“No one thought my father would allow his clan to do what they did to Layla.” Zayne planted his hands on the desk. “Did they?”

I sucked in a sharp breath. Oh, man, they were about to travel down a painful road, one that led right back to Layla. Time to intervene.

“There was a Warden back home who discovered what I was.” My stomach soured, because this was one of my own painful roads. “No one knew that Ryker believed a Trueborn would harm a Warden. It sounds insane, right? Even my mother, who he eventually killed when he went after me, never suspected. Misha might’ve orchestrated it all, but Ryker had those beliefs long before Misha was able to exploit them.”

Zayne silently moved closer to me while I spoke, and I didn’t want to think about what he was feeling through the bond. It was a messy bag of hurt and guilt, sorrow and fury. His pale blue gaze was fastened on me as he spoke to Nicolai. “I would love to believe that every clan member here is sane and logical and wouldn’t for one second believe that Trinity would be a threat to them, but we just don’t know that. The last thing any of us needs is to be looking over our shoulders for Wardens while trying to find the Harbinger.”

Silence stretched out. The office clock ticked like a bomb. The bright blue gaze of the leader drifted to mine. “Was that why you were attacked at the Potomac Community when we were there?”

He was talking about Clay. I shook my head. “No. He just...” Aware that Zayne was watching me, I recalled what Misha had told me. “That had nothing to do with what I was. But Ryker wasn’t the only one who believed I was dangerous. There were others who felt I needed to be put down. They were...dealt with.” I ran my fingers over the back of the chair. “I honestly don’t know why any Warden would feel that way, but some did. There could be more who do.”

“You don’t know why?” Genuine disbelief filled Nicolai’s tone.

Taken aback, I frowned. “Yeah, no. I don’t.”

Zayne’s focus returned to his clan leader. “Why would any Warden fear a Trueborn?”

“A Trueborn pulls strength from a Warden—”

“That goes both ways,” Zayne cut in. “The Protector gains strength from the Trueborn. It’s not like she’s a parasite.”

A parasite.

Wow.

Never quite looked at it that way, but now that was stuck in my head to obsess over later.

“I wasn’t suggesting that.” Nicolai’s fingers tapped the arm of his chair, a slow, steady beat. “It’s just not entirely surprising that some would be concerned about what she is.”