Page 31 of Dante's Circle Reborn

She didn’t have the right to ask just then, though. And, honestly, she wasn’t sure she wanted to. Not only did she want to stay separate from him—as long as she could tell herself there was distance, she would be safe—but she also didn’t want to hurt him. And she had a feeling that asking that would hurt.

“The Alpha protects his mate, and I help, but my first job, my first duty is to protect Lady Penelope, their daughter.”

“You protect a child?” She warmed, trying to imagine this rough jaguar soldier with a baby lion cub.

“Yes, and she has me wrapped around her little finger.” He grinned. “My friends call me a nanny, and I don’t even mind it.”

She laughed then, and then put her hand over her mouth. She didn’t know shecouldlaugh. She had thought she had forgotten how. And yet, here she was, laughing with this man.

Who was he? And how had this happened so quickly?

“Now, tell me. Why are the gorgons after you?”

She lowered her hand and swallowed hard. “Because I killed someone.”

His eyes widened marginally, and then he narrowed them. “That can’t be all.”

No, it wasn’t, but she’d never told anyone the story before. She’d never had anyonetotell. She looked up at him then, his body so close, the heat warming her too-cool skin. “I feel like I need to tell you, why is that?”

“We already went over this. Because of who I am, how we are connected. I can’t protect you if I don’t know.”

“I didn’t ask for your protection.”

“It’s freely given.”

And she knew that. Deep down, even though she had just met this man, she knew that. If she ran away right now, he would still protect her. And he wouldn’t ask for a single thing. He was a man of honor. It should worry her, but it didn’t.

Plus, she was just so tired. She knew she needed to tell him. Even if he left after she did. “You know the stories of Medusa.”

“I’ve met a few gorgons in my time.”

“I’m a Medusa, not just a gorgon.”

“What’s the difference? I didn’t know there was one,” he asked, frowning.

“It means I’m at a higher level than most of the realm. I was born this way. I can’t change it. I’m even different than my parents. They’re all gorgons, but I was born a Medusa. It means I need a stronger glamour, but I have more control over it than most. It means whilesomegorgons can turn others to stone with just their snakes and their eyes, it takes them longer. They have to be forceful. I don’t have to do much at all. Unless you are my blood or my mate, if you look at my eyes or the snakes look upon you, you will die. Turned to stone in an instant.”

She swallowed hard, but he just kept looking at her. So, she continued.

“They banished me from my realm because I killed a mortal when I was nineteen.”

Jonah nodded, and his voice was soft when he spoke. “It was an accident, though, wasn’t it? You were nineteen. And you say you have so much power, didn’t they help you with control?”

She shook her head. “It is a Medusa’shonor,”—she spat the word—“to learn control. To have that power comes with great responsibility, they say. I had to learn how to protect myselfandothers. I’m the one who learned to glamour, even though someone should’ve taught me. In the end, however, I lost control, and I killed my boyfriend. I was nineteen, and with one touch, one look, killed the boy that I loved.”

She didn’t cry, she couldn’t. Not anymore.

“Poppy.”

She shook her head. “And it would have been fine, they would’ve covered it up, but the king of our lands has three daughters.” She said that wryly, and he frowned. “Three daughters who don’t have my power but want it. Women who didn’t have my boyfriend but wanted him. They drugged my water one night while at a court dinner. The drug took away my glamour in the heat of the moment. If I felt satisfaction, if I felt happiness, if I felt any strong emotion, my glamour would fade. And I loved that boy, I loved Alex. And he died. Because I loved him.”

Jonah cursed under his breath, but she didn’t stop. “My family disowned me. The realm banished me. Because those three girls wanted my power, and they couldn’t have it. They convinced their father, the king, that I was a plague upon our realm. That if I wasn’t caught and murdered, if I wasn’t beheaded, then I would be the end of our realm.Theirrealm.” She corrected herself. It wasn’t her home anymore. “The king loved his daughters, and in the end, he banished me.”

“Banished you, but didn’t kill you,” Jonah added, his voice a growl. “Yet the gorgons after you tonight wanted your head. I saw the knife.”

“At first, it was banishment, but then the king died,” she whispered. Jonah’s eyes widened. “I haven’t been in touch with anyone to know what he died of, but the timing makes me think it wasn’t natural. His eldest daughter, now queen, Mina, asked for my head. Demanded it.” She shook her head. “I’d had hope. Thought I could just live as banished in the other realms, with the humans or maybe another paranormal, but this year, Mina came after me. She sent her goons, and I can’t run anymore. I’m just so tired.”

And then Jonah was there, her face in his hands as he growled, his forehead against hers. “We will fix this.”

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