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“Davian.”
His gaze fell on his friend. “Yes?”
Morgan shifted from one booted foot to the other. “Forgive me for saying so, but I don’t think it would be wise for you to visit Jade.”
Davian massaged the nape of his neck where a ball of tension seemed to have settled in permanently. “I don’t disagree with you. However, something has come up, which I’d like to investigate further.”
Morgan crooked a brow.
Davian said, “I saw a marking on her skin that is familiar to me. I couldn’t pinpoint where I’d seen it before, until last night, when I was thinking about her father.”
“Liam?”
With a nod, Davian said, “He homesteaded and designated the community for the humans he considered to be in his charge at the end of the war. We both selected a similar location around the same time. I staked my claim atop the cliff; he chose his at the base, with the river dividing us. I was fascinated by his nerve when he didn’t move on once he’d learned where I intended to establish my kingdom.”
“I recall he had quite a stubborn streak.”
“One he passed onto Jade. Along with a few other traits.”
Davian reached for a book on his desk and flipped it open where he’d flagged a section. In the center of the right-hand page was a sketch of three dots in an inverted triangle, though set slightly at an angle.
“The first time I met Liam and assured him my law of peace between the demons and the humans would be upheld by my alliance, he had short, military-style hair. I noticed the marking on his neck, below his right ear. Every time I saw him thereafter, he had long hair that covered what I’d assumed were freckles or moles. I never thought of the pattern again—until I saw an identical one. On his daughter. So I researched it this morning.”
Morgan slid into a chair on the opposite side of the enormous desk. “Are you going to tell me Jade has the same configuration in the exact same spot?”
“Yes.”
“What does it mean?”
“It’s a sacred symbol. A very simple one, so as to not draw too much attention to it or spark speculation as to whether it’s more than freckles naturally aligned. But it’s the mark of a demi-demon.”
Morgan’s head jerked back. “A what?”
“I knew there was something different about Liam, but I never delved too deep. He was clearly human, clearly mortal. Despite his willfulness and skill, he always took great care and precaution with his life. He didn’t operate in a reckless manner.”
“But it did take an effort to murder him, when the shifters attacked him.”
“That’s true, because he had the ability to self-heal, as Jade does. The wolves mauled him, then ripped his arms and legs from the sockets to keep him from repairing the damage. For good measure, they decapitated him. They’d done the equivalent to Jade’s mother, though it hadn’t been necessary. She didn’t possess similar talents as her husband and daughter.”
It had been a grisly scene to come upon, when word had reached Davian. But it had been infinitely more horrifying for Jade.
He’d later learned, the first time he’d invaded her thoughts, that she had witnessed the entire ordeal from the woods. In addition to her agony, fury and terror, guilt had besieged her. She’d never forgiven herself for not doing something—anything—to thwart the attack or call for help.
Reasonably, she’d known she couldn’t fight off the shifters herself and had been too traumatized to even try. Hiding in the forest, she’d been immobilized by grief, shocked into stunned disbelief, and had not made a peep.
That was as far as Davian had been able to make it in her dark, clouded mind as it related to her parents’ deaths. He’d felt all of her emotions almost as acutely as she had; they’d been insidious for him to experience through her thoughts.
The attraction he’d felt toward her and the understanding of the depth of her emotions when she was eighteen and weeping on the riverbed over her breakup with Michael Hadley had somehow
connected Davian to her. From that moment on, her pain had become his. Making it imperative to stay out of her head. He’d go mad if he knew the full extent of her suffering.
Which brought him to his next point. “Demi-demons are similar to ancient demi-gods in some respects. They’re human, but they possess extraordinary abilities. They’re descendants of demons, but their blood has been so diluted over the centuries, their human nature reigns. And they can be killed, by human or demon hands. Even if they have the capability to self-heal.”
“I always wondered why Liam would say not all demons are evil,” Morgan mused. “Do you think Jade knows her true heritage?”
“No.” He was certain of it. “She believes she’s one-hundred percent human. I’m not sure she’d want to know the truth.”
Morgan speared him with an intent look. “And you’d prefer that as well, correct? Otherwise, she might decide she has some higher purpose and take her father’s place in the village, thereby putting herself at risk.”
