Page 27 of Tomlin

“I learned pieces of it here and there. She rarely spoke about him but as I grew older I sensed both fear and… longing. After she died and I went to stay with my relatives, I found out more.”

Everything they had told him had been full of hate, but there had been shadows of truth beneath the harsh words. He’d also found a letter she’d sent to her sister right after she’d first met his father. She’d told her sister that she was in love. How could she have foreseen that things would go so wrong?

He hesitated for a moment, then added, “I learned the rest from my grandmother.”

“Your grandmother?”

“Grethel was my grandmother, although I didn’t find out until it was too late.”

She’d been dying before she finally admitted the truth to him, and the agony of that betrayal still ached.

“Why?” he demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She’d known how much he longed for a family.

“Because you would have wanted to know the truth,” she whispered. “And there were things that I couldn’t bring myself to tell you.”

“What things?”

The sorrow on her face made his heart ache despite his own pain.

“That I was the one who killed him.”

He reeled back, too shocked to even speak as she continued her confession.

“By the time he found his way out of the human jail, it was too late. He was insane with mating fever. He would have forged a path of death and destruction across this planet until he found her. And when he did, he would have hurt her again.”

Withered fingers plucked restlessly at the blanket covering her.

“I couldn’t permit it. I gave him a potion, told him it would help him find her. Instead, he went to sleep and he never woke up.”

He couldn’t even begin to comprehend how much that decision must have cost her. Pieces that hadn’t quite fit before began to fall into place.

“You knew, didn’t you, when you found me in the market?”

A spark of her usual spirit had returned.

“Of course I did. A Krythian always knows her own flesh and blood.” The spark faded, replaced by sorrow. “When I helped your mother leave, I didn’t realize she was with child. I wish we had remained in contact, that I had known.”

Telling him the truth seemed to release her. She’d died within the hour.

Etta was still stroking his hand, and he didn’t feel any horror coming from her, only sorrow.

“I understand your fear, but you do know you’re not your father, don’t you?”

“I have his blood,” he said bitterly.

“But you have your mother’s as well. And Grethel’s.”

She released his hand and he expected her to leave. Instead she shocked him by climbing into his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck.

“I trust you, Tomlin. Make love to me.”

CHAPTER 14

Etta waited patiently for Tomlin to respond to her request. Now that she understood his fears, her anger had disappeared. Her heart ached, both for his pain, but also for the pain his parents had endured. It should have been a love story. Instead it had gone horribly wrong.

He had gone completely still, even though she could feel his erection throbbing beneath her.

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