Page 39 of Fallen Heirs

He started. “What? You’re not enjoying your time there? Why are you even doing it then?”

“It needs to be done.”

He frowned. “What does that mean?”

Instead of answering what I couldn’t yet at this juncture, I laid my hand on his shoulder, telling him, “Xavier, I know where this is coming from, this bitterness. And you should know that you’re an invaluable member of our found family. No one could ever replace you. Together the four of us fit. Change anything about that and it won’t work.” I shifted my weight. “Is that whatthe hunting is about with Alena? Not just you capitulating to her out of your guilt, but wanting to feel useful?”

“It’s something I can do—and do forher—that no one else in our group can.”

“I see. Just be careful.”

“Careful?”

“She’s finally come out of her numbed state, she’s dealing with things, but I’m not fool enough to think for one second that part of dealing with it for her doesn’t include her wanting vengeance on Constantine.”

“As she should,” he bit back with an obvious edge.

“There’s a difference between harboring those urges and acting on them.”

“Her power, Ore, it’s—”

“No,”I ground out. “The hunting stays relegated to training.”

He stared at me, intensity flaring, and I could see his urge to argue it further, to press the issue.

But then he surprised me as his narrowed eyes softened. “Okay. I hear you.”

“You do?”

He reached out and fingered my hair. “Yeah, now let me get this dinner underway, while you go and relax. The two of them were so excited about doing this for you. Let me get it going again, then I’ll bring them in near the end to finish it up.”

“That’s very sweet of you.”

He lifted a shoulder. “They deserve it. And so do you.”

“All right,” I responded, more than just a little suspiciously.

He’d backed down much more easily than I’d expected. I wasn’t fool enough to think that was the end of it, though. It meant I’d have to keep a close eye on the situation.

I couldn’t allow the two of them to carry on in this current vein with their hunting.

They didn’t know what they were truly risking by doing so.

And at this point, I couldn’t stop them with the truth.

I just needed to contain things in the meantime.

Just a little longer.

11

~Xavier~

We were making progress.

As I’d already witnessed from her sword fighting training with Orpheus, Alena was a quick study and she’d picked up a lot of key skills from me, even managing to understand and apply the more complicated aspects.

I’d also managed to devise a spell that replicated my vampiric abilities conducive to a hunt for her. Fashioning that spell had been a call back to my days as a sorcerer prodigy. And it had felt amazing being able to do something like that again. Especially because it had been for her. My beautiful love.

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