Chapter 43-Trust (2)

Chapter 43: 43-Trust (2)

"Are you hiding anything from me that you feel i deserve to know?"

Maisa froze, her blood turned cold and every muscle inside her body locked. She heard her own heartbeat, it was way too loud and moving too fast.

Ba-thump. Ba-thump.

She was filled with guilt. Deep down, she kept secrets that would affect Lumi if she found out. Her name, her family, the Everheart and her hunter past were all secrets that would break every vampire’s trust in her.

Every lie she’d told since arriving flashed through her mind. Maisa Loven had a place among them and started to fit in but Maisa Everheart was an enemy none of them could ever accept.

Lumi waited patiently. "If there’s something important..." she spoke softly. "Tell me now," she opened a window for Maisa to be honest with her.

"..."

"I can forgive difficult truths," her voice became firmer. "But if I open my heart to you... and later discover you deceived me..." her gaze sharpened. "I don’t know whether even this bond between us would be enough to stop me from making you regret it."

Maisa’s hands trembled beneath the table. She wanted to tell her the truth, she truly did. Every instinct screamed that lying to someone who had become part of her heart was wrong.

But another voice sounded inside her, her aunt’s voice, it echoed louder. ’If they discover you’re an Everheart... you will die!’ The warning was loud and hard.

She swallowed painfully. "No, Lumi," she denied, the lie tasted bitter. "I’m not keeping any secrets."

For several long seconds, Lumi simply stared at her. Then, she smiled. A smile filled with visible relief. "I’m glad. I appreciate your honesty."

Maisa’s chest tightened. Honesty? She wasn’t honest at all. She had lied through her teeth and with a straight face.

Lumi lowered herself into the chair opposite her. "My father..." she looked toward the moon. "...was my favorite person."

Maisa listened quietly with a heavy heart. Sje couldn’t imagine having the same say about jer father. The man gorvened his home like an army commander, he awarded the best trainees and punished sternly the worst cadets.

He was no ones favourite person but earned favour and fame as the best hunter. But his house was more a training ground than a home.

"He wasn’t simply my father," her blue eyes shone as happiness filled her face. "He was my best friend. He taught me everything that I know; reading, our history and air magic," she arranged most of her belongings into her open suitcase.

"He believed kindness wasn’t weakness and he made sure to spread the message around," a soft laugh escaped her. "He even believed humans and vampires could coexist one day."

Her smile slowly faded as she remembered the thought that destroyed her father. His belief in the best in humans led him to his death and cost her the best vampire she’s ever known and the best father than no one could replace. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

"He never got the chance to see whether he was right."

Maisa already knew what was coming. She wanted the words to stop or time, either one to stop her from hearing the heartbreak that comes next.

Instead, Lumi whispered, "The Everheart family killed him."

Maisa felt something inside her shatter. Her breathing stopped and her vision blurred. She stared silently at the floor.

It felt like everywhere she turned in her new life, she can never outrun her past. The Everheart shadow was hard to shake off. It came for her on all sides and it was starting to feel suffocating.

She pictured her family. Her father, her mother, her siblings or the second family. Which of them had the hand in the murder?

Lumi continued quietly. "They hunted him one day and he never returned. I was still young and i remember waiting beside the front door for days," she admitted and smiled sadly. "I believed he was simply late at the time.

Silence swallowed the room. Maisa couldn’t breathe. She knew first hand her family’s was of hunting and how murderous her family got when they locked on a target.

"My mother eventually told me the truth that he wasn’t coming home," Lumi drew a sharp breath. "The female matriarch of the Everheart family was the one who ripped his heart out. My brother Luan was with him, he survived because my current stepfather happened tp pass by and saved him and he was the one who saw the murder take place."

Maisa felt physically ill, every heartbeat hurt deeply. She wanted to scream and to apologize about what her mother did. To confess everything and have Lumi take her revenge but she couldn’t, instead... she remained silent.

Lumi looked at her warmly. "I know trusting people isn’t easy for me. It’s because my father me to love and trust both vampires and humans so when he fell to human hands, I just... I couldn’t..." she sniffled.

"I g...get it," Maisa stammered. Lumi had every reason to second guess opening her heart to her. She wasn’t worthy of such trust and deep down, she hated the bond for pulling her into such a messy situation.

She wanted to have a sit down with the bond and question it. She would ask, what was it thinking linking her permanently to a vampire whose father her mother killed? What kind of twisted game was it playing with her?

Maisa had no idea that she would soon find out that the game was more twisted beyond Lumi because each of her mates had a grievance against Everheart family of hunters.

Lumi smiled again. "But once I trust or love someone..." her voice became surprisingly gentle. "I love forever."

She placed one hand over her own heart. "So..." she looked directly at Maisa. "Please... Don’t give me a reason to hurt the way humans hurt me."

Maisa’s throat closed. She wanted to promise, to swear she’d never let Lumi cry but she couldn’t because she’d already lied and someday, Lumi would learn exactly whose daughter sat before her.

When that day came, the tears Lumi shed would almost certainly be because of her. So Maisa simply lowered her eyes. "...I’ll try," she couldn’t meet Lumi’s gaze.

Her heart was heavy with guilt and despair. The news of Lumi’s father came as a shock but with the successful kill list in her family’s records, she knew such stories will keep popping up in the future.

It wasn’t the promise Lumi deserved but it was the only truthful answer she could give.

Anything beyond that would be another lie and with the many that she was already keeping, she didn’t wish to add one more.

"I’ll try," she repeated, sounding more confident. "I’ll give the best effort that I have to give."