Page 78 of Live To Tell

“Yes, Violet,” he says wearily.

“Perhaps I should contact them?”

“Ha. No way. You’re even blunter when you write,” he says. “I explained about the tiara and photograph, and that we had a good chance at finding the truth since your father’s helping.”

“Apart from he isn’t,” I put in. “You lied.”

Rowan shrugs. “Dorian will help eventually.”

“Yeah, sure,” says Grayson.

“Let’s not mention this to Dorian yet,” I say. “I want to solve this and have him eat his words.”

Chapter 27

LEIF

One look at Ethan and I’ve a better idea why few mess with Violet's half-dragon father. This guy dwarves the Ursa elders—in fact, any elders I’ve met. Zeke’s big, but this guy is built like the mountains that overlook the home he shares with Violet and her family.

I often obscure my eyes behind hair to avoid people immediately seeing the telltale sign of my half-shifter state, but I can’t see Ethan’s at all, just his strong jaw and a smattering of black scales at the edge of graying t-shirt neckline. Still, I’m pretty sure he’s staring at me in the same calculating way as Violet’s other fathers.

Dorian freaked me out, Zeke made me uneasy, but this man coils a different fear in my stomach.

Ethan breaks his presumed gaze at me and his face splits into a smile, at odds with his aura. “Hello, baby girl.” Violet snarls at him as she struggles to escape his hug. “Eloise told me you let people hug you these days.”

“Perhaps if you did not refer to me as baby girl.”

He gives a throaty laugh. Doesn’t Violet realize she’ll always be their baby girl? “How about Mia? She would sit on my lap and read books.”

“Ethan. Good grief,” she snaps.

He shakes hair from his face and looks at me. “When she wasn’t climbing onto the roof or setting fire to the place.”

The amusement that had risen at his banter sticks in my throat. His eyes aren’t human—they’re reptilian. “I can imagine her doing that,” I say and force a light tone.

“Ethan developed more dragon traits over the years,” says Violet as if she’s used to this reaction to him. “Most mids don’t but...”

The Confederacy attempted to trigger this mid into a dragon to use in a war.

Swallowing, I nod.

“You don’t have many shifter traits, Leif.” Ethan’s Scottish accent is thick, voice a rough contrast to Dorian’s smoothly articulated tone. “Or do you have ones I can’t see?”

“Leif’s bigger than anybody else at the academy,” says Violet. “His height’s unusual.”

“Mmm.” He looks directly at me. “Violet told me she thinks you’ve Tigris blood. Did your father look anything like Zeke?”

“I don’t remember my father clearly,” I mumble.

I glance at the scales on his hand at the edge of the thick black jacket. I’d worried that Ethan would want us to meet in private and grill me about Violet, but the guy with dragon eyes and visible scales wouldn’t spend much time in human circles, especially a town on edge about shifters.

Instead, we meet inside the academy, in one of the classrooms towards the back of the building, during class time. Is Ethan avoiding people seeing him? He’s the face of supe society that bothers humans the most—a mid with more ‘supernatural features’ than a witch or a vampire’s everyday appearance.

“Will Dorian join us today?” asks Violet and my surroundings come into focus for the first time since I saw Ethan standing in the room. “I need to speak to him about Josef.”

“Dorian? No. I’ve spoken to the elders a couple of times and have built a small bridge that I don’t want the man smashing to pieces before I’ve gotten any further.” He pauses. “What about Josef? Have you seen him?”

“He attacked Grayson. Although I’m aware Dorian dislikes Grayson, any appearance by the man needs investigating.”

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