Page 40 of Halfblood Deceived

Andreas glared at him.

“How bad is she?” Evan asked, looking at Zeydan’s bloody hands.

Zeydan’s throat tightened. “Better now, but I think she’d have died if she had arrived a quarter of an hour later. The wound was poisoned.”

Lex cursed. “And those bruises…”

Zeydan closed his eyes, but that made the vivid images worse, so he quickly opened them again.

“Don’t let pity blind you,” Andreas said, a muscle jumping in his jaw. “Gargoyles are sneaky bastards. She volunteered to try to seduce you into a trap. Maybe she volunteered to be stabbed to make you feel sorry for her, too.”

“I don’t think people volunteer to be stabbed, Dad,” Luce argued with an eye roll before Zeydan could.

Evan arched a brow at Andreas. “You know you’re being a prejudiced dick when your 10-year-old daughter can be more reasonable than you.”

Lex cursed soundly. “Nobody would fucking volunteer for that.” His eyes met Zeydan’s. “Some of the bruises were a few days old and… telling.”

Zeydan’s stomach churned with rage. He had the horrifying, sinking suspicion that Aella’s mate had been the one who inflicted most of those older bruises. Decades had passed since he wanted to kill someone so badly.

“I know,” he said tightly, shooting a worried look at Luce.

Lex crossed his arms and gave Zeydan an understanding nod.

They didn’t hide most things from Luce. She knew what rape was, of course. It would be irresponsible of them to not let her know. But some things were simply too much even for a genius child, soon to be smarter than most of her family.

Luce frowned, as she always did whenever she realized something was being kept from her, but didn’t push the subject. She distractedly played with Evan’s sleep mussed, but still somehow magazine-perfect blond hair, examining them all.

Zeydan cleared his dry throat. “We’ll wait until she wakes up and ask her to tell us more. For now, we’ll stay alert. Mari’s wards and my mist have never failed to hide us before, but we can’t let our guard down.”

“Especially not with a fucking gargoyle under our roof,” Andreas grumbled.

Zeydan was on Andreas’ face in a flash, jabbing his chest with a finger. “She has a name, you prick, and you will fucking use it from now on or I will kick your arse.”

Andreas batted his hand away. “You will regret being lenient with that—” Zeydan growled. Andreas made a disgusted sound from the back of his throat. “Aella will betray you and endanger us all, and I will fucking enjoy saying ‘I told you so.’”

“She won’t,” Zeydan stated with a conviction that unnerved him because he didn’t usually trust people so fast. Especially not people who had stabbed him and tried to get him killed, but every instinct he possessed screamed that he should listen to Aella and keep her safe. “And I will enjoy saying ‘I told you so’ when she doesn’t.”

Luce sighed with a weariness beyond her years. “Dad, Uncle Zeydan, stop being mean to each other. You are friends, and friends should solve things kindly.”

Evan chuckled. “You are 100% correct, Luce. Your uncle and dad are horribly uncivilized.”

Zeydan backed down, leaning against the wall across from Andreas. “I only want you to behave yourself. Is that too much to ask?”

Andreas let out a short breath. “I guess not.”

“See? Being nice is better,” Luce pointed out, chin held up smugly.

Lex gave Andreas a cheeky smile. “You are going to be in so much trouble when the little gremlin turns into a teenage gremlin.”

Andreas groaned low. “Don’t remind me.”

Luce gave her father a beatific smile, then yawned.

Andreas took his girl from Evan. “Time for bed, Luce.”

“Not tired,” Luce protested, nuzzling Andreas’s neck, eyelids heavy. The grumpy bastard half smiled, his scowl melting as it rarely did.

Father and daughter disappeared down the hall on their way to the stairs.

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