Page 319 of Halfblood Deceived

Mari sighed, chewing her lip anxiously. “I don’t understand how I could have missed her true lineage. Granted, the three times I’ve tested her, she’s had your blood in her system, so perhaps I mistook her genes for yours, but…”

“But there might be more to it than that,” Kamilla finished, rubbing her forehead. “Aella has always smelled different from other gargoyles, and something about her feels like… kin to me, you know? I felt that instinctive draw we sense toward one of our own since day one. But I believed it was just my desire to offer her comfort.”

“I felt it too,” Sebastian said, lips tilting. “But, like Milla, I thought it was just the urge to take care of her.”

“I think we all felt that way,” Evan said, yawning. “Except for Andreas, but he’s a grumpy, supercilious tosser. He doesn’t count.”

Kamilla hummed. “I don’t know. I think putting a tracker on her was his unorthodox way of protecting her.”

Zeydan was still angry with Andreas for placing that tracker in Aella, but also conflictingly grateful. “Probably.”

“Not that our little Brussels sprout needs a lot of protection these days,” Kerian commented with a wry smile. “She killed a lot of those bastards all by herself.” His eyes landed on Diana. “You should feel very proud, Di.”

Diana looked proud indeed. “As Zeydan says, she would make her namesake proud. Also, I didn’t train her alone.” She arched a dark red brow at Sebastian. “She clearly learned a lot from all of us.”

Sebastian chuckled. “That she did.”

Aylana yawned and gave Sebastian a sleepy smile. Sebastian returned her smile with pure adoration in his eyes.

Zeydan was pretty sure his expression was just as sappy.

Nothing feels better than having her in my arms, he thought as he placed a lock of red hair behind Aella’s ear. His brow furrowed as he noticed she was cold to the touch.

“Her temperature is low,” he said.

“So is Aiko’s,” Evan commented. “They both must be hungry.”

Mari sighed. “I still can’t believe Aiko is alive. Aella said she was dead.” She gave Zeydan a look, as if she could feel the automatic defensiveness rising inside him. She probably did. “I am not implying she misinformed us. I’m just wondering how it’s possible.”

“So am I,” Zeydan admitted.

Aylana turned to look at Isaiah, who had woken up and was looking at all of them with poorly concealed apprehension.

Zeydan couldn’t blame him. He had a pretty good idea of how uncomfortable and uncertain the gargoyle male felt. He’d gone through something similar along with Gabby the first time they visited his mother’s people.

“Do you know something about what happened to Aiko and her family?” Aylana asked.

Isaiah shook his shaved head. “No.” He hesitated for a moment, but then elaborated. “The Order wanted Zeydan and his clan dead, and we were chosen to do the job.” He met Zeydan’s gaze. “The first plan was to use Aella as bait. When that failed, the Order discovered your connection to Tatsuki, and we were sent to interrogate him.” His jaw tightened along with his brow. Anguish pulsed from him in invisible waves. “I had my doubts by then. But when I saw they were a family, an innocent family…” He gulped and blinked hard. “I tried to stop them, but Micah suspected my allegiances had changed. He and the others bound me so I could do nothing but watch. They killed Anna first to make Tatsuki give us your location. And then Micah was going to kill Aiko. Aella tried to stop it, but she was taken down. And I was dragged away. I heard the screams. And I thought Micah had slain Aiko, too.”

Zeydan’s gut curled in commiserating outrage and horror. “Fucking Hell.”

Kerian, Sebastian, and Evan cursed too. Kamilla, Mari, Diana, and Aylana looked nauseated.

“I thought Aella was dead too,” Aiko said, startling them all when she opened her sad blue eyes to look at them. “She jumped on Micah, stopping him from killing me. He tossed her off of him, and she grabbed Isaiah’s sword to fight him. She did well, but… Micah blasted her with his power and then ran her through with his sword.”

Zeydan’s chest tightened painfully. It didn’t matter he’d heard something similar from Aella before. It was just as bad hearing it from Aiko. His heart ached for them both.

Aiko continued. “Micah said he’d take care of Aella after…” She closed her eyes. Evan rubbed her shoulder soothingly. Aiko took a deep breath and opened her eyes again. “He said he’d take care of her after killing Dad and me. Then Eli dragged her out. I thought they’d killed her. She must have thought the same about me.”

“Too bad we can’t revive the fucker to kill him again,” Diana said, nostrils flaring and jaw tightening so hard it was audible. “Slowly.” She cringed and gave Aiko an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, kiddo.”

Aiko shrugged. “I thought about killing him every day. And I’ve heard much worse.”

Something shifted uncomfortably in Zeydan’s stomach. He would raise Aiko as if she were his own. He’d promised Tatsuki he would adopt Aiko if it were ever necessary. But he hadn’t the slightest clue about how to help her. She was calm, but it could be the shock of it all. She’d witnessed the slaughter of her family and then watched Zeydan and the others kill as well.

Zeydan found the same, ‘what the Hell do we do now?’ expression on the faces of his family and friends.

Kamilla straightened and offered Aiko a kind smile. “Are you hungry, dear?”

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