Page 5 of Fallen Heirs

~Orpheus~

“It’s an impressive space.”

I’d followed Alena at a leisurely pace, covertly, giving her time to take in the vast space that was theExemplarcompound.

But she’d come to a stop for several minutes once she’d ventured inside what my father referred to as theWar Room.Really it was termed theHall of Honorand it was where the members discussed matters of great significance, created policies that impacted the whole of the supernatural world and, yes, also strategized against threats.

A large oval marble table—white, just like the floor—took up most of the space with more than a dozen chairs situated around it. The walls were covered with framed photos of well-known battles thatExemplarhad fought and claimed victory over the years, along with those of former renowned members.

At the far end was a magical projection screen wherein the members viewed real-time images and happenings of situations requiring their attention.

Alena turned from running her fingers over the chair at the far end of the table, the one I knew from my father’s brief visitshere in the past had been Abigail’s seat. Elliot’s was at the other end of the table. The two leaders ofExemplar.

There was a weak smile on her face as she took me in. “Hey.” She gestured at the room. “Itisimpressive, yeah. The whole thing is. Her life’s work.”

“She did it well, held the supernatural world together.”

She winced. “I’m not so sure about that.”

“Alena—”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Look, I’m glad you came in here, because we need to talk. With everything that happened, me being held captive, then infected with black magic, we never really got the chance.”

“Whatever talk you have in mind, I’m not sure now is the best time, the day of your mom’s memorial.”

“It’s the optimal time. Something this… monumental, this awful, it serves to put things into perspective.”

“Okay,” I said, folding my arms across my chest and settling in.

As much as I didn’t think it was a good idea, today was about her and what she needed, and if this, focusing on other things was what would give her some comfort, I was willing to do it.

At least for now.

If she kept bottling up her grief much beyond this, though, that would be a different story.

She had a history of doing that with difficult subject matter… trying to bury it.

Even though the black magic was out of her system now, beings like us with such great power couldn’t afford to do that as a rule. It risked making us unstable, dangerous. To ourselves and to others.

She walked around the table to me, the heels of her boots echoing ominously around the vast empty space.

“When I was with Constantine, held captive by him, he told me a lot of things. All of it was to get me where he wanted me, I know that. And I’m sure some things weren’t true at all, and that others were twisted in with lies as well.” She stopped in front of me. “There was something he told me aboutyou.”

I tensed. “Alena, I’m sure there’s a lot he could have said about me.”

“About you and me. Your intentions toward me.”

“My intentions? I think those are pretty obvious by now, don’t you?”

She shook her head. “Not in that way. Just listen.”

In the next moment, she twirled her hand, her golden magic glowing, and then Constantine’s voice sounded through the place, making me growl low in my throat.

“The Dark Fae Prince manipulated you from the very beginning. He didn’t target you merely because of what your mother did to his father. He’s far too calculated to be that shortsighted. He wanted you to come into your true power, to grow stronger. All for Obsidian, so he’d have somebody at his side who could stand on his level for when the time came to attack me.”

She ended the spell, then eyed me intensely. “Is that the truth?”

That motherfucker. He’d really pulled out all the stops to turn her.

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