AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her tongue darts out to wet her lips. “He hasn’t touched me, for what it’s worth.”
I frown. “He hasn’t?”
“No,” she says. “Don’t get me wrong—I think he wanted to, and if I’m being honest, the feeling was mutual…but he hasn’t. And I think he has a certain level of respect for you. He appreciates the way you’ve treated your mother; I don’t know exactly what that means.”
“It’s rare among our kind,” I admit, “for women to hold a place of honor.”
She hums in understanding. “It’s rare among our kind, too,” she says. “Your mother mentioned that, actually—when we talked yesterday. She said your father didn’t share your ideas about how the Family should operate.”
“He didn’t,” I say. “He was…horrible.”
“I’m not sure that I really get your history,” she says. “Would you tell me?”
I don’t look at her—I can’t, not when it feels like she drags emotions out of me whether I like it or not. Penn strokes my chest, drawing slow circles across my bare flesh. If I hadn’t spent the whole night fucking her, I might be inclined toward another round—but I know we have to get out of bed.
And that she deserves answers, if she’s going to stay.
“You know that I’ve been through three assassination attempts,” I say.
“Yeah,” she says. “One from Keon.”
I grunt in acknowledgement. “But it was complicated,” I say. “He was the second. The first was an Aelyd female who was meant to be my bride. She…didn’t like the idea of being held captive by the Ganivets for her whole life. Afterward, my father had her killed.”
“Fuck,” Penn curses. “That’s dark.”
“I would have deserved it,” I say. “We used to operate much like the Diavolos.”
She looks up at me. “I don’t think you’re like him.”
I frown. “You haven’t known me that long.”
The silence envelops us again, and Penn gets back to stroking my chest. Her touch sets me at ease, grounding me, reminding me that I’m not a monolith…not anymore.
“And the third time?” she says.
“My father,” I reply.
She inhales sharply, but I don’t think she’s surprised. She shouldn’t be; Titian en’Ganivet was a horror.
“I was working with my mother to oust him, and to have him killed,” I continue. “Keon and I formed an alliance after he tried to kill me, and we decided it was time for me to take control of the Family. And Titian was angry. He came for me in my sleep.”
“Atlas…” she starts.
“That's why I was afraid to touch anyone,” I admit. “Because those closest to me have betrayed me again and again…and because I know what it’s like to be the betrayer as well.”
She stills, her hand resting on my chest. I think she’s going to set me at ease—but she does the opposite.
“I can’t promise you I won’t work against you again,” she says. “But if you help Layla, you can trust me.”
“And if I don’t?” I say, my heart pounding.
“I don’t know,” she says. “I’ll do anything to get her back. She’s family to me.”
“Then she’s family to me, too,” I say. “And I’ll do whatever it takes to get her back to you.”
CHAPTER FORTY
?
