The Hawthorne Legacy (The Inheritance Games, #2)

by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

I will always protect you, he’d told me. But this… us… It can’t happen, Avery.

The trick to being abandoned was to never let yourself long for anyone who left.

“What sledgehammers were put on God’s green earth to do,” Xander replied solemnly.

“You two aren’t actually going to fight, are you?” I asked warily. I turned to Xander. “They’re not actually going to fight, are they?” “Who can say?” Xander replied merrily. “But perhaps you and I should wait outside in case this gets ugly.” “I’m not going anywhere,” I insisted. “Jameson, this is ridiculous.” “Not my call, Heiress.” “Grayson!” I said. He turned to look at me. “I really would prefer you wait outside.”

Est unus ex nobis. Nos defendat eius. As I’d suspected, it was Latin. An online translator told me that it meant It is one of us. We protect it. Jameson’s response, Scio, meant I know. It only took me one more search to realize that the same translation would hold if it was replaced with she. She is one of us. We protect her.

“Do you trust me, Heiress?” Jameson had donned a leather jacket. He looked like trouble. The good kind. “Not even a little,” I replied, but I took the helmet from his outstretched hand, and when he climbed onto the motorcycle, I climbed on behind him.