49

Lachlan POV

I knew this was coming, but my stomach still drops to the floor when Lira asks me that question.

“The necklace?” I repeated her question, anxiety eating at me. How do I tell her with the damn blood oath in place? I feel my throat closing up just thinking about telling her about her father. “Didn’t, uh, Cedric tell you?”

She presses her lips together, staring at me pensively for a moment. “He did. He told me that my father was the one that told you to give it to me. Is that true?”

Thank goodness she asked a yes or no question. Open-ended questions seem to be where I get hung up on the oath. “Yes,” I murmur, pleading with her with my eyes not to be mad at me. We were just caught in the first decent moment where we were both laughing so carefree, almost like the events of this morning hadn’t happened.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she whispers, looking disheartened.

This is going to be the hard part. How do I tell her without telling her that I couldn’t tell her? “Quit ta