Page 156 of Dark Endures

“My girlfriend’s mom is marrying Percival.” Which means when we’re married, I’ll have ties to the Linckesters.

“Are you sure you still want to date her after this? I wouldn’t bring the woman I’m seeing within a mile of my family.” Valen points to a picture. “This cousin especially.”

WHAT? It’s hard to hold in the shock flowing through me. “You’re related to Plant?”

“You know him?”

How could I not? But I need a reason to. “My girlfriend works at the police station.”

“Ahh. Don’t believe the nice guy smile. He’s warped. His whole family is,” Valen whispers. “Tell your girlfriend to walk the other way when she sees him.”

Does Valen know? Or is this just family talk?

“Is all your family that special?”

“Other than a couple of my great aunts…basically. Oh, there’s a second cousin who’s pretty nice. She’s an art dealer.Used to go by Moonbeam or something weird like that. But she married into the family and isn’t actually blood related.”

Could Plant be working with other family members? I start sifting through the images and memorizing them.

But to not look obvious, I have to keep up the small talk. “How did a Moonbeam get accepted into the family?”

“There’s only one real requirement for entry. You need to be beautiful. And she is. It’s hard to find a natural blonde anymore, let alone one who’s platinum blonde almost to the point that her hair looks white with curves in all the right places. She could have been a cheerleader at some point.” Valen seems game to provide me with cover.

“Is that a great white?” With the wall as large as it is, there are quite a few faces I don’t know sprinkled in, but I’m about to.

“Yeah. You can’t just hook that and reel it in. They needed a full winch. It actually tasted fairly good. Unlike the electric eels. Those weren’t good at all.”

“Eels are better than grubs.” Those were nasty. I keep strolling slowly.

“Almost anything is better than grubs. Except maybe brains.” Valen nods towards an image of a bear.

I freeze. What’s the pretty boy doing on the wall? “Have you tried one hundred-year-old eggs?”

“They’re almost as bad as Balut.”

“What are you boys over there talking about?” Percival and his group of brothers walk over towards us.

“Balut and other nasty things we’ve eaten.” Valen smiles before lifting his glass to his lips.

“Ahh, one of Father’s challenges. Speaking of challenges, rumor is you’re one of the best marksmen.” Percival lifts an eyebrow at me in challenge.

“You know how rumors are.” I don’t really want to show them how well Ethan trained us.

“One of Ethan’s boys, I doubt they’re overestimated. Come show us. You can play with one of Joseph’s newest creations. It’s armor-piercing.”

Why are rounds like that even created? In the wrong hands, they can do some real damage to the police. “Sounds like fun.”

***

That was four hours of my life that I’m never getting back.

At least they dropped me off in my suite. Otherwise, I might never have found it.

I head right for the shower. It seems a few of Valen’s cousins don’t know how to drink responsibly. One managed to spill an entire drink on me.

***

Linckester has good taste in showers. I wrap a towel around me and head out to find my clothes. Someone probably unpacked them already.

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