Page 95 of Blood So Brutal

“Bullshit,” I started, but my father held up his hand and sent another wave of pain in my direction. I flinched slightly but shut my mouth. Fucking archangels.

“As I was saying. Lord ensured Huntyr’s safety since she was a child. I sent him a message when it was time for her to join us here in The Golden City.”

“You knew I was a vampyre?” Huntyr’s voice crept through the air. “You’ve been training me and lying to me since I was a child?”

“It was all to protect you.” Lord kept his voice steady. Strong. “Every single thing I did was for you, Huntyr, so you could grow up to be the powerful queen we all knew you could be.”

Her breath grew shallow, panicked. “What was the point of all this?” She stepped beside me now, finally looking Lord in the face. “Wouldn’t it be easier to kill me and take the kingdom for yourself?”

The air thickened. “Youare the blood queen,” Asmodeus pushed. “Nobody will raise the vampyre kingdom better than you can, my dear.”

“Don’t call her that,” I pushed. “Don’t talk to her at all, actually.”

My father and Lord looked at each other and laughed.Laughed.

“Did you know about this?” Huntyr asked me. A brand-new wave of pain pierced my gut.

“I swear to the goddess, Huntyr, I had no idea. I never would have let this happen if I knew.”

She still didn’t believe me; I could see it in her eyes. She was betrayed time and time again. Even Lord—the one male she actually trusted with her life—was lying to her this entire damn time.

Fuck, I wanted to kill him.

“Why?” she asked, facing Lord again. “Why train me to kill my own kind? Vampyres? Are you a—a?—”

“I am a fae, child,” Lord pushed. Even the low, gravelly sound of his voice made me sick. “Asmodeus found me just before the attack to put this plan in place. I was a trained vampyre killer before you were even born. It made me strong. It protected Midgrave. You needed to be strong too.”

“No.” She staggered backward, and I stopped her with a hand on her back. “I don’t believe this.”

“It’s difficult to understand, I know, but?—”

“You were supposed to protect me!” Huntyr let loose those damning emotions, let them pour into her words as she screamed. “You were the one person I trusted witheverything!”

I kept my hand on her back, supporting her.

“Ididprotect you.”

“You delivered me to this! This is all your fault! Do you even know what I went through in Moira? Do you have any idea what I’ve been forced to endure?”

Lord took a long breath. Hells, he didn’t seem the least bit conflicted that the woman he raised was this distraught, that she was put in so much danger time and time again.

“Look at you now.” Lord stepped forward, and so did I, putting a barrier between him and Huntyr. “You’re strong. You’re powerful. You’re half vampyre, half fae, rarer than you could even imagine. Most fae don’t survive becoming a vampyre, you know. When it’s time for them to mature and feed on blood, they starve. But you…” He looked her up and down, and I clenched my fist to keep from killing him right there. “You are stronger than all of them, Huntyr, becauseyouare the vampyre queen.Youwill unite the vampyres once again.Youwill give them power.”

“I’ll be givinghimpower,” she spat toward Asmodeus.

“Enough of this charade,” Asmodeus interrupted. “The celebration is beginning, and it would be rude to make our guests wait any longer.”

He started toward the door. “I’d like to speak to Huntyr alone for one minute,” Lord called out.

Huntyr leaned onto me, just slightly.

“Absolutely the fuck not,” I seethed. I wrapped an arm around Huntyr’s waist, pulling her to my body. Lord waited one more second before sighing and giving up, eventually following Asmodeus out the door.

I waited for a few seconds before turning and looking Huntyr in the eye.

“What. The. Fuck?”

Chapter 35

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