"No," I choked out, stumbling back. "No, he wouldn't. My father… he hated the rogue trade. He spent his life preaching about the sanctity of the bloodline. He never told me… he never mentioned you!"
I turned on Jarek, my eyes burning with a bitter, accusatory fire. "You conned him! You found a way to blackmail him, didn't you? You used some dark rogue magic to force his hand!"
"Blackmail?" Jarek let out a dry, harsh laugh that turned into a hiss as his fangs scraped his lip. "Elo, your father and I were in a business transaction. A long-standing one."
"Whatever for? Why would he give you his blood? Why would a Goldbane feed a rogue?" I screamed.
Jarek straightened up, the gold in his eyes settling into a somber, terrifying clarity. "Because my late father and your father were close before the exile. Aurelius felt a debt to the boy his friend had cast out. He thought he was looking after me. He thought he was ensuring I wouldn't become the monster the packs expected me to be."
