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“How was work?” I asked after he opened the paper bag and removed two donuts.
“I only went to the portal today.” He pulled his right leg up while the other remained outstretched, and although I was halfway finished with my donut, he had yet to take a bite of his. Obviously, something was bothering him. “I asked her why she did this to me, to us. I know I won’t get a response, but I had to ask, to get it off my chest. I just don’t understand why she’d give Rumir something else to be angry at me about.”
“He and the Goddess don’t get along?”
Lucian held his head back to stare up at the sky. “They do, but not well enough for Rumir.”
“Why? What happened between all three of you?”
He didn't answer right away but instead continued to stare at the trees in the front yard. The branches swayed in the wind, and several leaves fluttered down to the ground before he spoke.
“I was the first wolf to survive being imbued with the Goddess's divinity. After she created me, we often spoke through my dreams. She guided me and helped me lead the other white wolves she created after me. We were an extension of her. Our goal was to kill the vampires and help protect the world.”
He touched the scar running through his left eye, and the muscles in his jaw clenched. "I’ll admit that after I arrived here, she spoke openly of how proud she was of me, of what I’d done on Earth. I killed a lot of vampires in my time, many of them royals, and she was grateful to me for doing it. The fight against the vampires was very important to her because of her sister, and she wasn’t shy about talking about it.”
I already knew about that, but I remained silent as he placed his donut back into the bag. This was the most he'd ever said to me, and I wasn't going to interrupt. It felt so good that he was finally opening up to me.
“Unfortunately, she wasn’t talking about Rumir in such glowing terms, simply because he had nothing to do with the vampire wars. When I first arrived, I didn’t know that Rumir had been harboring such hostility towards me. After all, I’d been on Earth. But once I got here and he discovered how much time the Goddess and I spent together, his hatred grew even deeper.”
He paused, taking a deep breath as if needing fortification to go on. “They had an argument about me once in my presence. She told him that I was her child, too—one who brought her victory—and that he was jealous for no reason. She hadn't meant to imply that Rumir was useless, but he interpreted her words that way.” Lucian shook his head. "It looked to him that I’d made her proud while he hadn’t. Therefore, in his mind, I stole his mother, the only person who’d been on his side. He’s not close with his father, the dragon King of Esavale.”
So, that’s what Rumir had meant when he'd said he happened. In many ways, this was like what happened when a family welcomed another child into the fold. The older sibling would grow jealous and troublesome, but eventually, he’d get over it. But Lucian and Rumir weren’t children. And neither one seemed to be getting over anything.
“I was nothing but an experiment of the Goddess’s that turned out well, one she used to fight a war I didn’t want to be a part of. But why should I waste my time worrying about that? I can’t change it.” He looked at me as if waiting for a response. When I didn’t say anything, he continued. "I had a purpose on Earth, and I was given abilities that helped save many lives. That’s all. The Goddess loves her son. Gods tend to have many children, but Rumir’s the Goddess’s only child.”
"It doesn't sound to me like you hate him," I said.
“I don’t,” he replied. “I dislike him because he’s selfish, spoiled, and attention-seeking. He’s the opposite of the man I am. His mother adores her wolves, and he thinks she doesn’t accept him because he’s not one of us.”
His last words were spoken softly, and I remained silent as I allowed everything he'd said to sink in. I remembered the longing I’d seen in Rumir’s eyes and wondered if this was all there was to it. But this was Lucian's side of the story. I needed to hear Rumir’s side as well.
From what Lucian had said, it looked as if Rumir was refusing to see what was right in front of him, that his mother loved him. And just because she loved Lucian, too, that didn’t mean Rumir was loved any less.
We sat in a comfortable silence for a long time. Finally, he removed his donut from the bag once more and gave me half.
“You’re a good man, Lucian.”
He paused, smiling. “Thank you. Are you saying that because I brought you donuts?”
“Partly,” I teased. “But it’s the truth. You aren’t just an experiment that went right. You're far more than that. And I think many others would say the same. I’m a lucky woman, indeed.”
He stopped smiling but stared at me, appearing stunned by my words. His lips parted as if to speak, but he stopped himself.
I sighed.
And we'd been doing so well . . .
"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked after some time. "The vision you had at the ball . . . It was too powerful to be a normal vision, wasn't it? What did you see?"
"I don't know exactly, but I’m sure it means danger’s coming. Only I didn’t see how or when."
He looked thoughtful for a moment and then got up. He held his hand out to me, and I allowed him to pull me up.
Once on my feet, he began climbing the stairs. "That donut did nothing. I'm still starving. I'll order us some food."
I didn’t move to join him. “Aren’t you going to ask me what Rumir and I talked about?”
He paused at the door. "I don't want you to be with him—my feelings won't change about that—but it's not my decision to make. He won't reject you, and I can't force you to reject him . . .”
