Page 94 of Secrets and Ruin

“What happened to peace?” she asked.

“I gave it to them, and they killed my little girl,” he snapped, the answer obvious to him.

My little girl. She was his favorite. Like she was Niko’s favorite. Like Davor fell so in love with her, no one else would ever be enough.

I was in the shadow of a greatness I could never overcome when it came to her memory, but I didn’t curse the woman. I just wished I could be seen without her over my head.

“She was something special, wasn’t she?” Subira asked. “Liza was everything none of us could ever be. In their own way, our surviving children are warriors. She could never get comfortable with a hunt on the full moon. She was sad when I asked her to kill a fish we caught together. She believed if everyone was good, the world would be good. She was good, wasn’t she?”

“Yes,” Hasan choked out.

“Do you know who else believes that?” Subira asked, tilting her head as she studied her mate.

He didn’t answer, his nostrils flaring as his eyes shot to my face.

“The funny thing, Hasan, is you seem to be drawn to children who fill some need of yours. You never did it intentionally, but you did it. Maybe it’s the lack of intention that makes you blind to what I can see so easily. You found little Liza and all her goodness as we finally enjoyed peace together as a family. You could finally indulge the want of having a child who would never know violence like the rest of us.

“She believed so completely in your peace that she was incapable of violence. She wanted to see the world as something better than even we could imagine, and we both loved her so dearly for that. It was what we wanted when we finally saw eye to eye as mates. We wanted a better world for our children, and Liza. She was every piece of that.”

“You don’t need.” Hasan growled as he clenched his jaw. It took several moments, but we all waited for him to continue. “You don’t need to remind me.”

“I do, because we lost our beautiful girl, and you locked your heart to everything she ever believed in. I can tell you why you were drawn to Jacky.”

I remembered what Niko said as Subira continued.

“She believes in the same better world Liza did.She’swilling to fight for it. It’s notherfault you closed your heart because of a death nearly a century before you met.” Subira pointed back at me as she drove that point into Hasan. “You are punishing her for your cold heart. You are punishing her when you Changed her, not realizing youneedher.Weneed her. We are blessed to have the chance to be her family. She didn’t choose us. She has been giving us achance, Hasan, and you have been taking it for granted at every turn.”

“What would you have of me?” he asked, finally pulling his eyes off mine.

“You will remain on the Tribunal. You will remain the ruler of the werecats.Iwill be in charge of this family. You will not argue or fight it. If you need something from one of our children, even if it is to speak to them about the weather, you will go through me. I will have a home built in my territory for the family to visit. You may visit me as much as you please, but I will not indulge your need to hide on your island any longer. I believe a visit to my home after so long might be a healthy reminder of a time we were once united and why we were.”

“I can’t call my own children? Talk to them?”

“No,” Subira said, lifting her small chin and making herself the most powerful person in the world. “Your children have been the army by which you have ruled this world. I have heard these words spoken about you both by outsiders and our children. I heard them, and they broke my heart. You know why. I never thought you would actually become him, but when I walked into this room, I didn’t see the warm, dutiful man I fell in love with. I saw a warmonger. I saw hate. I saw someone I recognized, but it wasn’t my mate.”

Hasan dropped to his knees as his face finally showed the horror and pain I could smell.

“I would never hurt you,” he whispered. Truth. Painful, sad truth.

“You hurt me every time you hurt our children. You will not have access to them until you have healed the wounds you have let fester for too long and can remember the man I fell in love with.”

Also true.

She turned away from him and looked over us.

“Any questions?” she asked of us.

There were none.

38

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

My plane had more people on it than expected. Jabari and Makalo were escorting us home. Jabari’s excuse had been that Makalo needed to begin traveling and seeing more of the world. Niko was also on the plane, but that one had been more expected. He had nowhere else to go. Following his son was the only plan he could think of.

“Are you going to make a territory nearby or be a rogue?” I asked him as I sat down with a drink in hand. We were nearly at Dallas, everyone else sleeping, so I decided to take my chance and get this out of the way.

“Probably a rogue while I scout the surrounding area to find something close that won’t encroach on your territory. Something where I can get a lot of land.”

---