Lies in Blood (Dark Secrets #4)(82)
Author: A.M. Hudson

“Then he met you,” Jason said, smiling at something far away.

“Yes,” Arthur added, and the energy in the space changed, the daunting, horrible reality lifting away a little. “After that, he returned to council meetings—smiled again. He was, you could say, more human than he’d been since he was a boy.”

“So, you can imagine what you must mean to him, Ara,” Jason said. “That you were the very thing that gave him a reason to live again—to believe that life wasn’t a nightmare he couldn’t wake from.”

I thought back to everything we’d been through, feeling a sense of dread for the time he walked away from us just to protect me from his world. And I was grateful to him for that now more than ever after everything Pepper went through. He always said he couldn’t protect me from the horrors of his world, and this story explained so much more why the very mention of turning a child had sent him storming off to his room, slamming the door. I felt bad for even bringing it up now.

“God, I just wanna call him and tell him I’m sorry for everything bad I ever said or did.” I laughed. “Poor guy.”

“Yes. And you can see now why, in my pursuit for revenge, I thought it so marvellous to steal you from him—by pain of heart or even death,” Jason said.

“Wow, that was incredibly malicious, Jase.” I backhanded his arm.

He rubbed it as if it hurt. “I know. But, he knows I’m sorry.”

“We all do.” I nodded, looking out to sea, then just let it all out with a really long breath. “Wow.”

“Yep.” Jason leaned beside me again. “Wow.”

“I’ll say,” Blade came to stand beside Jason. “That’s quite a story.”

“He never told me that,” Emily said. “I asked him once, but he wouldn’t tell me.”

“I can see why,” I said. “I wouldn’t either.”

“Well, now you know.” Arthur stood tall again. “And I must warn you, Amara, do not ever bring it up in front of him. Do not ever seek to use it against him or to—”

“I wouldn’t do that, Arthur.” I crossed my heart. “Not even if I was mad with him.”

“Well, I hope not.” He bowed his head. “Because I could not vouch for the man you may see beneath this new David.”

I nodded. “Okay. I’ll never speak of it. I swear.”

“See that you don’t,” Arthur said, and walked away.

“Well, story time’s been fun, Ara,” Blade said. “But it’s time for bed.”

“Okay.” I looked back at Jase.

He offered a sweet smile. “Night, Ara.”

“Night, Jase.” I went to take the jacket off and hand it to him, but he stopped me.

“Keep it tonight. Give it back tomorrow when you come see me for our first training session.”

I snuggled into the leather again. “Okay, what time?”

“Sunrise.” He flashed a mischievous. “Nah, just kidding. Any time you like, sweet girl. I have aaaalll day.”

“Okay.” I nodded and walked past him with a big smile on my face. “Sunrise it is.”

“See you then,” he called.

I started down the stairs, stopping for a sec to let Emily catch up.

“Cute, I’m sure,” she muttered coldly.

“What?”

“You and Jase.” She grabbed my arm. “He likes you, you know—more than he should considering he’s your brother-in-law.”

Blade came up between us. “She knows, Em.”

“Then why is she even hanging out with him?”

Blade and I made faces at each other—clear astonishment at Em’s bitchiness.

“So, is that how it goes, Em?” Blade said. “If you know someone likes you, you keep away from them?”

“Wouldn’t know.” She stormed off ahead of us. “No one’s ever liked me.”

Blade stopped walking and looked at me, pouting for Em.

“All that effort.” I patted his shoulder. “And she still doesn’t have a clue, does she?”

He started walking again with a bit of a lag to his step. “Guess not.”

“You might just have to be upfront about your feelings, Blade.”

“To be honest,” he said, the little laugh accentuating his Englishness. “I’m afraid she might slap me if I tell her.”

I chuckled. “Never know, you might enjoy a little slap.”

“I’ll give you a little slap,” he said, threatening my bottom.

I elbowed him in the ribs softly and we left the lighthouse behind, but I turned back and caught a wave from the blue-shirt-wearing vampire standing on the balcony before we blended with the darkness.

Chapter Ten

She opened her eyes, the blue appearing before her lashes even parted, but as an instant smile swept her lips when she saw me, so too did the memory of what just happened. She turned away.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she said.

“Like what?” I jumped up sat beside her.

“Like you’re really concerned.”

I was really concerned, I thought, but it wasn’t my thought. I reached across and gently smoothed my thumb down her soft skin, seeing the moment in her mind when that barbarian struck her. It wasn’t a hard hit, it wasn’t even hard enough to change the colour of her skin, but it scared her, shocked her, and in that instant, a part of their friendship died. I could feel that pain. I had good reason to be concerned. She knew that.

“He hit you,” I said, but the words, the feelings that came with them weren’t mine, either. They were Jason’s.

“It was a tiny slap,” she said, pulling my hand away. “And I kinda had it coming.”

“No.” I almost regurgitated the words, gasping them out instead. “You’ve been through enough. He had no right to touch you that way. I will skin him alive.”

The anger I felt in Jason then moved me outside his body, but I heard everything, saw everything the way he saw it in what was obviously a dream he was having—all the way down on the second floor, tucked up tightly in his bed. So I watched, because something in this dream felt familiar somehow, like I’d lived it before.

“I’m okay,” Ara said softly, cocking her head as though she felt sorry for me.

It felt strange to have Jason’s voice in my head as if it were mine. It felt kind of disorienting. I sat back a little and just pretended he was telling the story, almost as if I were reading a book that suddenly switched perspective mid-chapter.