Bloodcraft Read Online Free Page B

his face blank, and she rushed to continue. “I wouldn’t contact you if I didn’t think that this was impossible. You are the only one who can help him.”
    “What would you have me do?” Christian asked. He knew exactly what was happening with the Council and their decision to victimize his brother, and while there was no way he would let that happen, he wanted to see where Lena was coming from.
    “You were there. He didn’t kill Enhard.”
    “Yes, but he didn’t save him either, which the Council would argue is the same thing. He could have easily, you know,” Christian said. “Saved Enhard. But he chose not to, an act that led to Enhard’s death. Does that not make him responsible in some way?” His voice remained flat, although it had caught slightly when he’d said Enhard’s name. The pain of his death hadn’t quite lost its sting.
    “Yes, perhaps, but it doesn’t warrant his execution,” Lena replied in a heated voice. Watching the emotions play across her face, Christian was shocked at her vehemence. He hadn’t realized that Lena cared so much for Lucian’s welfare. They were the perfect pair, with the same values and the same ambitions, but he never understood outside of that connection what had held them together. Maybe, somewhere deep inside, she did care for his brother.
    “Why are you doing this?” he asked. “Because we both know you’re not here with Lucian’s good wishes. So why do you care?” He was unprepared for the tormented expression that flashed across her face before she tried to conceal it.
    “Because I do,” she said, a defiant edge in her tone.
    “I didn’t think you cared that much,” he said. “If you need my help, you need to be honest with me for once. Why do you care, Lena?”
    She bit her lip and turned away. Christian sipped his coffee and narrowed his eyes at the crowd slowing to gape. He was used to attention, but this felt different. Everyone was looking at them. His eyes slid to his companion and he understood why. Of course people would stare—both blond and tall, the two of them made a striking couple with their flawless, predacious beauty. Like unsuspecting prey, people were drawn to them, oblivious to the danger they posed.
    Lena glanced at him, and he shifted his stare toward her. He arched an eyebrow and repeated his last question. “Why?”
    “Because …” Her voice faltered, her ice-blue eyes glittering with something akin to misery. “If I lose him too, then I have nothing.” She pushed a wry smile to her lips. “You left me with nothing, but at least Lucian was there to pick up the pieces. Over the years, Lucian and I, well, it was more than I could hope for,” she said. “And now, I won’t give up on him. He didn’t give up on me when …” She trailed off, but Christian knew what she meant. She meant when he did.
    “Does Lucian know?” he asked.
    She shrugged. “Perhaps.”
    “And does he feel the same?”
    “In his own way, he does,” she said. “You know your brother.”
    Christian leaned forward in his seat. Strangely, her honesty moved him. The vulnerability was so unlike her that it made him pause for a second. “I never gave up on you, Lena, you must know that,” he admitted after a while. “You and I were cut from different cloths. You couldn’t understand me then, and even now, I see that you still struggle to. I would have made you hate what you are, just as I do.”
    “But you made me into this,” she said, her brows pulling together into a slight frown. “How could I not love it? Or you. Surely, you must know that.”
    “It was a mistake, for both of us.” His voice was flat.
    Lena’s head drooped, and when he saw her shoulders shaking, for a moment he thought she was in tears. And then a chilling sound split the silence between them and he realized that she was laughing. The sound was brittle and empty. She raised glacial blue eyes to his and glared at him with veiled contempt.
    “A little too late for