Page 22 of The Lynx and the Llama
“What?”
Carol furrowed her brows before responding. “Has anyone ever told you that you look like Lear? I mean you could pass for his brother!”
“Erika mentioned it.” He shrugged and shook his head, unsure of why it was important at the moment. “I’ve never met the guy till now. I glanced at his picture in the case file but didn’t notice the resemblance. And even face to face, I don’t see it.”
“Well, we should discuss that. Your file indicated that you still have quite a bit of amnesia post-experimentation, correct?”
“Yeah.”
“Including your legal surname? Where you came from?”
"That's correct.” He nodded as he started to understand where Carol was going with her line of thinking.
“Zagan revealed to us that your blood turned him into the bull-griffon he is. I’m not positive, but as far as I know, the experiments only work when royal blood is involved.”
“Wait…” Quinn sucked in a breath as his heart began to pound harder in his chest. “Do you mean what I think you do?”
Carol nodded. “It’s possible.”
* * *
It wasn’t long before Quinn was back in the helicopter with Erika, Carol, Rayan, Mateo, Treasure, Harriet, and Lear to go out to dinner. Though he felt much too frustrated for a social engagement, he understood the importance of sticking to the plan.
They’d continue to sightsee—which included dining out—and acting as though they were all enjoying each other’s company too much to care about any threats from Zagan.
At least that meant that Quinn and Erika were still expected to act like a couple. The better for Zagan to think they could be caught off-guard. Not that Erika paid him much attention. Her silence made him worry that he’d done irreparable harm by losing his temper earlier.
Unfortunately, they wouldn’t have a moment to talk alone anytime soon. Not with the whole “gang” in tow.
The ride to OMill of Balabani restaurant wasn’t long, which was good because it was hard for Quinn to resist touching Erika. Her body was pressed against his in the tight quarters, and he wanted nothing more than to kiss her as they had last night. Alas, she kept her gaze out the window and her hands to herself, much to Quinn’s dismay.
Once the helicopter landed, Dayton, Treasure’s driver, greeted them.
“Hey, Dayton! Long time no see!” Carol said as Dayton opened up the back of the car.
They all piled into the stretched Lincoln Town Car, though somehow Quinn and Erika ended up on opposite sides.
All the better to avoid temptation,he thought, while also hoping that she wasn’t purposely avoiding him.
“Yay, all the Scooby Gang is officially going out to dinner! This is exciting!” Treasure exclaimed once the car took off. Then her gaze turned onto Quinn. “You know I still can’t get over the fact that you look like a younger version of an uncle of mine.”
“Everyone has said that, but I don’t see it.” Quinn shrugged. Yes, he’d been mulling over Carol’s suspicion since she’d said it, but it just didn’t make sense to him. He couldn’t be royal. Couldn’t be related to Lear and Treasure…
Could he?
“Yeah, Uncle Cadmus,” Lear added. “We lost touch with him many years ago. Once it was clear I would be next in line for the throne, he moved to British Columbia. Last we’d heard, he’d gotten married. Do you have any family in Greece?”
“Not that I know of,” Quinn answered. “My parents died in a car crash in my late teens, and then I got carted from foster home to foster home for a bit until Zagan nabbed me for his relentless experiments. I don’t have any family left—at least, I don’t think so.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Quinn,” Harriet said with a sympathetic look on his face.
“Zagan needs to pay for his crimes.” Lear shook his head. “It’s uncanny how much you resemble Uncle Cadmus.”
“It certainly is strange that I resemble him, but after all the experimenting that Zagan did on me, I suffered severe memory loss. I don’t even remember what my parents looked like anymore.”
“No pictures?”
“No. I lost all of those once I was in the system. Too many moves from foster home to foster home.”
