Mark of Betrayal (Dark Secrets #3)(129)
Author: A.M. Hudson

“Gossip?” Mike stepped further into my room. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I smirked. “You remember how I said I’d win this fight—that I’d get the knights reassigned and off my permanent trail?”

Mike frowned at me.

“Well, the Upper and Lower House believe you’re paying these guys to be your private spies—to report all my business back to you because of your insane jealously.”

“Ara, what have you done?” he asked in a clipped tone.

“I may or may not have gotten the council on my side. They may or may not be making a ruling about how the Private Guard’s time should be used.”

“Ara, you know why I have the Guard on you. It’s not so I can get all the gossip.”

I shrugged. “Then why do you have them report back everything I do?”

He sighed, his shoulders dropping.

“Yeah, I thought so.” I angled my head to the side, propping one hand on my hip. “We have fifty guards who line halls, doors and walls around this place who, if we get attacked, are trained to save me, and only me. I think I can get by without these guys manning my door and my heels, for that matter.” I jerked a thumb in Quaid’s direction.

Mike sat on my blanket box, his thumb to his brow. “You stupid, stubborn little brat. I can’t believe you went behind my back on this, Ara. This has got to be about the dumbest thing you’ve ever done.”

“No, Mike—this is a game to you. The truth is, you don’t like not having control over me, and clearly they keep you too busy here to keep an eye on me yourself. It’s sick. It’s twisted that you pay people to report back everything I do. If they were just guards, who looked at a blank place on the wall, said nothing, kept my business confidential and didn’t think it was okay to listen in on my private conversations, I wouldn’t have a problem with this overprotection. But face it, Mike—you know, and everyone here at the manor knows, I am more than safe. You don’t need these guys on me.”

His hand moved up his brow, over his head. “So this is what the House meeting has been called for this afternoon?”

My smirk widened. “Girl one; guy nothing.”

He stood up and stormed out of the room. I looked at Quaid, who couldn’t close his mouth.

“Do you think I’m wrong?” I asked.

The stiff soldier fled his spine, leaving the casual, relaxed Kamau behind. “In ways, but in ways, no. I think we should be assigned to watch over you if you’re leaving the manor grounds, but here—” he looked around, shrugging, “—I kinda think you’re okay.”

“What does Falcon think?”

Quaid frowned. “What’s he got to do with it?”

“I dunno.” I shrugged. “I trust his opinion over Mike’s when it comes to what’s best for me, because he’s not using his heart to judge.”

“Oh. Right. Well, I know he thinks you need to be watched over, but he’s eased off a bit since your coronation—says you don’t make as many stupid mistakes.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He’s not worried anymore that you’ll cross the wrong boundaries with Arthur, either. I know he even told Mike we should just place a guard on you while you sleep—leave it at that.”

I nodded. “Do you think it was wrong of me to seek the opinion of the House?”

Quaid shook his head. “Not if they also agreed with you.”

“Which they did.” I looked at my door.

“Arthur?” I ran up behind him, feeling lighter without guards flanking my heels.

He stopped on the landing and turned slightly to look down at me as I came bounding toward him. “My lady.”

“Hi, um.” I stopped, huffing a bit. “Can I borrow you for a few minutes today?”

“May I enquire the reason?”

“Yes, formal Arthur.” I frowned at him, quickly covering it with a smile. “I need to go to the scroll room, but Morgaine said I could only go in there with her or you, and I can’t go with her.”

“Is there a reason?”

“Yes. She’s a big fat liar, and I need to get the truth.”

One of Arthur’s brows lowered.

“She told me about this curse,” I said. “The Curse of Lilith, you know, the seduction one.”

“Yes, I’ve heard of it.”

“Yeah, well, she neglected to mention that it only works on men with a heartbeat. And Jason said—”

“So Jason’s in on this, too.” He turned and started walking away.

“Yes. He’s going to show me the correct interpretation.”

“And you never thought to come to me?”

“I…I didn’t know I could—or should.” I folded my arms, following him. “Jason pointed out these oddities, Arthur. You never even talk to me about the prophecy or anything to do with my family history.”

He stopped walking; I stopped, too.

“It’s like you avoid it—for some reason,” I finished.

“I haven’t been avoiding it.”

“Well, that may be the case, but you, of all people, should have been talking to me about it. I didn’t even know how many things I had wrong. I mean, I always just assumed everyone in the vampire world knew about the prophecy, and then you tell me they didn’t—that no one knew, and now Jason tells me he was studying Lilithian History at college and read the scroll, which he doesn’t believe is a prophecy at all, and…I’m really confused.”

Arthur turned back around. “Jason’s right. But he’s also wrong.”

“What does that mean?”

“There are many lies for us to sift through. Morgaine is not lying, and I’m not one hundred percent sure she’s aware of her misinterpretations, either.”

“So, you don’t think it’s deliberate?”

“She’s been by herself all these centuries, Amara. She’s been one of only twenty Lilithian’s allowed to walk the light, and any information she has come across that gave her hope for a better future, she’s held onto like a precious stone.”

My shoulders dropped.

“She may have read the scrolls wrong, but look at all she has achieved because of that.” He stepped into me. “It was her knights who stormed Elysium and rescued you. It was her interpretation of the scrolls that saw hundreds of vampires and Lilithians follow a young girl—possibly to their deaths, should Morgaine be wrong. Of course I have not spoken with you of the correct interpretation, because everything good we have here is based on what Morgaine started. And that is more than enough to have brought freedom to many who were suffering.”