Page 69 of Gift from the Nexus

“Your mother was promised to me years before she was ever even born. It had been decided and that was that. She came from a strong, extremely Elementra-blessed bloodline. Not one of royalty but one of power and they were highly favored and protected by the ignorant creator you think so highly of. All that was remaining of their line was your grandmother and her Nexus by the time they were found. My Master knew a woman was going to be born from them, and that woman was promised to me,” he finally says.

“I assume by the malice in your tone, her family was not a part of the Mastery, and they refused to be a part of it. That didn’t bode well with you and the Summum-Master, did it?” I ask.

My lack of regard in reference to his master grates on his nerves. It’s obvious by the way he clenches his fist and grits his teeth, but I couldn’t care less. I have no respect for him, so I won’t be showing any.

“They were given the decision, informed of what would happen to them if they refused. Their lives could have been easy, plentiful if they would’ve just agreed to the terms, but instead of taking the gracious offering, they ran, escaped like cowards straight to the nonmagical realm the first chance they got. They possibly would’ve escaped for good if my Master hadn’t had left Elementra already before the portals closed. When word finally reached him that they’d escaped, he had to search the realms high and low, but he finally found them,” he says with an awestruck smile on his face, bolstering with pride for his master, but something about what he just said is nagging something in my mind.

“The portals to the other realms closed before the nonmagical, how is it he was able to get through the other realms, then back here?”

Franklin tsks at me, shaking his head disapprovingly. “That’s none of your concern. I only said as much on him as I did because it pertains to the story of your whore mother. Any more questions on him, and I will seal my lips,” he threatens.

All my men visibly react to the harsh tone, but I send a pulse of calm through to them. I need Franklin to keep talking and they know that. They can’t let their anger and protective urges interfere. There’s something small I’m missing here. I can feel the pieces trying their best to connect in my mind, but still, there’s something I can’t quite put my finger on.

“So my grandmother’s Nexus escaped to the nonmagical realm. That had to be five hundred years ago?” I ask, getting us back on track hopefully.

“Yes. He never would’ve found them so quickly if not for them completing their bond and releasing an immense amount of power. He was already searching the nonmagical realm for them, and when that happened, he knew exactly where they were.”

That story, that timeline…Why does this sound so—

Oh my Elementra.

“What is it, princess?”

“Gaster.”

“What? What about him?”

Just a small shake of my head lets them know I can’t talk about it right now, and I send some reassurance down the bond that nothing’s actually wrong. I calm the rapid rise and fall of my chest so I don’t give it away to Franklin that he just gave me an answer to anything, but it’s a cruel fight as water begins to well in my eyes.

Gaster was searching for my grandparents in the nonmagical realm. He got transported back here because the Summum-Master found them first.

I don’t know how I know that to be the answer, but I just do. My hair follicles standing on their ends, and the swirling in my gut tells me that’s the truth. My instincts basically scream it, so I break myself out of the heartwarming and heartbreaking realization, and demand, “Fast forward to my mother.” And with a small sneer and roll of his eyes, he does.

“After they were returned to Elementra, some two hundred years plus passed, and they were kept under lock and key. We kept them together as a Nexus because we knew it’d result in what we needed. Then finally your grandmother fell pregnant. And your mother, the woman promised to me, was born. Butonce again, your grandparents ran. This time they stayed in Elementra, but their fatal flaw was not concealing your mother for when her power emerged. Granted they had no way of knowing it would happen so soon. She was the youngest to date, although not recorded, but a fourteen-year-old girl with powers that strong, it was impossible not to feel it and know it was her. Her powers bursting free led us right to them and I was instructed to take her away. So we ended up in the nonmagical realm.”

Fourteen…like me. Like us.

“And my grandparents?” I ask with barely restrained anger. I already know the answer, but I want him to say it.

“They were kept prisoner for many, many years. As I said, their bloodline was incredibly powerful, and we needed it. Until we didn’t,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. It’s so callous, so emotionless, I forcefully have to hold my dragon at bay. She wants to rip him to pieces, and honestly so do I.

“You’ve been collecting my blood since I was six. What is it about our bloodline that’s so special?”

“Now, Willow, I couldn’t possibly tell you that. That’s a well-guarded secret, very few know the answer to. But I will tell you, yours is stronger than both your mother’s and grandmother’s,” he says proudly.

This is the first time in my life I can recall receiving a hint of pride from him, and it makes me sick to my stomach. I want to both puke and punch him in the face until he has no teeth left to show off. My men sense it, and they all, well…Corentin and Tillman send me warm, calming emotions, while Draken and Caspian try to rile me up more.

“You were alive for all of this? How old are you exactly?” I ask between gritted teeth.

“I’m nearing a thousand. I see the deadly look in your eye, Willow, but I can assure you, I’m not that much of a monster.Your mother remained untouched until she was eighteen. If you cannot handle the truth of your mother’s story, then maybe you aren’t mature enough to hear it,” he says as though me being irate over the fact her fucking age shouldn’t play a role in when it was and wasn’t acceptable to touch her against her will is childish.

It takes every drop of will I have to lock everything inside of me away. I have every right to be as furious as I am. My men are furious over the simple fact this is wrong, so fucking wrong, because that’s a normal reaction normal people have when listening to bullshit like this.

“Continue,” I grit out.

“For twelve years, we stayed in the nonmagical realm. I was tasked with gaining our following there, but one day, I came home from work to a massacre in the estate and your mother was gone. My house staff was slaughtered and there was no trace of her anywhere, so I knew she somehow got out of her cuffs and escaped. I informed my Master, but he instructed me to stay put and they would find her. So for almost two hundred years, I waited miserably in that forsaken realm, building an empire of worthy men to bring forth into our society.

“All those years passed with your mother going undetected, until one day, she finally slipped up, saving a child who’d been caught in the middle of a raid. The enforcers recognized her immediately. The image of her had been drilled into all their minds, and she and her entire Nexus was captured and returned to me.

---