Page 116 of Legion
Due to his powerful build, there was zero chance he’d go unnoticed.Nobody’s eyes would gloss over almost seven feet of roped, bulging muscles.He looked like a damn wrestler.That she so obviously had personal protection would hopefully act as a deterrent to anyone who would dare think to mess with her.
The current dark expression he wore only added to his don’t-come-close air.She could guess what had put that look on his face.
She nibbled on her lower lip.“You’re still mad at me, huh?”
He looked at her askance.“Why would I be mad?You only neglected to tell me—your personal bodyguard—that you had clerics on your ass, which interfered with my ability to properly protect you.Why would that bother me?”Sarcasm at its finest.
Naomi sighed.“I didn’t think they’d strike while you or anyone else were near.They seemed set on getting me alone.I really am sorry that I kept you in the dark.If I’d known that they would even so much asthinkto use bombs ...It just hadn’t occurred to me that they would go that far.”
“Which I can understand, because clerics usually rely on magick, and explosives aren’t at all their style.But that isn’t the point, is it?”
“No.And I’m sorry that they almost killed you.”
He cast her a frown.“Told you before, that wasn’t your fault.The apology doesn’t need to come from you.My problem is that you hid from me that you had danger dogging your heels.That’s something I needed to be made aware of.”
“I wasn’t trying to make your job more difficult than it is.I just wasn’t ready to tell Luka everything, which meant I also couldn’t tellyou.”
His frown deepened.“Don’t know why you thought it necessary to hide that you’re part celestial.Luka’s the last person who’d care about something like that.”
Wanting to be able to pyroport around the mansion at her leisure, she’d permitted Luka to inform his most trusted demons—namely his bodyguards and Konstantin—that her father was a fallen angel to account for why her fire wasn’t normal.But he hadn’t told them that her dad was Lucifer—they intended to keep that a secret from all.
None of the three had batted an eyelid on hearing that she had celestial blood.She supposed it was no biggie to them, given that they were around Lilibeth and the Black Saints often.They were used to hybrids like herself.
Luka would have liked to also tell Ella about Naomi being part angel, but he didn’t feel comfortable doing so.Truly, neither did Naomi.If every fallen angeldidshare in Lou’s curse, Ella—being mated to a fallen celestial—would be aware of that.As such, she would therefore also guess that Naomi had to drink blood.And while it wasn’t likely that she would leak the information, neither Luka nor Naomi wanted anyone else to be aware of it.
The fewer people who knew of a secret, the easier it was to protect it.Simple.
Of course, Lou’s curse mightnotbe something that applied to all fallen angels, in which case Ella couldn’t possibly guess about Naomi’s “dietary quirk”.However, it was worth noting that Ella was leery of all celestials due to some having tried to kill her when she was pregnant with Lilibeth.She would therefore naturally wish to know who Naomi’s father was in order to establish if he should be considered a threat—something she would consult Viper about, since he would know of many fallen angels.
Sure, Naomi could lie and claim that she had no idea who her father was, but then they’d just go ask Tia.And yes, Tia could lie to them as well.But it made more sense to just tell the couple nothing at all rather than feed them falsities.
Snapping back to the conversation, she said, “It wasn’t that I thought it would put him off.It wasn’t about Luka at all.My mom never wanted people to know that I wasn’t full demon because half-breeds aren’t always welcome if they’re part celestial.As such, very few people know.Even most of my lair are in the dark.I didn’t intend on sharing it with Luka unless things got serious.”
“You could have told him about the clerics without mentioning that you had celestial DNA.”
“He would have asked if I was keeping anything else from him.I would have had to lie.I didn’t want to do that.Whatever you might think, I didn’t feel good about keeping things from him.Or from you.”
Konstantin’s expression softened.“I don’t for a second think that you felt good about it.But I do think there’s another reason you kept the stuff about the clerics to yourself.”
“What’s that?”
“You didn’t want Luka to feel that he had to keep rescuing you.”
Naomi blinked.Huh, now that she thought about it, there wassometruth to that.“You could say that I was reluctant to drag him into anything else.First he had to step in to deal with Iain.Then the PI.”
“And you didn’t want him feeling that you’re more trouble than you’re worth,” he surmised.
Again there was some truth to his assumption.“Kind of.Haven’t you ever kept things from someone because you worried you’d otherwise lose them?”
Konstantin let out a long sigh.“Yeah.There was a lot that I didn’t tell my mate about myself in the beginning.I wanted to hook her first andthenlay it all on her.No woman in her right mind would have taken me on otherwise.”
Curious, Naomi tilted her head.“Why is that?”
He glanced across at her.“I’ll tell you my secrets if you’ll tell me yours.”
Yeah, not possible.“Some things are better left mysteries.”
“Agreed.”He paused.“You know, on reading your background check, I thought, ‘Hmm, this girl has not one thing in common with my Prime.’But then I realized you’re as evasive and secretive as he is.”
