I kept my expression neutral. “Do you recall our last
conversation?” If they had any memory at all, they’d remember
my warning about what would happen if they crossed me.
“I do,” he admitted. “And you’re the one who led us to this
point!”
“Does Xavier even know you’re responsible for his brother’s death?” I demanded.
Grace looked surprised, but I had brought her for a reason–she was the best at keeping secrets.
“No, and he won’t find out,” Gerald said smoothly. “Not unless you decide to tell him what happened during the time your
uncle wore the crown”
“We both know Javier wouldn’t hold a grudge against me for that”
No one could hold my uncle’s crimes against me when I had been the one to end his life. If my uncle ever came back from the dead, I wouldn’t hesitate to kill him again.
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“You really thought you could blackmail us?” Gerald laughed
coldly. “We know more about your family than you’d ever
imagine. The secret would shake the core of the royal family.”
I narrowed my eyes. The council must know something else
that I didn’t. Because as far as I was concerned, they destroyed
Xavier’s pack, but Xavier still chose to work with the council
instead of against them. Why?
Gerald’s smirk widened. “Who do you think Xavier’s father is?”
I stiffened. My father wasn’t a monster. He wouldn’t have hurt
a woman like that. But I had to know.
“The truth is right in front of you,” Gerald said, voice dripping
with amusement. “You already know it. You just don’t want to
accept it.”
“Is he my brother or not?” I demanded. I didn’t need riddles–I
needed an answer.
“Would it change anything?” Gerald mused. “Would knowing
change how you feel about the man determined to destroy
your future?”
I exhaled sharply. Probably not. But I needed the truth, for my
own peace of mind.
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“Why do you think you’re still alive?” Gerald asked, leaning forward. “Xavier had the chance to kill you when your brother- in–law kidnapped you. But he chose not to act.”
I hated how much that stung.
“My father never would rape a woman,” I gritted out. Matthew told me that the woman was kidnapped and raped. My father wasn’t capable of such crime.
Gerald’s smirk didn’t fade. “He was weak and stubborn, just like you. We wanted to create a species of our own, a species that is only loyal to the witches and the wolves. But your father was too much of a saint to be a part of it. He tried to stop us, but he failed.”
Anger surged up in me. The only thing stopping me from wrapping my hands around his throat was the damn Shield.
“He fell in love with a captive, had a child with her, then let her go. She didn’t survive giving birth to a hybrid,” Gerald continued.
I felt sick. They took more women and forced them to bear hybrids. They should burn in hell.
“Where are all those women and children?” I asked, clenching
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my fists. If what Gerald said was true, there should be more
hybrid. But Xavier was the only hybrid I knew.
“Only Javier survived,” Gerald confirmed. “That’s why we
burned that pack to the ground.” He didn’t even look sorry for
what he did, acting as though those innocent lives were
nothing.
And now Javier wanted revenge, not realizing the very people
he was helping were responsible for his mother’s death.
“He doesn’t know, does he?” I demanded.
Gerald’s eyes gleamed. “No. And even if you told him, he
wouldn’t believe you. He thinks your father rapped her and left
her to die. He hates you to gut.”
I let out a humorless laugh. “So now you are turning us against
each other.”
He chuckled. “You have brothers, but it’s such a shame that
none of them ever stood by you.”
Grace’s POV
There had never been a moment in my life where I felt so
overwhelmed by information. But out of everyone affected,
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Asher was the one I worried about the most.
He didn’t even wait for the man to finish speaking. Without hesitation, he shifted and disappeared. I figured he needed space to process everything, which honestly worked for me too–I had some thinking to do myself.
I knew he’d follow if I went to the garden, and sure enough, he did.
“Are you working against Alex?” The question was blunt, but I didn’t dance around the truth. I despised betrayal.
Matthew sighed as he lowered himself onto the bench beside
- me. “I was wondering when you’d finally ask.”
There was something oddly calming about his presence,
something that made me feel safe even when my world was in chaos.
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