Page 78 of The Ice Prince's Fated Mate
I sputtered, searching for words. Dirk and Caz’s father had killed their mother?Caz had killed their father?I braced myself with my hands, my head spinning with all this new information.
“Why would you tell me this?” I asked, stunned.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “To tell you that my life hasn’t been what you’ve built it up in your head as. To share things with you, as my mate, that you deserve to know. To open up to you. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”
“Y-yeah. I guess. I just … that’s quite the opener.”
He smiled, a sad look on a man who was normally so proud and happy. “At least I’m trying, Ella. Are you?”
I leaned back against the outer wall of the building, feeling attacked. And I should, because he was right. I hadn’t shared a thing about my past with him, despite mine affecting us much more obviously than his.
“Are you okay with this?” I asked. “Do you need to talk about this with me or Caz?”
“Caz isn’t aware I know. About our father, at least. We both knew our father killed Mother, even if he never admitted it.”
“So tell him?”
Dirk shook his head. “He’s trying to be a big protective brother. He thinks he succeeded, that he kept me safe from everything. I don’t have it in me to admit that I knew from the start. It would hurt him, make Caz think he failed. He doesn’t deserve that.”
I chewed on that. It made sense while also feeling incredibly wrong. “Does anyone else know?”
“Anna, I would assume, but I’m not sure. Otherwise, I doubt it. Caz framed it as an assassination and did a very good job of it. If anyone else, say Mirko or orb-forbid someone with actual brains, like Damon, found out, they would use it to remove him from power.”
“And you just told me.”
Dirk’s eyes hardened. “You are my mate, Ella. I trust you not to go blabbing.” He sighed. “Besides, our father was a piece of shit who abused everything in his entire kingdom if it benefited him, including Caz and our mother. He had it coming.”
The scars on Caz’s back that I had seen whenever he shifted.
I understood now. I’d never asked, but I had wondered. Now I didn’t, because I knew the awful truth.
“I’m so sorry for all of that,” I said, reaching tentatively for his hand, trying to bridge the gap that had cropped up. “That’s awful. I’m so sorry, Dirk.”
His fingers pushed between mine, linking us and holding tight. He wasn’t pulling away after all.
“You should talk to Caz, though. Tell him. That burden should be shared. You guys are all that you have left.”
Dirk looked at me for a long time. “Not anymore,” he said quietly.
I looked down, blushing at the attention. “You should still tell him,” I said, stubbornly pushing.
“Maybe.” Dirk looked away for a moment. “Things haven’t always been the best between Caz and me. They are now, and I’m not sure I want to risk that.”
“Really?” I perked up. They seemed very close to me, if a little formal, given that Caz was the ruler of all ice dragons. “What happened? What do you mean?”
Dirk worked his jaw. “I did some things. Things I’m not proud of. Caz straightened me out. Eventually. He was pretty disappointed in me.”
“Even more reason to make sure the air is clear between you two,” I said, shuffling closer.
Dirk put his arm around me.
“Maybe you’re right,” he said in quiet thought, his tone implying he would give it serious consideration, not just blow it off. “But I want to know …”
It was clear he was about to ask me something about my past, but the question never came as his body language changed. He stiffened and leaned closer to the hole in the wall.
“What is it?” I asked, impatient for details.
“A lead,” Dirk rumbled, moving swiftly for the loose floorboards that were our way in and out. “Come on. Let’s go.”
