without him having to tell me. I heard his teeth gritting together, grinding over enamel as he groaned against my mouth.
“Remi,” he whispered, lifting his eyes to study the tears swimming in mine. “Breathe, beautiful girl. Stop fighting me. Just let it happen.”
“It hurts!” I screamed, feeling like my insides were filling with lava instead of the blood that had once run through my veins.
“That’s because you’re fighting the part of me that is combining with you.”
“What the hell? Why would you do this?” I whispered thickly, swallowing past the pain.
“I did it so that you can never harm me with your silver, and in return, I can never raise arms against you. I outplayed you, and your mother. The glyphs that glowed on your pretty face inside your home? They’re the sign of a newly born alpha to the House of Silversmith. I wasn’t certain at first, since it’s been hundreds of years since anyone has seen the glyphs of a newborn alpha heir. You are the strongest Silversmith I have encountered, which means your mother strategically chose your father to breed a new alpha.”
“I’m more of an omega.” I shivered as his eyes dipped to my mouth, slowly lifting to hold mine before he continued speaking, ignoring my outburst.
“The Silversmiths have always had a female alpha. Your house will not rise again, because you’re now my silver, and I will never allow it.”
So that happened.
I was going to end up helping my sister crucify me at this rate. I should have known there was a reason he wanted a sword. Why would my family ever think waiting to tell me this shit was a good idea?
He’d just outsmarted me, and I thought I was the one being smart! My mother hadn’t taught me anything. And our lore? It wasn’t in books. The stories were rumors, because we had people who went around erasing any trace that we’d ever existed from records. There was no correct history about us in the libraries, only fictional shit that people romanticized. So how was I supposed to know what not to do, or to do, if no one told me?
“Rhys, I think we should break up. It’s not you, it’s me. I’m a dumb ass. I am so stupid! They’re going to hang me up, and I am going to hand them the bat to use me as a human piñata!”
“First, they’d have to get to you. Second, you’re mine to protect now, so that scenario isn’t happening. Get some sleep. Beltane comes this week, and I can’t have my silver worn out before the witches’ celebration. I am throwing a ball that is open to every Alpha House and their family members. I can’t wait to show you off.”
“I’m going to be sick that day, sorry.”
“Go to sleep, woman. You worked for fourteen hours straight on a blade today. You were sexy in that room, dripping sweat as you held burning metal in your pretty, bare hands. How did you hold the metal straight from the fire? Better question, Silversmith, how did you live through being in a room that was 590 degrees as a mortal?” I swallowed as his eyes narrowed on the pulse beating wildly on my neck. “That’s what I thought. They didn’t die in that fire, did they? It’s why they never allowed anyone to see them work. It wasn’t to keep the magic a secret. It was to keep other aspects of their nature a secret.”
Yup, I was a dead woman walking. I hadn’t even considered that when I’d felt the urge to make his blade. I’d wanted to impress Rhys, and by doing so, I’d exposed my family’s secrets. I’d watched that fire burning, and while the children had more than likely perished, their parents had snuck out through the secret panel in the library and lived, and I’d known it. That hadn’t clicked, though, not until just now as he’d asked the questions on the edge of my brain, the ones I’d shoved into a box to look at later, once I was free.
I hated ah-ha moments, but worse; I now understood why no one had ever told me the important things. I was an open book, a source of information without even realizing I was spewing it until I’d fucked up so badly that I couldn’t take it back.
“Don’t beat yourself up too bad, Remi. I’ve had a couple of lifetimes to learn how to get the things I want without torturing my