Page 89 of House of Blood and Roses: Vol. 2

She sits back in her chair and nods. "You got the same look on your face as Uncle Gerard does when he's withholding information."

I stare at her for a moment. "What?"

She shrugs. "It’s going to happen. You are his daughter."

"I guess that's still a strange thing for me."

"Well, it's the same expression he gets every time he talks about your brother to me."

"I'm sure he's not keeping anything from you." Even as I say the words, I know they're not true. Bella would be on a rampage if she knew what had happened.

Bella let out a harsh laugh. "You really believe that, don't you?"

"What has he told you?"

"Nothing," she responds bitterly. "Which tells me everything. Does he really think that I don't know that Bastian killed Thomas?"

"I don't know," I say softly.

Surprise flits over Bella's face. "You knew?"

"Bastian told me," I say slowly. I don't want to lie to her, but I also know that I need to tread carefully. Their relationship has always been contentious, and this is only going to make it worse.

"Of course he did," Bella mutters.

"He said it was an accident."

Bella lets out a sharp laugh. "Don't be naive, Beatrice. It doesn't suit you."

"I have no reason to think he's lying to me."

"Except that it would suit him. He knows that if he told the truth, then you would hate him."

There's a thought deep within me that recognises what she's saying as the truth, but I squash it down. Bastian isn't perfect, and his anger has grown into a problem since we arrived at Castle Sanulieon, but I don't think he'd stoop as low as murder.

Would he?

A brief flash of the woman from the Golden Moon ball springs to mind. I know he claims that he did it to please Lord Fallmartin, but something about that reasoning no longer fully makes sense to me. Maybe it's simply that I've seen more of his true self since we arrived here, or maybe it's because I think I always knew, even if I was a little in denial about it.

A horrible feeling of disloyalty comes over me. Like I'm betraying Bastian and everything the two of us have been through together. He's my brother and I should trust him.

The expression on Bella's face says otherwise, complicating matters because I know I can trust her. There's just a large part of me that doesn't want to believe what she's saying.

I'm saved from considering the question of how trustworthy my brother is and if he's capable of murder by the door opening and Linc stepping inside.

Pip scampers over to him immediately, drawing a raised eyebrow from Bella. I suspect it makes sense. She won't really have seen the two of them interact much before this.

Linc looks up from fussing my dog, his whole face changing when he sees me. The smile is unlike one anyone has ever given me before, only him, and it makes my heart glad, even if it was just contemplating awful things.

Linc is about to head over to me when he spots Bella. "Lady Vermouten."

"Not any more," she murmurs, her voice breaking as she does. "Or not when Lord Fallmartin considers the timing right."

Linc grimaces. "My apologies, Lady Isabella."

"And mine, Your Highness, I should not have addressed you informally like that."

"If you are staying in our rooms, then perhaps it is acceptable for us to forgo the honorifics," he suggests.