Deity (Covenant #3)(8)

He sat beside me. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to send a letter back to Laadan, a letter for my dad. From there, I don’t know.” I looked at him. Thick strands of hair shielded his face. “You know what this means, right? That he’s a half-blood. And this—” I gestured at us. “We’re the reason why relations of the fun kind are forbidden between halfs and pures. The gods know what’ll happen if a pure and half hook up.”

“It’s probably more than that. The gods like the idea of subjugating the halfs. What do you think they did to the mortals during their heyday? The gods subjugated the mortals until it went too far. They still treat the half-bloods like dirt worthy of only being walked upon.”

Man, was Seth on a god-hating kick or what? I stared down at my right palm, at the faint rune that only Seth and I could see. “It was him—my father—in the stairwell. I can’t explain it, but I know it was.”

Seth looked up then, his eyes a strange shade of yellow. “Who knows about this?”

I shook my head. “The Council has to know. Laadan knew because she was friends with my… my mom and dad. It wouldn’t surprise me if Lucian and Marcus knew, too.” I frowned. “Do you remember when we overheard Marcus and Telly talking?”

“I remember dropping you on your butt.”

“Yeah, you did because you were staring at Boobs.”

His eyes widened and he let out a shocked laugh. “Boobs? What?”

“You know—that girl who was all over you in the Catskills.” When his brows rose, I rolled my eyes. So like Seth that he’d have trouble remembering which girl. “I’m talking about the one who had, well, huge boobs.”

He stared off into the distance for a moment and then laughed again. “Oh. Yeah, that one—wait a second. You named her Boobs?”

“Yeah, and I bet you don’t even remember her name.”

“Ah…”

“Glad we’re on the same page now. Anyway, Remember how Telly said that they already had one there? That they could keep them together? Do you think he was talking about my father and me?” If Marcus and Lucian knew, I wanted to bash their heads together, but confronting them would place Laadan in danger.

Seth glanced down at the letter. “That would make sense. Especially considering how badly Telly wanted you to be placed into servitude.”

Minister Telly was the Head Minister of all the Councils and he’d had it out for me from the get-go. My testimony about the events in Gatlinburg had been a complete ruse to get me in front of the entire Council so they could vote me into servitude. And I truly believed that Telly was behind the compulsion that’d been used on me the night I almost turned into a human popsicle. If Leon hadn’t found me, I’d have frozen to death. Then there was the night the equivalent of an Olympian roofie had been given to me in a coarse attempt to catch me in a compromising position with a pure. It would’ve worked if it hadn’t been for Seth and Aiden spotting me with the drink.

My cheeks burned as I remembered that night. I’d pretty much molested Seth—not that he’d complained. Seth had known I was under the influence of the brew and he’d tried to control himself, but the bond between us had spewed my revved-up lust all through him. I would’ve lost my virginity if I hadn’t ended the night by puking up my guts. I know the whole situation bothered Seth. He felt guilty for giving in. And Aiden’s fist had done a number on Seth’s eye after discovering me on the bathroom floor… in Seth’s clothing. Aiden couldn’t understand how I’d forgiven Seth… and sometimes I couldn’t, either. Maybe it was the bond, because what linked us together was strong. Maybe it was something more.

Then there was the pure-blood Guard who’d tried to kill me, saying he needed to “protect his kind.” I suspected Minister Telly had been behind that, also.

“Who else knows about this?” Seth dragged me from my musings.

“Laadan asked Aiden to give me this letter, but Leon did instead. Leon claims he didn’t look at the letter, and I believe him. It was sealed. See.” I pointed out the broken stamp. “Aiden didn’t know what was in it, either.”

Seth’s jaw flexed. “You went to Aiden?”

I knew I needed to proceed with caution. Seth and I weren’t together or anything, but I also knew he wasn’t messing around with anyone else now. The hot flashes I’d picked up on since returning from the Catskills had only been when he was around me, mostly during our hands-on training sessions. Seth was foremost a guy. It happened… a lot.

“I thought maybe he knew, since Laadan entrusted him with the letter, but he didn’t,” I said finally.

“But you told him?”

There was really no point in lying. “Yes. He knew I was upset. Obviously, he’s trustworthy. He’s not going to say anything.”

Seth was silent for a heartbeat. “Why didn’t you come to me?”

Oh, no. I focused on the floor, then my hands, and finally the wall. “I didn’t know where you were. And Leon told me where Aiden was.”

“Did you even attempt to find me? It’s an island. It wouldn’t have been hard to do.” He placed the letter on the bed, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw his feet point to me.