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Megan shrugged. “I don’t know anymore. At the time, I thought he was the threat, but the longer I’ve been away, the less I believe that. Someone stole our babies. There was a woman... an old woman, who said that Ari had given them away. At the time, I was angry, horrified, inconsolable, everything you would imagine a mother to feel when she’s lost her children. But Ari would hold me, and I realize now that he could manipulate my memories and emotions, and he made me forget I’d had any other kids.”
“I think he did that to protect you,” Kaspar said.
“I do, too,” she admitted. “When I had Sophia, Ari made sure she was never out of his sight. Her birth was the hardest on me, and I was in and out of consciousness.”
Kaspar looked at Megan with a new respect. Giving birth to a Kalt Einn baby would have wreaked havoc on her human body, and the fact she did it three times meant she was stronger than anyone probably would have given her credit for.
“I had a wonderful nurse who said Ari didn’t sleep for four days while I was unstable. He sat by my bed, one hand on me and one on her... we’d originally called her Ása. I woke up to find him in bed with me, her in between us.”
“Then why did you leave him?”
“Because we really weren’t safe. The nurse, the one who came to the house, said that people were looking for us, and if I didn’t want to lose my baby, I had to leave.”
Kaspar raised an eyebrow. “What was the nurse’s name?”
Megan squeezed her eyes shut as if trying to remember. “Clara, I think.”
“Did she say who these people were?”
“No.” She sighed. “And to be fair, I didn’t ask. I was tired, I had an almost one-year-old, and I felt like I was going crazy. Maybe I felt like I was going crazy because I was tired. I don’t know.”
“Why did you feel crazy?”
“Ari changed. I guess I did too, but he was frustrated all the time. He’d snap at me and the staff, I’d hear him yelling at his valet, security guy, constantly. Honestly, I’m surprised Dreki stuck around. When we were alone, we were constantly bickering, and I could hear him in my mind. Speaking to me. I thought I was hearing voices. He also wouldn’t marry me. Said that he couldn’t.” She blinked back tears. “God help me, but I was so in love with that man, I stayed. By the time I finally left, the only person he seemed to cherish was Ása.”
Kaspar sighed. “Well, that’s not even the least bit true.”
“You don’t think?”
“No, Megan, I don’t. I’m sorry you felt that way... sorry he made you feel that way, but he loved you. He still loves you. We are bound by tradition and lore, and we are trying to break free from the archaic laws, but we find it difficult at times.”
“You mean the ones that say you can’t marry someone who isn’t royalty?”
“You asked what we are. I will tell you the truth. I mean the laws that say we cannot be bound to anyone human.”
Megan sucked in a great gulp of air, coughing as she choked. Kaspar rushed to her and did his best to calm her, but they weren’t family yet—not until Ari bound her, so he wasn’t able to do much to help.
The door slammed open, and Cameron had his gun ready again.
“What the hell are you doing, Cameron?” Megan demanded as she finally brought her coughing under control.
“Are you all right?” her brother asked.
“Yes, I’m fine. I just swallowed wrong. Why the hell do you have your gun out? God, Cameron, you’d think you’re some drug lord protecting your product. Put. It. Away.”
Kaspar noticed Jesska hovering in the background and made his way to her while Megan continued to chastise Cameron.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“We’re just trying to sort all of this out, elskan.”
She wrinkled her nose as she frowned up at him. “Don’t call me that.”
“Hey.” He smiled and squeezed her arm. “Are you okay?” She nodded and he lifted her palm to his lips. “When this discussion is all over, will you allow me to take you to dinner?”
Jesska bit her lip. “No.”
“I don’t typically take no for an answer,” he said.
