Page 11 of House of Pawns
He must not like the sound of that, either, because he doesn’t say anything. The thin line of his lips just becomes thinner.
I’m annoyed, but it’s hard to be too much so when it’s a miracle that he’s even sitting here for us to be able to have this conversation. “Someone has been watching me.”
“Like the House spying on you? They’ve been doing that for months,” he says.
I shake my head. “I was with Sheriff McCoy when it happened. He’s the one who actually saw him. Luke didn’t know the man.”
“So you haven’t actuallyseenanyone spying on you?”
“Yesterday, I know I saw someone disappear into the trees. I’d just gotten dressed and looked out the window in my bedroom. There was someone there.” I reach into my back pocket and pull out the puzzle pieces. A third one was taped to the front door earlier today. This one has pieces of me, as well as the bag Beth had packed for me when I hid at Ian’s house.
I lay the pieces together on the floor in front of Ian. There’s still two pieces missing, but the picture is clear.
“Ian,” I say quietly. I want to reach over and take his hand, to give it a reassuring squeeze or something, but his reactionsstill have me on edge. “I don’t think it’s someone from around here.”
He takes a moment to process this, studying the picture. To mull over what it means. “This is the day I brought you back to the Estate,” he says. He touches the edge of one of the pieces. “Liv, this was months ago. Who…who took this?”
I look back into his eyes, waiting for him to put the mental pieces together. “The King. He sent a spy.”
I nod. “Somehow, he got wind that Henry Conrath might have a child. And you know why he would have interest in checking out a female royal heir.”
We’ve both heard the story now. Of how King Cyrus cursed himself and his pregnant wife when he changed her to a vampire against her will. She would wither and die after certain amounts of time. It was a mystery how long she would stay dead for, but eventually, she would be reborn in the royal line, as a new person with a new face. Once that female died and resurrected, she would eventually start remembering her past lives and the King would once again be reunited with his Queen.
Queen Sevan has been dead for more than two hundred and seventy years. I can almost feel the urgency of the King. Surely, she must resurrect soon after being gone for such a long time.
“I’m not saying that I’m afraid of the King.” My heart starts racing, anxiety and dread overcoming me at finally confessing what I haven’t wanted to tell him. “But I feel vastly alone. Like he is this giant wave that is coming to crush me, and I am a tiny, lone ant on the beach.”
“You’re not alone,” he says with annoyance as he looks atme with offense. “I’m here. And Rath certainly counts for something.”
“I am well aware of the capabilities of you both,” I say, attempting to stay calm and even. “And I am very grateful to have you both here. But…I wonder if just the two of you will be enough.”
“What are you implying, Liv?” The tone of his voice drops lower and lower with each syllable.
I don’t look up at him for quite a long time. I trace my finger along the pattern in the blanket, swirling, connecting, through folds and canyons in its surface.
I hate this feeling—the feeling of shame and guilt.
I am a Conrath.
I am a Royal Born.
I am a ruler.
I should have no shame. No guilt. I do what I have to do.
“I’m going to build my own House. It’s time for the House of Conrath to be restored.”
He stares at me a long moment. I watch the muscles clench in his jaw, see the way his shoulders tense. The frustration that builds behind those eyes that can’t lie. “No good will come from it. You’ve seen what Jasmine has done to this town.”
“I amnotJasmine,” I say through clenched teeth. “I need allies, Ian. And you’ve said it, Lillian said it, and even Markov implied it. That this is what I was born to do. That I will be great at it.”
Ian is angry. He’s a mess right now and I just poured a gallon of salt on his wounds. I understand.
That doesn’t mean his harsh disapproval doesn’t sting.
Instead of using biting words and yelling this out, he only stands and walks away.
Leaving me alone.
