He lifted a shoulder and dropped it. “It’s boring.”
“And lurking out here isn’t?”
Those pale eyes warmed as they met mine. “There is absolutely nothing boring out here.”
I jolted in surprise. “Are you...flirting with me?”
He bit down on his lower lip, dragging his teeth over the fleshy pink skin as he eyed me through thick lashes. “I’d never think of doing such a thing.”
I had no idea if he was being honest or not. Wardens didn’t flirt with anyone other than other Wardens. Well, with the exception of Clay, but look how that had turned out.
But what if he was flirting with me? What if he found me...attractive? Yearning blossomed inside me. Like a flower seeking sun and water, it spread its roots deep. What if he wanted to kiss me?
Whoa.
I needed to slow my roll. I was seriously getting carried away. My cheeks heated as I focused on one of the statues.
“What are you thinking about?” Zayne asked.
My eyes widened as my gaze shot back to his. There was no way he knew what my thoughts were. If he did, I would legit wither away and die right here.
That grin of his grew. “Your face is as red as a ripe tomato right now.”
And I could feel it growing redder by the second.
“I imagine whatever is going through your head is something I’d thoroughly enjoy hearing about.”
The flutter in my chest took flight. “I’m not thinking about anything.”
“Uh-huh.” He didn’t sound like he believed me for one moment.
I desperately needed a change of subject. “Anyway, I’m not hiding. I’m waiting for Thierry.”
“What for?”
“That’s not something I can talk to you about,” I said, repeating what he’d said to me the day in the training facility.
“Touché,” he murmured. “Bet I’ll find out sooner or later.”
“I bet you won’t.”
“We’ll see,” he said. His gaze flicked above me. Zayne inclined his head.
I twisted at the waist, finding Misha.
“Zayne.” Misha’s tone was flat.
He smiled slightly. “Misha.”
I frowned.
Misha turned to me. “Thierry wants us to meet him in the house. He’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Okay.” I glanced at Zayne, who was watching us curiously. That stupid, stupid flutter had moved to my stomach.
“See you around,” he said, and I had a feeling I would.
Misha and I arrived at the house before Thierry and waited for him in his office. “We need to talk before Thierry gets here,” he announced.
I plopped down in the thick cushioned chair directly across from the massive desk Thierry typically occupied. “About what?”
“You need to be careful around him.”
“Who?” I asked even though I had a pretty good idea of who he was talking about.
“Zayne.” He barked out the name.
Crossing my arms, I lifted an eyebrow. “Two things.”
Misha’s eyes narrowed as he leaned against Thierry’s desk.
“First off, we already had this conversation. You don’t need to warn me to be careful around him. It’s not like we’re going to be best friends or something. He’ll be leaving in a couple days.” A weird twinge of disappointment lit up my chest, and I didn’t even remotely understand that, because we’d only talked a couple of times, and we’d spent most of that time insulting each other.
“That’s a couple days too long.”
“Okay, and that statement leads to my most important question of the evening. What is your problem with him? And it can’t be because I’ve talked to him.” I paused. “Unless you’re secretly in love with me and you’re jealous.”
Misha’s expression turned bland. “You don’t know him.”
“You don’t, either. All you’ve said is that he’s a bad guy and his clan doesn’t trust him, but that doesn’t make sense. If his clan didn’t trust him, then why would they bring him here?”
Looking at the door, Misha dragged his hand through the mop of reddish hair. “Haven’t you noticed something odd about him?”
I’ve noticed a lot of things about him, but I kept that to myself. “Care to be a little more detailed?”
“His eyes.” Misha dropped his hand. “You might not have been close enough to see his eyes—”
“I’ve seen his eyes.” I cut him off, and his gaze sharpened. “They are a little different.”
“A little different?”
I frowned. “They’re a lighter blue.”
“And have you ever seen a Warden’s eyes that color before?” he questioned. “We all have the same eye color, Trin. That’s just the way we’re made.”
“Okay. The fact that Zayne’s eyes are different is odd, but what’s the big deal? Are we discriminatory toward light-eyed Wardens now?”
“Don’t be dumb,” he snapped. “There is no other Warden like him.”
“There is no other being like me,” I pointed out.
“It’s not the same. Far from it,” Misha argued. “Look, his eyes are like that because he... He’s lost a part of his soul.”
Out of everything I might have expected Misha to say, that wasn’t it. I leaned forward, nearly toppling out of the chair. “What?”
Misha glanced at the door before continuing. “I don’t know the details, but their clan raised a girl who was half Warden, half demon.”
“What?” I whisper-yelled. “How had I not heard about this until now?”
He blinked. “Why would anyone tell you?”
“Because I... Okay, I don’t have a good reason,” I relented, and I immediately remembered Zayne saying he wasn’t the only kid raised in his compound. Had he been talking about this girl? “Please continue.”
“The girl was Lilith’s daughter.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “Like the Lilith?”
Misha nodded, and I blinked slowly. Lilith was the mother of a lot of very dangerous demons—creatures that could take a soul with a touch. They were called the Lilin, and something was vaguely familiar about that. Several months ago, I’d overheard Matthew and Thierry speaking about those creatures. It had been right around the time Zayne’s father had died.
“I don’t know the circumstances around how, but he lost a part of his soul,” Misha continued.
Falling back against the chair, I had no idea what to think. “Are you saying he’s...soulless?”
He shook his head. “I’m not saying that, because if he was, I doubt he’d still be alive. His clan would have put him down.”
Put him down.
Like a rabid animal.
I shuddered as I gripped the arms of the chair. “Then what are you saying, Misha?”
“Why do you think he’s not the clan leader? He was the last leader’s son, groomed to take over, and he didn’t.”
I’d asked him that question and still felt like a nosy brat for doing so. “Maybe he just chose not to.”
Misha looked at me like I was half-stupid. “Doubtful. It’s obvious that the clan doesn’t trust him in that kind of role, especially since he’s still friends with that demon.”
“The half demon, half Warden?” I couldn’t wrap my head around that. I didn’t even know that inserting tab A into slot B between a Warden and a demon could produce a child.
“Lilith’s daughter,” he corrected me. “And he’s been known to work with demons.”
“Really?” I laughed at the absurdity of that claim. Not just because it was insane to think of a Warden doing that, but also because a demon wouldn’t get close to a Warden if they had a choice. This half demon, Lilith’s daughter, was obviously the exception and that was because she was half Warden too. “Where are you even hearing this nonsense?”
“I’m not the only one who overhears stuff. I heard Matthew and Thierry discussing it months ago, apparently when all of this went down. And it’s not nonsense, Trin.”
I started nibbling on my thumbnail. “He doesn’t seem like he’s missing a part of his soul.”
“And how does one seem like when they’re missing a part of their soul?”
“Evil?” I suggested. “And Zayne doesn’t seem evil.”
Misha met my gaze. “Isn’t that evil’s greatest achievement? It often hides itself in innocence?”
Well, he kind of had a point there.
I had no idea what to think about Misha’s warning. Maybe a part of Zayne’s soul was missing. Maybe he couldn’t be trusted to be clan leader, and maybe even more crazily, he’d worked with demons.
Misha was right. Evil often cloaked itself in innocence.
I should be careful around Zayne, especially given the risks, but the truth was, what Misha had shared only made me more curious about him.
Thierry showed up shortly after that, and he wasn’t alone. He’d brought a whole crew with him that didn’t just include Matthew, whom I wasn’t surprised to see. It was the last one who walked through the door that shocked me.
Nicolai.
I glanced at Misha with wide eyes. Hadn’t he made it clear to Thierry what this conversation would entail? Misha looked just as confused as I felt.