Page 133 of Cursed Heirs

Marlowe grinned. “I would never be so ridiculously brazen.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” my father jested.

Marlowe chuckled, then made his way to the door.

Once he was there, I saw him stop and hesitate, clearly not wanting to leave my father, not wanting to lose him, even temporarily.

I knew the feeling all too well.

He drew in an uneven breath, gave me a chin lift, then walked on out.

My father patted the bed. “Sit with me until Abigail arrives.”

“Of course.”

As I climbed on, he said, “We’ve wasted a lot of time these last few years. Let’s not waste these last few moments.” He shifted with some clear effort to face me head-on. “Tell me everything that I’ve missed.”

“You mean anything your spy-slash-lover may have missed?”

He smiled. “You’re my son, I’d never truly leave you.”

“And you won’t now. We’ll bring you back. I swear it. And then I’ll fix everything.”

Sometimes things happened that erased what had been and what could have been and set a new path. In those instances, often a great deal was lost.

And it had been.

But now it was time to charter that new course.

With it, our enemies would fall and a new day would come.

28

~Xavier~

I watched from the quad as Alena and her mom flew above the turrets.

I wasn’t the only one with eyes on them.

There were stares all over the place, the quad packed with dozens of students staring up at the night sky, others crowded around the clearings in the forest for when they went soaring down that way again.

When word had gotten around that Abigail Rose was on campus, it had drawn a whole lot of attention.

And witnessing two angels flying in all their glory really took the cake. It was several levels beyond majestic.

Alena’s golden wings melded with her mother’s stark white ones as they soared through the sky, doing little tricks here and there.

I’d even heard Alena giggling a couple of times.

It was the first time I’d heard her laugh since she’d been back here.

She’d been in a resigned, demure state up until her mom had invited her out flying.

Twenty-four hours had gone by since she’d woken up in the Infirmary the night Orpheus and my dad leading anExemplarteam had rescued her.

My dad had returned toSabre Techto work on thatcurefor me to return my magic to me, despite my reservations. He just wouldn’t stop if he believed he could help me. He’d told me that it was a parent’s duty to sacrifice for their child. But I couldn’t stand the thought of that, of taking his magic from him and greatly diminishing his power. Fortunately it would take time for his experiments to reach fruition, so in that time I would find a way to prove to him that I would be fine if my magic was never returned, and I’d convince him not to do it when the time came.

It was a tall order, because of course I wanted my magic back. It was a part of me, a foundational aspect, and I felt off without it. But maybe I could find a way to be at peace with that. For his sake I fucking had to.

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