Page 95 of Promised in Blood

Osiris’s nostrils flare, but he eventually gives me a nod. “Let us all meet at Silver Vale at the top of the hour, yes?”

As soon as they have assured me of their agreement, Axl and I sprint through the woods and head to the house.

Are we going to tell them about Ophelia? he asks.

Perhaps. But first, I need to tell you all something.

We continue sprinting in silence, but I feel his mind racing with questions. I focus on getting back to them as quickly aspossible. It seems there will be several truths revealed before this night ends. Whether I am ready for that or not.

Chapter

Thirty-Three

AXL

Ophelia sits between Xavier and Malachi on the sofa. I lean against the fireplace, and together, we watch Alexandros pace the floor of the den. There was definitely something off about him on our way back to the house, something bigger than what happened to Esme. And it seemed to have something to do with whatever he saw in Bones’s memories. I filled Xavier, Malachi, and Ophelia in on what we found in the woods, and now we’re waiting for the professor to tell us our next move.

“What will happen now?” Ophelia asks.

Alexandros stops pacing and stares at us, his face unreadable. “Osiris will alert President Ollenshaw, and he will call a faculty meeting. But before that, there are things we need to discuss.”

I twist my neck until it cracks, feeling tense and unsure. Whatever it is that he has to tell us doesn’t seem like a good thing, at least from where I’m standing. We wait with bated breath, and I am sure that in all my two hundred years with him, I have never seen him so seemingly lost for words.

“I told you all that I had a family once. Two daughters. But before their birth, I had a son.”

A son? What the fuck? It’s not enough that he kept his family from us for over two hundred years, he couldn’t even come clean all at once? And a son? For some reason, that hits harder, and the bitter flavor of betrayal coats my tongue. Too stunned to speak, I stare at him in silence.

“You had a what?” Xavier asks.

The thick column of his throat works as he swallows. “I had three children. Two daughters and a son.”

“How old was he?” Malachi asks.

“He is seven hundred and sixty-two,” Alexandros answers matter-of-factly.

Back the fuck up. “Heis? Not was. Is?”

Alexandros nods, his face a mask of granite.

I growl instinctively. “So you have a son who’s still alive, and you never thought that was worth telling us?”

Xavier snorts. “We’re just the stupid fucks he sired. Haven’t you learned by now that he owes us nothing?”

“Xavier!” Alexandros sighs.

“Please let him explain,” Ophelia says, her eyes brimming with tears.

Oh, hell no. Please don’t tell me she was in on this too. “You knew about this, princess?”

She bites on her lip, her cheeks turning pink with shame, and nods.

“Fuck, Cupcake!” Xavier shakes his head.

Malachi jumps up, his fists balled in anger. “Leave her the fuck alone. It wasn’t her secret to tell.”

I grind my jaw to stop myself from saying anything I may regret. Malachi is right, although that doesn’t make it hurt any less. That she kept such a huge secret from us stings like the cut of a thousand blades. Still, I direct my anger at the professor where it belongs.

“Ophelia found Lucian in my memories when we bonded. I did not consciously choose to tell her about him, but I was unable to stop her from discovering him. And I asked her to let me tell you myself when the time was right.”

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