Synced (Gilded Blood Book 4) by Rachel Rener

Author:Rachel Rener [Rener, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lightning Conjurer Books, LLC
Published: 2023-05-15T16:00:00+00:00

XVII.

Blood is Thicker Than Water

“What kind of trickery is this?” Mikhæl demanded hoarsely, his wide eyes darting between me and Zayn. “My father loved my mother with every fiber of his being! He…” The knot in his throat bobbed forcefully. “He would never betray her.”

After re-clasping my locket around my neck, I casually tossed Xianis’s letter in his direction. It slid to a stop a few inches in front of his emptied goblet. “I haven’t gone on daytime TV to take an official DNA test yet, but based on how similar you and my father look, I’m gonna assume the contents of this message are accurate.”

Mikhæl hastily withdrew the letter from its torn-open envelope, then sank into his chair to read it with shaking hands. Anger crossed his face, followed by confusion, shock, disgust, and, finally, horror. When he set the letter back down a few minutes later, his cheeks had lost all their color. “First, my brother returns from the dead, and now you desecrate my father’s memory with this…this”—he reached forward and crumpled the letter in a shaking fist—“this nonsense? My father, the most powerful and revered king in elven history, would lay with a harpy, of all things?”

I crossed my arms, saying nothing.

He leapt to his feet, slapping the letter on the table. “Not only that, but you expect me to believe that loathsome creature then birthed a living son who only now claims to be my half-brother at the exact same moment Zæynek ‘accidentally’ appears at my doorstep?” He shot an accusatory glare at Zayn before jerking his head back to me. “Since this abomination has not the courage nor honor to face me with these allegations, I demand you bring me the conniving bastard so that I may interrogate him myself!”

Zayn took a step forward, his hands balling into fists. I tugged him backward by the hem of his shirt, shaking my head. A muscle in his jaw flexed as he regarded me, though he did manage a small, begrudging nod.

I turned back to Mikhæl. “My father is dead,” I replied coldly. “He died on Earth, several decades after being abandoned there as a changeling.”

“Abandoned as a changeling?” Mikhæl recoiled as though I’d blurted out a racial slur, then shook his head roughly. “My father would never do something so contemptible!”

“First of all, your father never knew my grandmother gave birth to his child. Xianis claims she left my dad on Earth for his own protection. And secondly,” I continued, doing everything I could to keep my temper corked, “I’m pretty sure your father would do something like that, since he tried to do the exact same thing when Zæynek was born!”

“That was different!” Mikhæl snarled. “That creature wasn’t his blood. It was merely the accidental by-product of a demonic parasite!”

Zayn stiffened, yet said nothing – as though he were used to this kind of dehumanization.

Molten-hot fury flared in my chest and shoulder – so hot, I literally saw red; so powerful, my fraying defenses were knocked aside in one single, violent blow.

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