Page 30 of Sacrifice

“It was Rose’s fault in asense?” I shook my head, eyes widening with incredulity. “Man, the fucking mental gymnastics you people do is insane. Just tell the fucking truth!”

“Itisthe truth,” he insisted. “I always planned on taking that secret to the grave, but I allowed my emotions to get the better of me tonight, and I will forever regret that. Truly.”

Rose cut in before I could say another word. “Why did you want to keep it a secret?”

“I was protecting you, sweetheart,” Augustus replied. His gaze swiveled back to me. “Just like I’ve protectedyouall this time, Sebastian.”

“Protected me?” I shook the gun to remind him it was there. “You didn’t fuckingprotectme! You murdered my mother!”

Augustus’s shoulders sagged, and he shook his head, tears slipping down his cheeks. “I didn’t kill her,” he said gruffly. “How can you still not see it?”

“Seewhat?”

“That it wasn’t me. That I would never, ever hurt Miranda,” he muttered, wiping his cheeks with one trembling hand.

“You did,” I snarled. “She saw the truth in Alderwood, and you hated her for it.”

“No. Never. Don’t you see yet?” He lifted his chin, looking me right in the eye. “I was in love with her, Sebastian. Ilovedher.”

11

Rose

Shock washedover me like a cold wave, leaving me momentarily speechless. I glanced over at Sebastian to see his expression mirroring my own disbelief.

I took a slight step forward, my voice trembling as I replied. “What do you mean?”

“I meant exactly what I said,” Papa said, looking at Sebastian instead of me. “I loved her.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Sebastian growled, eyes narrowing.

Papa lowered his gaze to the ground and sighed. “It’s a very long story,” he murmured, rubbing his left temple. “But I’ll try my best to tell it.”

“Yeah, you fucking better.” Sebastian’s hands were curled at his sides now, and his eyes were glinting with fury.

“I’m sure your father told you that it was the Thorne name that got Miranda through the gate when she first approached Alderwood about her research,” Papa began. “That was true. But it wasn’t why I agreed to let her stay and do her project in the end. You see, the second I met her, I was able to stop thinking about my grief over Celeste for the first time in years. She wasintelligent, beautiful, and kind. So I let her stay. The other elders weren’t happy about it, but in the end, it was my decision.”

“Of course it was,” Sebastian muttered.

“I knew it was stupid of me to pine after an outsider woman,” Papa went on. “She couldn’t stay. Not forever, anyway. And yet, I found myself falling for her anyway. After a time, I realized she was beginning to feel the same way about me.”

“Bullshit,” Sebastian snarled.

“It’s the truth,” Papa said, lifting a conciliatory palm. “Please believe me. Her marriage wasn’t going particularly well. Your father wasn’t pleased with the amount of time she spent on her career. He thought she should’ve given it up when you came along, Sebastian. After all, he had plenty of money to take care of her.”

“But she didn’t want to do that,” I said, nodding slowly. Even though I was very young when Miranda was here, I remembered how dedicated she was to her work.

Papa nodded. “That’s right. I was different from Adam. I actually admired her mind and strong work ethic,” he said. He turned his attention back to Sebastian. “And I knew she wasn’t neglecting you. She spent far more time with you than he did. She was a wonderful mother.”

“I know,” Sebastian gritted out.

“Anyway…” Papa hesitated and scrubbed a hand over his face. “We had a brief affair. She felt terribly guilty over it. Even though things weren’t going well with Adam, she’d never seen herself as a cheater. And yet, that was exactly what we were doing. Cheating. She was going behind her husband’s back, and I was betraying my Covenant brethren by consorting with an outsider.”

“I can’t believe it,” I said softly, shaking my head.

I’d always known my father had a soft spot for Miranda, but never in a million years would I have suspected that they’d beensharing a bed while she was here. Then again, I was only a child at the time, completely innocent in the ways of the world, and they’d probably hidden it very well. Not just from me, but from the entirety of the Covenant.

“I tried to convince her to leave Adam,” Papa went on. “I wanted her to stay. Live with us. Join the Covenant, even though it would be unprecedented to have an outsider do that.”

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