"I wasn't sneaking. I was being independent."
"Mmm." He didn't sound convinced. "And how did that independence work out for you?"
I thought about my grandmother's words. The hatred in her eyes. The casual way she'd spoken about murdering me as an infant.
"It worked out fine," I lied.
Lucian just looked at me. Waiting.
The silence stretched. And stretched. And stretched.
I cracked first.
"They said terrible things," I admitted quietly. "My grandmother said they should have strangled me at birth."
Something dark flickered across Lucian's face. There and gone in an instant.
"I see."
"I knew they didn't love me. But that..." I trailed off, unable to find words for the hurt.
Lucian was quiet for a moment. Then he reached out and pulled me against his chest.
I stiffened in surprise.
