She snorted. “Why do you think? He refuses to disparage his brother. By the time he was out of the hospital, your mother had already concocted the lie that Uncle Hauk had saved himself by cutting the rope, and left your father to die, and that no one had found the body. The only person he tried to tell the truth to was his mother, because he didn’t want her to hate him for something he didn’t do.”

“Yaya knows?”

“She knows. It’s why she slashed him. It wasn’t done as a warning. She attacked Uncle Hauk because she couldn’t attack Keris. She was mortified by what your father had done, and she told Uncle Hauk that he better never breathe a word of it to anyone!”

As they continued fighting, Sumi let out a loud whistle. “Please, for the love of the gods, stop it! Both of you! Let him rest in peace without you two going at it like jacked-up snipies. If you need something to occupy yourselves with, go get our supplies and bring them here without killing each other.”

Thia untied Illyse and left.

Darice paused by Sumi’s side to stare down at his uncle. “Do you believe Thia?”

Why was he asking her?

“Does it matter what I think, Darice? I don’t know your mother, at all. I barely know your uncle. However, he seems to be extremely kind and devoted. I can’t imagine he would dishonor your mother, and I know he hasn’t done so with me.”

That seemed to calm him. Nodding, he ran after Thia.

Alone with Hauk, Sumi brushed her hand along the whiskers on his cheek. In the chaos of this morning, he hadn’t shaved. The added growth made him look wild and untamed.

Even more masculine.

Smiling at the proud image he made even while he slept, she wound one of his thin black braids around her finger to toy with it. Unlike the rest of him, his hair and lips were so incredibly soft. Warmth spread through her at the memory of his tongue licking her fingers while she’d fed him the antidote. The sensation of his fangs brushing against her skin as he took care not to bite her, even though he was barely alert.

You are an incredibly sexy beast, Dancer Hauk. And he deserved a lot better than a female who couldn’t love and appreciate him.

“Deserving’s got nothing to do with anything.” Her father’s angry voice echoed in her head. “You think I deserved a whore who ran off in the middle of the night, and left me with two daughters to raise? Show me the Life Manual where it says things are fair and we all get what we deserve!”

As a girl, she’d thought him a fool for that reasoning. Had virulently disagreed with him.