Page 78 of Gift from the Nexus

“How old were you all? Where was your uncle? Gaster?” she spits out, looking at Gaster, then at me with water building in her eyes.

“They had their own responsibilities, Primary. They weren’t at the palace daily to know that was happening. It was easy enough for her to tell them we were off playing, and she secured the door with a ward so no one was getting in or out without her permission. Corentin was ten. Tillman and I were nine.”

“None of you had your powers yet,” she whispers.

“No, we didn’t. When everyone returned and we weren’t there at the front to greet them like we normally would, my mom asked where we were, and Drudy proudly walked her down to the dungeon to show her. Said she’d taught us a lesson that they should’ve taught us already. Mom snapped. Told her it was one thing to abuse her and her siblings as children, but if she thought for a second she’d get away with doing it to her children, she thought wrong.

“Pulling her shoulders back, Mom looked her right in the eye and declared, ‘By the Elementra-blessed ruling placed upon me, I sentence you, Drudy Vito, to death. For endangerment to the heirs of the realm, unjust imprisonment to the heirs of the realm, and lastly for thinking you had any fucking right to punish my children. Your sentence will be carried out as soon as they are out of these cages.’ And with a clap of her hands, a wave of power swept through the dungeon. The sentencing blessed by Elementra herself. And that was the last we saw of the old bitty,” I say with a relieved exhale.

It’s kind of surprising to me to feel the small amount of weight that came off by admitting that. After it all happened, none of us talked about it again. It’s always been like that event was buried right along with her. But truthfully, I feel better telling her. I can tell Corentin and Tillman do too by how their shoulders aren’t as bunched around their ears like they were when the topic firstcame up, but they’re hesitantly waiting for her to speak. Their worried gazes are drilling holes into the back of her head that’s staring out over my shoulder into the lawn.

“Will,” Tillman says, strained after she lets the silence drift on. His worried tone has her whipping her head over to him and quickly wiping away the few stray tears that escaped her.

“I don’t think any differently of either of your moms, your family, or the choices made. I can understand why you two are fearful of that, but I promise you, if someone were to do that to our children, I’d have their throat sliced open faster than they could’ve explained what happened. No matter who it was. I’ll never think badly about a mother defending her children. I’m so sorry you all experienced that,” she says sweetly, surely, instantly calming the worried expressions on their faces.

Those expressions immediately turn heated, though, and I know it has everything to do with the proclamation of what she just said. Both metaphorically speaking about our future child, the protective nature she already has over it, and the thought of how that child, children if history repeats itself, will be made has all three of my brothers about to go feral.

I may or may not be affected as well.

“Your assumption of the Summum-Master’s vendetta may be true, child. Drudy was a ruler that didn’t veer from the law for any reason and she wasn’t a kind person. To anyone. Her belief was all duty. There was no room for flexibility, no chance for understanding or bending of anything. It made her more of a dictator than anything else,” Gaster says solemnly. There’s regret reflecting in his eyes, and I know it’s directed at the story just told. He’s always believed he should be able to keep all of us out of harm’s way.

“And what about her mother before her? The Vitos were obviously on the council prior to taking the throne, but that isn’t a fight to the death. The Ruling Nexus and Matriarch choose,right?” she asks him with a little strain still in her voice, but with a shake of her head and a little readjusting on my lap, she’s back to business.

“That’s correct. The Vitos were the Central family. The Dews were from Aquaria, the Choices from Terian, the Beylas from Aeradora, and the Neworts from Pyrathia. When the Vitos won, Drudy’s mother and her Nexus selected the new five bloodlines for the council. Those are the five bloodlines still on the council today. Drudy’s mother was strict as well, but she had compassion. She wanted balance and equality in the realm.

“She worked tirelessly to achieve it because Elementra then was not as it is now. It was everyone for themselves and there was always a battle for power. Death could be found everywhere you looked. But for the most part, she achieved her goal. When she passed the throne to Drudy, there was no compassion to be found. It was almost as if Drudy felt she had to preserve what her mother worked for and the only way to do that was to push the current law hard, not allowing adaptation or changes. Which ultimately made everyone despise her. We were moving away from the punishment of death, but that was Drudy’s preferred sentencing.”

Willow doesn’t respond more than a hum, and she gets lost in her thoughts, absorbing everything she just learned. It’s a lot to process at one time. My brothers and I have had our entire lives to learn the history of our family, of this realm, but she’s only learning bit by bit as we go or when a very convenient memory of hers surfaces.

The little Primary doesn’t let that discourage her, though. Does it frustrate her? Absolutely. Does it frustrate me? Fuck yes. But regardless, she sucks it all in, analyzes it, then moves on.

“You’re nearly vibrating on my lap with the ideas and conspiracies running through your mind. The squirming is going to drive me mad, so say what you’re thinking, Primary,” Iwhisper heatedly in her ear, which causes the shifting to stop, and she attempts to push off my lap, but I tighten my hold.

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing, nor did I say you could leave me. Just talk us through your thoughts,” I demand lightly, smirking behind her head when I hear the shuddering breath she just released.

Good. I want her to be as affected by me as I am by her.

“I’m not even sure if I could get all the thoughts out. They’re everywhere,” she says.

“Fuck yeah, they are. It’s like running a maze in your mind right now,” Tillman teases. Well, not really. He’s most certainly reading her thoughts. Like always.

“Not funny.” She growls, shooting him a warning look that he just smiles at. “Everyone in the other four families died during the trials?”

“Yes. The entirety of all the bloodlines. Why?” I ask. I know she’s heading somewhere. She just can’t articulate it on her own yet, so I’ll nudge her.

“Were there any teenagers or children?”

“No. From what I can recall, three of the five had heirs already, and they were older, around your ages, if not older. The two who didn’t were the Vitos, and if my memory still serves me, the Choice family. No children were harmed in the trials,” Gaster reassures her, and her relieved exhale fans across my shadows.

“So it’s possible those other three heirs had Nexuses already?” she follows up.

“It’s possible. Though those records are sealed,” Gaster says begrudgingly.

“Well, I have a couple theories and I don’t know if they even make sense, but I’ll say them anyway. Is it possible the Summum-Master could’ve been one of the heirs’ Nexus brothers? And his vengeance comes from their death? Or another thing I was thinking since you made the comment aboutDrudy’s preferred punishment, is it possible she killed his Nexus brothers? You all have told me numerous times there’s not much Nexus brothers wouldn’t do for one another. Oh shit…” She gasps, suddenly sitting up.

“What?” all of us yell at once.

“What if Franklin and the Summum-Master are Nexus brothers?” she asks in a flurry of bewilderment.

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