Page 50 of House of Blood and Roses: Vol. 1

I nod.

"Seems like I was quite talkative."

"Probably a little too much. I was worried about how my father would respond if he found out any of the things we talked about. But you didn't tell me your name, so that made me feel better."

"I probably just forgot to give it to you," he admits. "The wine."

"Mmm. And the Feast. I should thank you, though. You might have been drunk and oversharing, but you took my mind off what was happening inside."

"I just wish I could remember what you told me," he says.

"Not much. I was still processing."

"Do you want to talk about it now?" he asks.

I sigh and wrap my arms around my legs, thinking about the answer to that. My dress poofs up around me as a result and I have to shift how I'm sitting. I'm not sure if I want to talk about it, or if I'm ready to, but the alternative is letting it eat away at me.

"I was mostly in shock," I say. "Finding out that vampires are real, and that I am one, and that suddenly, the man I thought of as Da was never actually my father, and instead there's this vampire lord who barely looks older than me claiming he's my real father. Though I can't actually deny that, my brother looks just like him, and then there's this." I wave to myself.

"Your appearance, or your vampirism?"

"Both, I guess. I mean, Bash and I are twins, so we do look alike, even if we're not identical for obvious reasons. And I'm a vampire now, which means I always was a dhampir, right?"

"Something like that," he agrees. "I'm not really sure how it works."

"And then there was my brother. You think you know someone, and then you see them sink their teeth into an innocent person's neck and kill them." My voice cracks and a tear runs down my cheek.

Linc moves instantly, pulling me into his arms. I lean my head against his shoulder, appreciating the comfort he offers.

"I'm sorry," I murmur.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," he promises, reaching up and tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "It's a lot to deal with."

"It's all everyone here is dealing with," I counter.

"True. But no one else is here right now. It's just us."

"And I've just totally hijacked your emotional moment."

"I suggested it," Linc points out.

I sigh. "It's just a lot to deal with. I don't know how to be around my brother, he's acting like a completely different person since we got here."

"Is he a different person, or is he just freer to act like he wants to?"

I want to protest, but I think back to how it was before. Bastian's distaste for the way we lived, his refusal to do anything that might help our life like fixing the leak in the roof, and his recklessness of spending all of our savings and signing us up to the Golden Moon without even telling me.

"I don't know," I whisper. "How can I not know my brother?"

"Does he know you?"

I frown. "I don't know that either." And it's a horrible realisation to have. "Weirdly, I've found more compassion from the cousin I could have sworn hated me."

Linc chuckles. "I'm not surprised. Vampire families are complicated. My step-mother hates me."

"You have a step-mother?"

"Oh, yes. My brother's mother."