"We were cautious," he admitted. "Nightshade and Shadowfang both sensed something... different about you. Something powerful. We didn't know what it meant."
I turned to face him fully. "So, you treated me like an outsider instead of just asking?"
"Would you have told the truth if we had?" he challenged. "Or would Uncle Mateo have moved you again, like he did the three times before you came here?"
My breath caught. "How did you—"
"My father keeps better records than Mateo realises," Maison said quietly. "I've known for years that you've been relocated multiple times. What I didn't know was why."
The setting sun cast half his face in shadow, the other half illuminated in gold. I noticed the faint scar running along his jawline for the first time, nearly invisible unless you were looking
