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He sat next to me, but he was stiff. It was almost like he’d seen a ghost.
“Tell me later,” I said softly to him. “Just don’t let on that something is going on here.”
It did make me wonder what he could possibly be so disturbed by just by our father being here but I knew I needed to know.
Raina finally sat down as the food was placed in the middle of us and silence descended on us all. Everyone was tense and Raina was oblivious.
Something was off, I could feel it.
“Zane,” our father said in his booming voice, startling us all from our dinner. “I hear your little strumpet has been found after these few weeks of being lost.”
Zane looked at me before replying. “Yes, she managed to escape. I didn’t have to give a damn thing up.”
“Ah well, if you can’t keep a handle on your things, you best not have them in the first place.”
Zane sneered at me. “Well she was taken, that’s not exactly my fault.”
“Well, if she’s such an easy catch, perhaps you should leave her with me.”
“No,” Zane and I both yelled in response. His eyes moved from me to Zane, and back to me. A slow smile made its way onto his face. A smile that had the hair rising on the nape of my neck.
“Well, well, an old sibling rivalry has emerged again, Raina. Did you know of this?”
Our mother shook her head and looked at Zane. “No, not a thing.”
“Not surprising,” Charles said. “You always let the real world problems wash over your pretty little head.”
Raina took that as a compliment given the way she smiled and continued her dinner.
“So…what is it, boys? A girl you’re both wanting and who shall she choose?” Charles asked, as if this were a game.
“It’s clear, father,” Zane said. “She chose me. She came back, and it’s quite clear she never wanted Halen. He had to kidnap her, after all.”
“He obviously instructed her to poison me in order to escape,” I said, even though I knew it to be a lie.
“You let a woman get the best of you?” my father asked, annoyed. “I taught you better than that, boy.”
“No, you taught me never to respect a woman.”
“And why should they be respected?” Charles howled at me as he stood up. “They are playthings for us. They do what we want, when we want and if I want them to spread those little legs, they will damn well do it or I’ll have them tied open.”
I felt sick to my stomach and it had nothing to do with the poison. Zane had taken father’s words as gospel, clearly.
One thing was for damn sure, I’d never let Zane or my father touch my woman again.
“I cannot believe I am your son,” I spat at him as I pushed my chair back, letting it fall onto the tiles behind me much to my mother’s disgust. I moved out of the room and toward the door. Percy was behind me in seconds.
“Halen,” he said, his eyes serious. “Run, go back down to the underworld.”
“What?” I replied. Charles was coming out to join us, his face intense.
“Run, Halen. Go back down there. You can’t trust them.”
I didn’t understand what he was saying before Charles pushed Percy away and stood in front of me.
“You’ll leave that little girl with Zane, you hear?” he said, his tone demanding. A tone I’d never had him take with me before.
Percy was trying to tell me something from over Charles’ shoulder. I looked over to see him mouthing something.
