God of Malice (Legacy of Gods #1) by Rina Kent

Ever since then, she’s gotten better at communicating her feelings, her reservations about certain things, and everything in between.

We’ve gotten to a point in our marriage where we don’t have to speak to understand one another.

Tonight is different.

My wife hasn’t been the same ever since she slipped out of bed earlier. And while I want to shake the answers out of her, I force myself to wait.

And wait.

And fucking wait.

It’s impossible to go to sleep if she doesn’t tell me.

The silence in our bedroom soon turns suffocating, and I slide my fingers into her shiny blonde hair.

It doesn’t matter how long I’ve been with this woman, I still can’t get enough of touching her. I still think about all the years we lost and can’t get back.

I’m still trapped at that moment when I thought I’d lose her forever.

A small sigh leaves her lips and her stroking pauses. “Ash?”

“Hmm?”

“I think we made a mistake.”

“About?”

She continues burying her face in my chest. “Remember when Kill brought us those desiccated mice and told us Look, I can see inside them?”

My jaw clenches. “It was when we first figured out he’s like her. Of course I remember.”

“He was only seven, Ash.”

“And he already showed the signs.”

“That’s not the point. Our son was so young, and we must’ve looked at him as if he were a monster.” She stares up at me with an unnatural shine in her deep blue eyes. “He told Glyndon that I’ve been scared of him since. Our baby boy thinks I’ve been afraid of him all this time, Ash. What are we going to do?”

“Hey.” I sit up and bring her with me and she sniffles, her tears soaking her cheeks and my thumb as I try to wipe them away. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not.” Her voice breaks. “It’s not okay for a seven-year-old to think his parents are scared of him. And it’s absolutely not okay that he’s carried that thought for over twelve years. That’s how trauma is caused.”

“He’s not susceptible to trauma. You’re feeling these terrible emotions, but he’s not able to process them, Reina. You shouldn’t project what you feel on him. He’s not the same.”

“But he’s our son and we might have let him down.”

“You’re overthinking this. Besides, he doesn’t care.”

“Of course he does. I know you want him not to, and you’ve been trying to prove that he’s only a monster with no redeeming qualities, but that’s not true, Ash. If he doesn’t care, would he make sure to answer my texts, call me regularly, and talk to me about his campus life? If he doesn’t care, would he bring his girlfriend to meet us?”

“It’s all a façade and a learned behavior. He’s one hundred percent socialized and has long since perfected fooling the world around him. You can refuse to see it all you want, but that doesn’t deny what he is.”

“What the hell is what he is supposed to mean? He’s our son. Our flesh and blood. He’s not a guinea pig or a freak, stop analyzing him as if he is one.”

“Not when he’s prone to lose control any second.”

She pushes away from me, her delicate brows creasing with a frown, then starts to leave the bed.

I clutch her wrist. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Anywhere but beside you until you stop talking about our son like he’s a psychological case study.”

“Like fuck you’re leaving.” I tug her down and she gasps as she falls back in my embrace. “You can be mad at me while you talk to me.”

My wife puffs out a breath. “Please try to see him as more than your prejudice about his type. I was hurt, too, extremely, to the point of madness by her, but that doesn’t mean Kill is like her or that I’d take out my pain on him.”

I’m about to placate her, just to get her out of this mood, when a loud bang echoes from the room beside our master suite.

Reina jumps up, throwing her robe on, and I follow after wearing a T-shirt.

We both rush out and stop in the hallway when the bang comes again.

My wife and I share a look. Gareth.

We hurry to his room and surprisingly, the door is open.

The scene that plays in front of us is straight out of a horror movie. Reina places two hands on her mouth as what I predicted would eventually happen takes form in front of our eyes.

Killian holds his brother by an elbow to his throat, pinning him against the wall. The bang sound is from when he pulls him just to slam him back again.

The savage look on Killian’s face resembles my most frightening nightmares and is nothing like I’ve seen before. Not even when he was seldom caught making trouble at school. All light from his eyes—that Reina wouldn’t shut up about—that he graced us with during this visit is gone.

In its place, complete gloom covers his features.

“I’m not going to ask again. Why did you send her that video?” Despite the darkness in his features, Killian sounds collected, in his element, absolutely not on the verge.

Which is a red flag since he’s the type who gets calmer the more he’s enraged.

The deadly type of calm.