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“What is it? What were you about to say?” Demos’ tone held a note of seriousness he’d never used with me before, and it had me looking at him.
“I need to tell you something. But…”
Blue eyes bored into mine. “You can trust me, Sierra. Tell me.”
“I think Lucius is the bastard son of King Trajan. And if he is, that means he’s the rightful king.”
The arms around me stiffened. His blue eyes widened, lips parting. Then a look of dawning comprehension came over him. “Now I see.”
“Now you see what? Please, Demos. No more secrets. I’m so sick of secrets!”
“I agree,” Phobius said behind us, coming quietly into the cave. “It’s time to tell her everything, Brother.”
Chapter Sixteen
Sierra
Brother. That one word rang around me with as much conviction as a death knell. Either they were siblings or, more likely, Phobius had previously been a Servant. The latter made way more sense to me, especially if what I’d seen in my vision was of Phobius standing before…
Wait.
That would mean Phobius was centuries old.
“I’ll have mercy on you, Omega,” the man made of midnight drawled. I stared at him, taking him in, looking at him with fresh eyes. Were he and Demos brothers?
Hanging on a cord around his hand were rabbits, and these he tossed on the ground by the fire. “While Demos prepares our meal, I’ll tell you a story.”
“Phobias—” Demos warned.
“No, it’s time she learned the truth about who we are and who she is.”
“What are you talking about?” I stood up and walked over to him.
Phobius was much taller than me, and being so near him right now, I had to tilt my head back just to meet his dark blue eyes. His hair was unfastened, its beauty hanging in a graceful curtain of ebony around his handsome face. As usual, I could scent nothing from him, no trace that he was even in front of me.
“I suggest you sit down for this,” he said with a smirk.
When I did no such thing, he shrugged. “Very well, then.”
“What…” The words died as his form blurred before my eyes, shrinking into a mass of color until all that was left was a flap of silky black wings, the wings of a crow. I didn’t feel the ground as my bottom hit it with a thump. A copper taste filled my mouth.
I had bitten my tongue from the impact.
I stared in disbelief at the crow a foot in front of me on the cave floor. Its eyes took me in, and I recognized that beady gaze. The first time I’d seen the creature was on a midnight, back on my balcony banister in the guest room of Goth Mor Helle.
“Fear.”
A caw answered me, and I could have sworn it was laughing at my reaction. I barely had time to process what exactly had happened before Phobius was standing before me once more. I scooted back as fast as I could until my back met rock.
“What are you?” Horror and fascination bled through my voice.
“I’m afraid the answer to that is quite convoluted. Let’s just say that Titus is filled with entities you humans would tear your eyes out from if only you knew.”
“Stop with the dramatics, Phobius,” Demos said. I had forgotten he was even in the cave with us.
I glanced over at him without a thought. He was in the midst of skinning the kills, readying them for the fire, his eyes on his work.
“Fine.” Phobius slowly walked closer to me, then sat down, legs crossed, hands relaxed on his knees. “That cantankerous old boot over there is my brother. By blood. What we are isn’t human, at least not in the way you classify human. We’ve been around for longer than you could possibly imagine. Like you, we live for a long time, but far longer. Your vision confirms this. That was me you saw. It was one of the times I’d been a Servant, and that particular day you happened to witness was indeed the marriage of King Gregoras marrying his bride, the future mother of Fadon, Ander, and Mari.”
