Page 78 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
He stiffened at the words, but Luka was done trying not to piss him off. Xan was their father whether Razik wanted to acknowledge that fact or not.
“You are not the only one in your realm?” Luka asked.
Razik shook his head. “Tybalt is there. Xan’s brother,” he clarified. “We also have a cousin there. He is half-Witch and Scarlett’s Guardian.”
Another blooded relative. Or two, actually.
“But Sargon Legacy are rare to begin with. The god only had seven children, supposedly picky about who he sired them with.”
“Onlyseven?” Luka said with a scoff.
“For a being that has been alive for thousands of years, that seems like a relatively small number.”
“It’s probably more,” Luka said.
“Probably.”
A few silent minutes ticked by before Razik broke the silence yet again. “So you’ve been alone.”
It was a statement, and one that Luka stiffened at. “I had Theon and Axel.”
“But you had no one to help you hone your power. You did that all on your own,” Razik pushed.
“Why does it matter to you?”
“It doesn’t. Eliza forced me to try to…do whatever this is.”
Luka almost let the huff of laughter slip. “Are you saying your bonded forced you to try to bond with me?”
“Don’t say it like that,” Razik grumbled.
“What, exactly, do you want to know?” Luka went on. “My favorite color? Favorite food? Stuffed animal I had growing up?”
“Why the fuck did you have a stuffed animal growing up? Did you at least hunt it properly first?”
Luka finally turned to stare at him. “It wasn’t arealanimal. What is wrong with you?”
“You are the one who brought up stuffed animals.”
“They are a child’s comfort object. What do you have in your realm for children?”
“Not stuffed animals,” he retorted.
Luka shook his head at the ridiculousness of the entire conversation, but some of it felt familiar too. Something stupid he’d argue about with Theon and Axel.
Knowing he really shouldn’t bring this up, Luka took a breath before he asked, “I know you read a lot. Like Theon. So in all those books, have you come across something to remove the collar from our— From Xan’s neck.”
It was another few seconds before Razik answered, “Not yet.”
“Yet? Are you looking?”
“I never said that.”
“Right,” Luka muttered, returning to watching the females. Tessa drew back the string on her bow, releasing the arrow a few seconds later. It missed her target, striking too low.
Neither of them spoke for another ten minutes before Razik said, “What are you going to do about her?”
Any tension that had bled from him returned, his back and shoulders stiffening. “What am I supposed to do about her?”
