Page 17 of Fallen Heirs

But then he simply gave a nod. “Good. Stay behind the ward. I’ll be assisting Tal with one of his overdue assignments if you need me.”

With that, he turned on his heel and sauntered back through the kitchen.

In the next moment, Xavier vamped around the corner and came to a stop right in front of me.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in his usual astute way when it came to me.

“Nothing. Just Orpheus having a word with me.”

“Ah, well that’s never nothing.”

As he stood there looking so concerned for me, it hit me in the gut.

“Dammit, I can’t do it.”

“Do what?”

“The whole subterfuge thing like Orpheus does, like he’s so good at.”

“That sounds like a good thing to me? Except what subterfuge areyouundertaking? It wouldn’t have something to do with this whole hunting thing, would it?”

“How did you know?”

He smiled. “I knowyou,beautiful. And it was also the way you asked me, the context that it went along with.” He flicked his hand and his cobalt-blue magic sparked briefly. “We can talk freely now.”

I shoved my hand through my hair. “The hunting… it wasn’t just to make us feel useful, to empower us, it had a larger purpose.”

“Constantine can’t be tracked magically because he’s cloaked, so you figured on tracking him like a vampire.”

I stared at him openmouthed.

“You knew that and you still agreed to help me?”

“You need this, we both need this. And I agree with you on the urgency too. The longer he’s out there, the worse it could be when he finally steps out of the shadows. He could be preparing,amassing another army covertly or hell knows what else. We’re on the same page, Alena.”

“What about Orpheus and his stance on it?”

“He’s not in the same position as we are. He’s being inducted intoExemplarsoon. He’s gonna be at the head of the table. His perspective is different.He’snot being pushed onto the sidelines. And, more to the point, he’s not haunted and fucking traumatized in the same way that you and I are. Especially you.” He reached out and stroked my hair. “I’m with you on this. All the way.”

So much relief coursed through me that he wasn’t mad or upset, but mostly that he was on my side where this was concerned, that I wasn’t alone in this or having to lie to him.

It had me throwing my arms around him and holding him so tightly to me. “Thank you. Thank you, sweet thing.”

“Of course,” he said, eagerly wrapping me up in his arms.

“I love you. I love you so much.”

“I love you too, beautiful.”

We stayed that way for a long while, each breathing the other in.

And then Xavier eased back a little to look at me. “Ready to learn a thing or two from me?”

“I’m willing, eager, and actually really excited to be doing this with you. And not just for our overarching reason.”

“Me too.”

I grinned up at him. “Then let’s get our hunt on.”

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