Page 117 of Fallen

BRIEN

Istraightened. “Go ahead,” I invited Twilight. “If anything critical comes up, Talon and Cain will get me.”

I’d suspected there was more to this than she’d told us earlier. I could’ve compelled her to tell me everything, but I’d wanted her to do it of her free will. And yeah, that was probably fucked up, but I couldn’t help myself.

Like I’d told her, she was my weakness. The woman I needed to believe in. The woman I just plainneeded.

She turned sideways so she faced me. Opened her mouth. Shut it.

I draped an arm along the couch’s back, affecting a calm I didn’t feel to put her at ease. “Why don’t you start at the beginning?”

“The beginning?” She shook her head. “I’m not even sure where that is.”

“Then start with the Quebec City auction. Why were you there?”

“That was Kuro. He got me the job singing at Le Dahlia Noir. Told me to play along when a vampire showed interest in me.” Her mouth thinned. “I thought he meant I’d have to accept a thrall contract. He forgot to mention that the coven has a side hustle selling blood slaves.”

My hand tightened on the couch back. “This was Fleur’s coven?”

“Yeah.”

“When I’ve taken care of this challenge, I’m going to pay her a visit.”

Our eyes met.

“Take me with you,” she said.

I grunted. “We’ll see. It may come down to war.”

Twilight tilted her head to one side, considering me. “I’m good,” she said matter-of-factly. “Vampires tend to underestimate me, and that works in my favor. I want to go. You owe me that much.”

I moved a shoulder, unconvinced. She might be a trained fighter, but she was human. A full-out vampire fight took place at speeds a human could barely see, let alone defend against.

She switched gears. “But why a war?”

“Because I think Fleur knew you meant something to me and was deliberately trying to provoke me.”

Twilight pursed her lips. “Kuro. He seemed to know everything there was to know about me.”

“So why did you do it?” I asked. “You keep saying you’re not still a slayer. So why take orders from Kuro? Was he threatening your halmoni even then?”

She shook her head. “He didn’t bring her into this until last week. It was me he was threatening. He…has something on me. Something big.”

“Go on.”

“It goes back two years, to that summer in Montreal. I was assigned to slay Rafe Kral.”

When my brows shot up, she said, “Zoe didn’t tell you? That’s why I was at the Tremblay Chateau. After Zaq Kral was kidnapped, SI somehow knew Rafe would come to Montreal to ask her for help.”

“No, she didn’t tell me. All she said was that you were a slayer, and she only told me that because I asked where you’d gone.”

“I see.” Twilight chewed her lower lip. “I’m going to tell you something, but it can’t go any further, okay? It’s not my secret to share, but I think it will help you understand things.”

“Understood.”

“Princess Renata was a slayer, too.”

My brows shot up. “Zaq Kral’s mate?”

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