Page 146 of Gift from the Stone

“I can tell you everything about the vision I saw,” I announce. This gets everyone’s attention and some of the more negative feelings swiftly shift to curiosity.

“What did you see?” Corentin asks, both excitedly and impatiently.

“The past.”

From the thick, disorienting fog, to the pools of blood-filled eyes of the vampire, I describe everything in the most detail I can for them. Opening my mind, so the vision is right at the forefront, I reiterate every word said.

“That’s why you were out so long. It’s recorded that visions of things that’ve already happened take time to show the actual events that occurred, whereas the future and their diverging paths only take split seconds because none of it is truly set in stone,” San informs me. Me being out for half an hour makes complete sense when he explains it like that.

“Willow, repeat what the Summum-Master calls the creature,” Gaster orders.

“Keeper. Or vampire. He switched back and forth.”

“Oh, Elementra,” he stutters, seating himself on the armrest of the couch with his fist to his mouth.

“What is it, Gaster?” Caspian asks.

“It’s impossible. Surely, we would’ve known…” Gaster trails off rather than even acknowledge he’s being addressed. Reaching over, I gently lay my hand on top of his knee and give him a squeeze.

“We would’ve known what, Gaster?”

“You were right to be confused about whether it was his name or title, child, because it’s both. The Keeper line, the original line of vampires, founded and ruled their realm, donning the name Essemist Keep. And based on what you said, the vampire the Summum-Master is using is either the heir or was the ruler. Which makes him an incredibly powerful, and probably incredibly angry, enemy. The Keeper line has always had far more power than your average vampire. Some, namely this one, even developed their own version of gifts before ever coming to Elementra,” he explains.

“The Summum-Master has no intention of letting him go or helping him return to his realm. What I saw in Layton’s mind was not good. Not good at all,” I warn them.

As I continue explaining what I saw, my chest grows heavy with the emotions pouring back in from my men. They’re fucking pissed, rightfully so. Tillman already assumed and has been expressing his concern that someone on the inside was working against us, but two of the top five families is a huge hit. A hit that’s way too close to home, seeing as they serve as the council.

“Do you want to look and see if you recognize the voice?” I ask Tillman.

“Yeah,” he grunts.

Laying his hand to my thigh, I feel his magic brush across my mind softly and my magic glows, wanting to reach back out and caress his, but I suppress the urge and let him do what he needs to do.

“I don’t. All the five families are completed Nexuses, so even though we’ve met them all, even briefly, that’s twenty men. Now that I’ve heard it, though, I’d be able to pick them out,” he says angrily.

“I’m going to have to go tell my mom. This shouldn’t be news I drop on her over the communicator,” Corentin declares, lowering his head to his hands.

“Are we all going?” I ask nervously.

“If you’re not ready to add meeting the Matriarch—who’s the mother to half of your Nexus—to your list just yet, that’s okay, princess,” he says with a small, teasing smirk.

Thank fuck for that.

“Not yet. But I don’t want you to go alone, and how long will you be gone?”

I may not be ready to meet Aurora yet, which I know, shitty, cowardly, but there’s so much going on right now. Plus, I’ve never had to do this. Donald’s father was the one who allowed my father to forge my signature on the marriage license. The first time he met me in person, he sneered and flicked his cigar ashes at me.

I’m not expecting my meeting her to go anything like that, but it’s still nerve-wracking and I’m already sitting with a lot of pressure on me.

“Caspian’s going to come with me. We’ll leave now and be back for breakfast tomorrow. This is going to be quite the discussion and I might as well fill her in on everything. Tillman, are you okay with everything here?”

At Tillman’s nod, Corentin lifts me out of Draken’s lap and pulls me in for a kiss. I melt in his arms, letting his loving embrace chase away the frenzy my bond is trying to start.

They’ll be gone a whole night.

It’s okay. It’ll be fine.

“Be good, Primary,” Caspian orders as he tugs me from his brother by his shadows, raising me up until I’m at eye level with him.

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