Page 79 of Gift from the Nexus

Her question seems to silence the atmosphere as we sit and ponder that. Well, ponder all the assumptions she just made. All three are sound possibilities and I have no doubt she’s on to something.

Personally, I know that if someone killed one of my brothers, I’d never stop fighting until they took their last breath. And it would be a bloody, struggling breath. But I can’t say I relate to the Summum-Master. Whatever his motivation is, he’s taking it out on the entirety of Elementra, not just our family. I may get plenty of satisfaction from ripping the Mastery apart, literally, but I wouldn’t murder or kidnap innocent people, especially children, to seek my revenge.

“There’s no other location of those records?” I ask Gaster.

“No. Unfortunately not.” He sighs, shaking his head.

“Where are they and why can’t we access them?” my Primary asks, looking between all of us.

This is actually a story I don’t want to share. It’s both painful and it pisses me all the way off just to think about it. It also doesn’t help I’ll never get the answers I seek.

“Certain records are lost to the south wing, princess. We’ll never be able to access them again,” Corentin says.

“The south wing of the palace? Why?”

“Because our uncle was full of secrets. Then he decided to off himself, get killed, whatever the fuck happened, before ever taking the ward down so we could find out what he was up to.” I lash out before I can contain the bitterness that rises in meevery time my uncle or that Elementra-forsaken south wing gets brought up.

“Caspian.” My brothers, including Draken this time, and Gaster all bark at me. Hitting me with furious glares that cause a growl to sneak out of my little Primary.

My uncle is a sore spot for me. I’ll admit. I don’t believe ever in my life I’ve loved someone so much and hated them all at the same time. He was my rock when I was rescued. Corentin, Tillman, Gaster, and him were the only ones I let in for a long time. I felt shame every time I looked at my fathers and I couldn’t stand for my mother to touch me for years. But he showered me with understanding, knowledge, books, spells, then he just…pulled away.

He was still loving, supportive, and would show up, no questions asked, if we needed him, but he was different. I’ve always thought he was a spy. All his secrets and probably the secrets of everyone else, he kept locked away in that wing. When I was a teenager, that seemed like the coolest thing in the world to me, but after his death, or suicide, who fucking knows, I just thought him a fool for putting himself in a situation that took him from us.

Losing him cut me to my core and admittedly, I obviously haven’t handled my grief well.

“Maybe we should discuss that another time. The hostility you all are pouring off has my bond and dragon on edge. They’re about to flip their shit.” Willow says softly but also firmly. Basically, telling all of us to cut out our shit.

Clearing his voice, Gaster says, “That would be for the best. I’ll dig through my personal records of that time, Willow, and see what I can find, if anything. Those aren’t deniable claims, so it’s a good place to start.”

He’s met with silence, and the rising tension hits me in the gut because I know I let my emotions get the best of me before thinking about anyone other than myself.

“Sorry,” I mumble to my brothers and Gaster, who are trying to now hide their irritation at me from Willow.

“He loved us, Cas, all of us. I wish you’d let that anger go,” Draken says quietly, tugging at my soul with those sad dragon eyes of his.

“I’ll try harder,” I swear, pulling my Primary back down to my chest, letting her light clear the darkness trying to rise.

“What’s the plan for tomorrow?” she asks, turning everyone’s attention back to her and off me.

“We’re going to the lab in the morning to get an update from Jamie and Nikoli on how the Bane of Essence is coming along. Then whatever news they share with us, Tillman is going to start organizing which teams will be accompanying us to the Forsaken Forest. And training for that will begin. For all of us. You were right in saying we can’t put it off, princess. Our next move is getting into the forest and capturing Keeper,” Corentin declares.

Capturing an ancient vampire who’s the rightful ruler to another realm.

Fucking fantastic.

Thirteen

Willow

What’s a girl gotta do to get spread out across this table like a buffet?

The sip of coffee Tillman just took goes flying through his lips, heading straight for Caspian. How he has the reflexes he does, I don’t know. Must be his affinity to his water element that alerts him to incoming liquid because with a quick flick of his wrist, without even looking up from the book his nose is stuck in, the wasted sugary goodness ends up on the floor.

“Oh no, are you okay?” I ask Tillman, sweet and innocent, while he chokes and coughs up the liquid that went down the wrong way.

His eyes narrow on me in warning, and I smile behind the rim of my mug.

“Not funny, little warrior. We have—” The blaring sound of his timekeeper going off finishes his sentence for him.

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