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“Lucky me.”
“You’re right not to trust me brother.” He catches the look on my face, smirks again. “Sorry, sorry. I forgot. I’ve been disowned. For good reason, I suppose. But I’m here now. That has to count for something. For all I know, you have these streets teaming with vampires ready to take me out.”
I don’t, but I’m not about to tell him that. “You being here means nothing, other than the fact that you’re a fool.”
He shrugs. “Be that as it may, I am here, and I’m here because I need your help. And you need my help. We want the same things.”
“Which is?”
“Our father out of the picture.”
I squint at him, studying his face. Of course, he looks the same as he always has, his hair a bit shorter, though a similar length to mine. Though I was born a human and he was born to Skarde (and a human mother), we shouldn’t look alike at all, but we do. Blue eyes, dark brows, black hair, high cheekbones. Nordic through and through.
“Why would you want that?” I eventually ask.
“Because he’s been in power far too long.”
“Might have something to do with him being immortal.”
“But we don’t know that, do we? If we can die, the same probably goes for him. Just because no one has been able to kill him yet, doesn’t mean we can’t.”
I shake my head. “Why are you doing this, Kaleid? You want to take over, is that it?”
He narrows his eyes at me. “I have no interest in ruling. I don’t think anyone should be ruling over us. Let us be free to make our own choices.”
“We are free to make our own choices,” I remind him. “I do what I please here. You do what you please there. Why the change?”
“Because we are never truly free as long as he is in power.”
“Doesn’t sound like he has much power if he’s hiding out in deeper worlds.”
“He’s not hiding,” he snaps impatiently. “He’s growing stronger. He’s building his army.”
“An army that Lenore easily defeated,” I point out, though from the gleam in his eyes, I regret ever saying her name.
“Ah yes. Lenore. Where is your infamous girlfriend? I thought you’d never let her out of your sight after what our father tried to do.”
I press my lips together, needing to keep her out of it. “She’s around.”
“I see. Vague. Okay, well, you know I hope to meet her.”
I bristle. “Whatever you have planned, it won’t involve her.”
“So it will involve you?”
“I never said that.”
He leans over and smacks my arm, hard. “Come now, Solon. Now that you know I won’t try and kill you, why not invite me into your house. We have a lot to discuss.”
“I’m not sure that we do,” I say warily.
“The minute Skarde and his armies leave the world and come into this one, you know there’s nothing that humanity can do,” he says. “It’s game over for them. It’s game over for us.”
I swallow uneasily. “Since when do you care about what happens to humanity?”
“I’m half human, if you’ve forgotten,” he snipes, then quickly adds a smile. “I’ve become a lot more in touch with my human side lately. I was inspired by you.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“And if you were listening, I said it’s game over for us. We can’t survive without humans. Skarde seems to think we can, but I’m not game to test his theory by wiping everyone out. Listen, I know this seems out of left field for you, and I know you don’t trust a damn word that’s coming out of my mouth. But I wouldn’t be here, risking my life, if it wasn’t important to me and if I didn’t think it wasn’t important to you. And yes, this involves Lenore too, whether you like it or not. If we don’t defeat him, she’s the first person he’s coming after. He wants her to be his bride, Solon.”
I blink at him, a cold, thick feeling swimming in my chest. “His bride?”
Kaleid nods. “That was his intention from the start, why he sent Yanik in the first place. Did you know he would have sent me, had I not already broken away? Be glad I’m conspiring against him; I wouldn’t have failed the way that Yanik did. I would have never underestimated her.”
In a burst of rage, I reach out and wrap one hand around his neck, lifting him off the ground. “Don’t talk about her as if you know her. You don’t. You don’t know a thing about her.” He opens his mouth to speak, but I squeeze harder. “Now, what do you mean, he wants her to be his bride?”
He reaches up with his hands, trying to pry my fingers off him. He can survive without air, but I’m making this as painful as possible.
