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Three assassination attempts.
Yearsof abuse from the man who raised me.
I don’t focus on that, though; instead, I think about the water, the air, the city lights. I am safe here. My most trusted allies are in this house.
My wife is in this house…even if she makes me feel like I’m going to die from shame, or from fear.
When the Family told me they wanted me to take a human bride, I didn’t approve of the idea. In fact, I fought against it. I informed them that it would never work, that I should try to pass on my Gift through artificial means. But they insisted, and now she’s here, and…
…and I love her.
I’ve loved her since the moment I laid eyes on her.
Because she is far from docile, and she’s smart, and capable. I feel like she has secrets, though, and that makes me distrust her at the same time that I want to learn everything about her. I have a deep feeling that she’s running away from something on Earth, that she isn’t who she seems.
She’s a seductress, to be sure.
I step away from the railing and pace back and forth, raking my fingers through my hair and cursing at the way the strands cling with static electricity to my palm. My Gift is out of control, reaching, reaching for Penn. I came into this arrangement wanting to keep my distance from her, planning on using that room in the villa to breed her, then to leave her. I didn’t ever want to be intimate.
And I thought she would hate me, after I told her she was essentially my prisoner. As much as I hated my father when he told me never to leave the Compound in Solis.
She keeps surprising me, though.
I rub my hand over my face, closing my eyes. I have to go back and get her. To speak with her.
I turn to go inside.
Ican’t.
So I’ll use an intermediary. Keon will help—he always does.
I head toward his room at a quick pace, striding down the marble hallways in the balmy Ganivet Valley night. He’s probably with some lover or another—he’s got more than a few here in Joya, and I think his bed is rarely empty. But I’ve interrupted him before, and after all, it’s his job to assist me. Plus, I think he wants to set Penn at ease as much as I do, and I did something horrible tonight.
But I can’t go back.
Not right now.
And if I don’t get help, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to show her my face again.
Keon’s room is in the same wing as Penn’s—right next door, in fact—and I shudder to think that we might run into each other here. That’s why I barely even notice the sounds coming from inside Keon’s room as I give the door a brisk knock, and then another, louder rap when he doesn’t answer.
Then I hear it: voice, then footsteps. He’s in there with someone, another male from the sounds of it. I take a short step back, but then Keon is opening the door, his golden skin completely exposed.
And behind him is Shayd.
…who should have been back in that room, guarding Penn.
Keon frowns at me, then looks back at Shayd, who’s already up and gathering his clothes. I’m ready to reprimand the man for negligence, but Keon glares at me when I open my mouth.
“I’ll be out in a minute,” he says. “Give me five.”
“I don’t have five,” I say. “It’s urgent.”
He sighs dramatically, tossing his hair back. “Okay,” he says. “Two, then.”
True to his word, it’s only a couple minutes before he comes out of his room, draped in a colorful silk robe. His hair falls in long blue waves down his back, his eyes twinkling with the bright neon colors of his recent liaison, but he’s composed at least, and carrying a silver cigarette case. He tilts his head out toward the balcony and I follow him out into the night air, where we sit in two outdoor armchairs overlooking the lake.
“Smoke?” he asks, passing the cigarette case to me.
