Finn explained calmly, “Cassander is our seer. It won’t work with him.” He flicked his free hand at me. “Now give me your hand so you can see the truth and start to process it all.”
My nostrils flared in suspicion, but I placed my trembling hand in front of him. “Fine.”
His blade flashed so fast I barely saw it.
As in, a human can’t move that fast.
I flinched at the sting. “Ow!”
Godric growled. It wasn’t human. There was a lion’s growl coming from inside his chest. He hissed, “You cut too deep.”
“I apologize, but she needed to feel it.”
I jerked my full gaze from Godric, swallowing down the hysteria choking me from the noise he made and peered down at my hand. There was a line of blood on my palm, and a cut down into the flesh. But, as I watched, my skin knit itself together so fast, I would have missed it if I’d blinked.
I wiped the blood on the blanket.
My body started trembling for a new reason.
I jerked my attention to the man with the golden lion eyes. My chest heaved as I burned inside. “You didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t know,” Godric growled. He leaned forward in his seat, his gaze fueled with fury. “One of my guards was supposed to check after you left the bedroom, but you evaded them. So I sent Jonathan after you. That bastard lied to me. He said you tested negative.”
Finn whistled. “Oh shit.”
“I’m fucking burying him.”
The fight instantly died within me. “I evaded him too. That wasn’t his fault. He was probably scared to tell you.”
“He lied to me.” Godric seethed, his cheeks flushing with anger. “Shifters do not take a mate test lightly. It is our existence, as you stated. I will bury that bastard. And I’ll enjoy it.”
“Godric…” I reprimanded gently.
“What would you have done if your whole life, your entire immortal life, you never understood why you couldn’t die. Why you never aged. Why you had to suffer watching friends grow old and die over and over again…forever.”
My mouth shut. I shivered in fear.
“Exactly. The bastard will be buried.”
I held his furious gaze.
So many thoughts poured through my head.
My top emotion was fear, my back tense with it.
I asked softly, “Why was Cassander following me?”
“Because he knew.”
“And he didn’t tell you?”
He hissed, “The seer keeps many secrets.”
I peered in Cassander’s direction where he still had his eyes closed and was continually massaging his forehead. “Your job sucks, Cassander.”
Under his rubbing hand, silver eyes peeked open. “That is an understatement.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Godric clamped his hand down on my shoulder, keeping me steady on my feet as we exited the train. “Are you going to faint again?”
I shook my head. “No.”
The world and my life had altered in the matter of a few hours—but I was made of stronger stuff. My father’s genes were potent, and I had them in spades. The existence in which I lived may have transformed, but I would roll with it. I wouldn’t be trampled on by the truth.
We stopped just outside the train to wait for Cassander and Finn. They were talking inside the transport, giving Godric and me a moment of privacy.
I stared at Godric’s house before me.
It was a mansion of white stucco with a red tiled roof constructed on a rocky outcrop, the land reminiscent of a peninsula with ice blue water surrounding it on three sides.
My eyebrows lifted gradually. I didn’t peek up at him as I spoke, but my eyes remained trained on where he lived.
“You’re a lion, right?”
“A lion shifter,” he clarified.
His hand was still tense on my shoulder.
The man had effectively shut down again after all the details of who and what they were had finished on our ride.
I cleared my throat. “Then why do you choose to live here? It doesn’t look like a place a lion would hunker down. There aren’t any trees or sand or tall grass nearby—and it’s so open.”
The area was beautiful, but not wild.
“Really?” he asked in a dry tone.
“What?” I shrugged. “If I were a lion, I wouldn’t live here.”
“I’m also a man, Poppy.”
“So, you like this then?”
“It’s a little extravagant, but yes. I do like it.”
I nibbled on my bottom lip. “Why am I here?”
He didn’t answer, his hand tightening on my shoulder. His massive body crept behind me. The heat flowing off him was delicious, but he was still intimidating.
“Godric, answer my question.”
He bent and placed his lips against my left ear, and whispered, “Do you want to run away? Because I would probably enjoy that. I adore a great chase.”
I ground my teeth together. “You have to ask if you want me to stay here. You can’t just cart me off to your home and expect me to be okay with it.”
I would have said yes.
He still needed to ask, though.
“I never wanted a mate, Poppy. I’ve been abstinent from sex for over a hundred years because I didn’t want one. While I may not be entirely thrilled with this development right now, I won’t run from it. Now that I have a mate, you aren’t going anywhere. Especially when there’s evil lurking after you. I protect what is mine.”
My mouth bobbed. I didn’t know where to begin with all the information Godric had just spewed. In the end, I shook my head, and muttered, “How old are you?”
“Almost two hundred.” His lips grazed my ear.
I blinked and set aside the fact he had been alive before the war had torn the world apart. “You weren’t abstinent for the first hundred years of your life, were you? That means you didn’t mind if you found a mate back then. What made you change your mind a hundred years ago?”
His lips curved against the edge of my ear. “I do like that I have a cunning mate.” He inhaled deeply, smelling my hair. “The last six mate pairings weren’t right. As in, there was something wrong with the magic. That had never happened before. The magic was off. It was tainted with darkness.”