Page 104 of Entranced By the Basilisks

“I see,” I say. Ari is a manipulator. He wants to control every aspect of our lives and lured my father into a web to better do so. Why?

“Did you know about us?” I ask.

My father's expression becomes subdued. “I suspected. Why else would he do business with the likes of me?”

“Ask what you want to ask, my viper,” Ari orders. I fight to keep from blushing at his pet name for me. I can guess Ari’s reasons for working with my father. It was a way to influence every aspect of my life that he could. Maybe he could see the pain in me that I’d ignored and wanted to solve it in his own high-handed way.

“Are you here because he pressured you?” I ask my father.

The sadness in his eyes makes me want to take back the question, but I can’t and won’t. I won’t have him back in my life under false pretenses. I deserve better than that.

“No. Ari’s business has always been welcome, but I’d survive just fine without it. The true value in being connected to him was the things he told me about you.”

Ari starts to look worried now. As if I didn’t already deduce his manipulations. I have the urge to roll my eyes but instead I focus on my father’s grave face as he gives up a confession.

“He was sneaky about it. Slipped into a conversation that you two knew each other… and I had to ask how you were. You didn’t want to get calls from me. You didn’t want anything to do with me, as is your right, but I couldn’t resist finding out about how you were doing.” My father gazes at his intertwined fingers on the table. “He never told me anything too personal in nature. Promotions, how you were enjoying your job, your favorite books… I should have been braver and come straight to you—”

“You should have,” I cut in, unable to take the amount of shame he’s heaped on himself. “But I wouldn’t have let you have nearly as much. I wouldn’t have been ready to.”

“And you’re ready to now?” he asks.

Emilia’s eyes crease with concern and Ari looks uncomfortable, like this wasn’t exactly how he’d envision things happening. He deserves that discomfort for his unabashed meddling, but it did do things I didn’t think would ever happen. They’ll support me no matter what I decide to do. For the first time since my mother died, I have a family. I may not be able to rely on my father, but I can rely on them.

And maybe one day I can rely on him again too.

“I believe so,” I say.

42

ARI

I lean backin my office chair with a sigh. The phone call with one of my distributors was a fantastic distraction from my worries, but now that distraction is at an end. Our lunch had gone better than I could have hoped. We’d disbursed after. Jasper was called away to the library and I needed to respond to some messages for my business. I think Emilia is showing William her restoration projects now.

I worry about Jasper. He’d taken the knowledge that I’ve kept doing business with his father better than I’d imagined he would, and I don’t know why. I’m used to him reacting quickly and sharply and now that he’s not, I don’t know what to expect.

I probably shouldn’t have meddled, but the man I love had family that wasn't a part of his life. When Jasper had shrugged and said they didn’t have a relationship, there had been an undercurrent of something that I couldn’t identify at the time. Later, once I’d learned his emotional cues, I saw the pain. I couldn’t just leave whatever wound Jasper had on his soul there.

With Jasper’s permission, I’d contacted William about business to get a feel for what kind of man could leave his son and have no relationship with him. What I’d found had puzzled me. The man hadn’t trusted me outright. As an Adder, I think he half expected me to screw him over, but when I didn’t, our acquaintance grew into a distant friendship.

He wanted a relationship with Jasper, but his own issues held him back. I’d fed him small bits of information about his son because it wasn’t in me to deny a starving man a bit of bread. I’d fed him in the hopes that someday he’d be brave enough to reach out to Jasper and mend this rift between them.

I did not expect that to happen today and I’m reeling.

The similarities between them are startling, physically and emotionally. They were too similar to mend what was between them on their own… but that doesn’t give me the right to meddle.

I expect that I’ll have to pay for all my deceptions soon.

My phone beeps with a text and I frown. Most of my business is done through calls. Older paranormals generally are more comfortable with that than with email or text.

Kalos: Call me.

My movements are instant. My curiosity about the text is almost as strong as my inclination not to keep Kalos waiting. He picks up on the second ring.

“I’ve found a solution for your problem,” Kalos says without introduction.

It takes me a moment to figure out what he’s talking about since he won’t state any details on the phone, but when I do, my heart falls out of my chest. A way to reverse becoming Chosen.

“That’s impossible,” I breathe. Emilia can’t become un-Chosen. It’s never succeeded before and unlike I’ve told my mates… It has been attempted.

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