not do anything else, but it also inspired her. Why should she
slouch and feel bashful for taking up more space than most people?
She stood up a little straighter while she stared at him.
?Had enough?? he asked, smiling at Helen?s brazen admiration of
his looks.
?Not yet,? she said, a matching smile breaking across her face.
?Good.?
As soon as they were seated, Lucas asked her what she wanted to
know, and Helen had to think for a moment. She wasn?t entirely
sure.
?I guess the first thing I need to know is who hurt Kate,? she said,
dreading the answer.
?We have no idea,? he answered, sounding earnest. Helen?s heart
sank. She knew from the night before that although Lucas couldn?t
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bear to be lied to, it didn?t stop him from telling a few whoppers of
his own.
?That doesn?t make sense, Lucas,? she said carefully. ?Your father
told me that I was the only one of . . . our kind . . . who was not a
member of your House. How can you not know two women who,
by that logic, are related to you??
Lucas nodded, like he understood why Helen doubted him. ?The
House of Thebes is very large. Our immediate family?those of us
who moved back here to the States?are a just a tiny splinter group,
but the main part of the House of Thebes is much, much larger.
They?re known as the Hundred Cousins, although there are a lot
more of them than that now, and they?re loosely led by my uncle
Tantalus,? he said, looking down at his coffee, his eyes far away. ?I
have a lot of distant relatives that I?ve never heard of, let alone
seen.?