Page 86 of Given

“I’ve never seen one of those.”

I spun, the dagger raised. Jordan threw up his hands. He backed up a step, his boots sinking into the sand.

I lowered the blade. Anger replaced my shock. “Do you know how dangerous it is to sneak up on me?”

“I wasn’t sneaking. I mean, I wasn’t trying to.” He glanced at the water. “I was…worried about you.”

For a second, the only sounds were the wind and waves. His blue eyes were the same shade as the sea—and they saw far too much.

“Don’t be,” I grunted, sheathing the blade.

“That’s elven steel.”

I looked at him. “I thought you said you’d never seen it before.”

“Not in person.”

“Books, then. The ones you weren’t supposed to read?”

A smile touched his mouth. “Something like that.”

More silence. I drew my cloak more tightly around me, then jerked my head toward the castle that perched on a craggy cliff above the beach. “The servants will be setting out the feast. If you want to eat, you should head back. Lar Plestes and his knights eat like pigs.”

His gaze darted to the water again. “Respectfully, my lord, I’d just as soon stay here. I can walk back up when you’re ready.”

Awareness crept over me. I took a step toward him. “What are you on about, Jordan?”

“I’m not leaving you here by yourself.”

“Then let me make this plain. I don’t want company.”

His boyish features hardened. “I know what that dagger is. And I know what happened on this beach.” He drew a deep breath. “I told King Laurent I would make sure you didn’t visit the shore alone.”

Anger rose hot and swift. In a blink, I gripped his jacket in both fists. “Laurent sent you? He told you to spy on me?”

“Not spy on you. Keep you safe.”

I dragged him up so his face was level with mine. “I warned you not to dig. You swore an oath to me. How dare you go behind my back and seek information from Laurent.”

“The king told me nothing,” he said, his gaze unflinching. “You’re a Child of Prophecy, Lord Varick. The Brotherhood doesn’t stop at predicting a person’s birth. They observe. They follow. They know your father tried to kill Laurent on this very beach. They know he turned his wrath on you when you stepped between him and the prince. They know it wasn’t the first time, and that your back bears scars so deep and twisted they will never heal. They know something dark lived inside him. You think it lives in you, too, but I’m telling you that’s not true. And if you think I’m going to let you walk into that water, you’re dead wrong.”

“I wasn’t going to drown myself.”

He shoved his face closer to mine. “Bullshit. The stench of that lie is so thick, even I can smell it.”

My fangs lengthened. I seized his throat. “Shut up.”

“You’re worth saving,” he rasped, those blue eyes sharper than any blade. “You are worthy of love.”

“I said shut up!”

“Just because Laurent hasn’t said it—”

My roar cut him off. I tackled him to the ground and snarled in his face. “You think you know everything, you miserable little shit. Well, here’s a new story you can carry back to the Towers of the Mir. The scars on my back don’t linger because they’re deep. The night my father tried to kill Laurent, I stabbed my sire through the heart. He lay dying in the hall up on that cliff, but he was elven-born and his gift was farseeing. Do you know what that means? He appeared dead but he wasn’t. Not yet. And with his remaining strength, he left his body and appeared to the last of his men who were still loyal to him. The ones Laurent hadn’t managed to capture yet. My father, ever disgusted by my unnatural desires as he called them, ordered his knights to drag me down here, beat me, and rape me. And they did, Brother Jordan. One after another. They flayed my back to shreds and pinned me down and took turns buggering me. Then they left me for dead.”

Jordan’s face went deathly pale. He hadn’t known. The truth gleamed in his eyes. So did pity.

The last turned my fury into blinding rage. Scarcely aware of what I was doing, I jerked his head to the side and buried my fangs in his neck. Hot blood filled my mouth—and it sizzled with power. Pure, undiluted magic. Warm, wild wind and rich soil tilled from deep under the forest floor. Glacial streams and sapphires put to flame. My eyes watered. The taste was so potent, I immediately recoiled. I drew back, blood dripping down my chin.

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