkled as she smiled. “I suppose I am. You’ll have to forgive me. I collect data like some people collect bugs or stamps.”
“I’m getting that, but I don’t mind answering your questions. Given what I’ve put you through so far, it’s the least I can do. I have six cave homes and was working on a seventh before the imprisonment.”
She clamped her lips shut, but he could feel a whole host of questions bubbling in the air between them. He applauded that she politely refrained from asking.
He gave her permission anyway.
She stared at him. “Imprisonment? Where and why?”
He released a deep breath and decided that for her to make a decision she ought to know about his father and the scourge he was in his world. He told her about Daniel putting him and his brothers in the Himalayan cave, how he’d had them tortured.
“But what were you imprisoned for?”
“Daniel called it treason. Essentially, he recently took over our government, with plans to rule our world—and the only way to do that was to get rid of me and my brothers, because we fought him. We always have.”
She stared at him, and he could feel how hard she was working to digest all that he’d said. “Let me understand. Earlier you mentioned we would form a tracking pair. So if we did that, what would we be tracking?”
Marius explained about the extinction weapon, that the last one was hidden somewhere in his world. “With this weapon, he could take over our world. And if he succeeds, trust me, he’ll go after human earth.”
She clutched the chain in her fist, her light-blue eyes wide. “You’re serious.”
“With every fucking bone in my body. We’re in trouble, Shayna, and that’s why I’m asking for your help.”
She sighed heavily. “So, who is this Daniel person?”
Marius felt a familiar queasiness anytime he had to own to his connection to Daniel. “He’s my father.”
“What?” Her brows rose.
“Yeah. Four hundred years of having to live with the fact that my brothers and I were sired by a monster. It sucks.”
“What do you mean ‘four hundred.’” She figured it out and her brows rose. “You’re long-lived.”
He nodded.
She looked away from him, but her gaze settled on his forearm. “You mentioned having brothers.”
“Four of them, all half brothers. Two are aligned with Daniel, the other two are my best friends: Lucian and Adrien. We’ve been through a lot together.”
She cocked her head. “So how is it you turned out so well? You and your brothers?”
“When we escaped Daniel’s control, we had a lot of great teachers and counselors who got us through.”
She glanced down at the chain in her hand.
“What is it?” Marius asked.
“I’m just so surprised by what I’m experiencing here. I can sense who you are.” She lifted the chain. “Which is why I know what you’re saying is true. But it’s just so strange to be in this situation, let alone to feel and know these things about someone I’ve just met.”
