Page 2 of The Blairville Legacies

Amanda's voice sounded even more threatening than before. Almost as if she had some fears gnawing at her so much that she had to get all this paperwork over with.

In fact, it was like that. As soon as they had all signed, they would go their separate ways, like the old treaties of their ancestors had been intended to do.

But what was she afraid ofnow?

This timeAmara Blair, sitting next to her younger sister, Margot, also looked irritated, owing to the sheet of paper in her hands.

“Aren't you overdoing it a little, Amanda?”

Amanda looked down at her coolly. Her ice-blue eyes emphasized the whole spectacle.

“Believe me, when I'm done with this, I want to be able to forget all about it as soon as possible. And the only way I can do that is if no one present here ever says a single word about it again.”

She looked at each of them as if they were all slow on the uptake. She paused briefly at Alarik and became more insistent.

“Not a single word! Not to our parents, children, or anyone else!” she finally continued, pushing black pens at each of them. The clatter ran through them all, cutting the dangerous silence. “Because anything that ever gets out in the public could endanger everyone here, don't forget that...”

“We shouldn't even be sitting here together!” Amara Blair hissed, dutiful as she had always been. Ever since her younger sister had died, in fact. Not like the one sitting next to her. Young and innocent, not even sixteen yet, and only here by an unfortunate coincidence.

“So what? This will be the last time anyway!” Amanda blubbered as if her patience would snap at any moment.

“Besides, this is clear proof that our families just don't belong together,” Diana remarked.

Actually, she was rather reticent on this subject. But at that moment, she was voicing precisely what had been hanging over every room they had entered together for months. And she was undoubtedly one of the last from whom he would have expected such a statement.

“Our species...?” Alarik echoed, flicking through the document as if it were his death sentence.

“You haven't misread, mutt!”

The blond young man had almost forgotten about his blood brother, who was not only sitting next to him, bored and apparently twiddling his thumbs the whole time, but also had the looser mouth of the two of them. His brother shouldn't be here, but unfortunately, he had found out too much.Him, of all people!

“What did you just say?”

Alarik immediately jumped up and glared menacingly at the boy. His yellow-bright eyes and prominent veins were hard tomiss. They had been coming out more and more in the last few months.

“I said you idiots were incapable of getting a grip on anything.”

His brother hadn't, but it was enough to infuriate Alarik even more.

“Look at yourselves. You're wasting away out there in your fairytale castle making shady deals with some mass murderers!”

For the first time, Alarik uttered a word about the brothers' family. Something negative. And then abouthim, his former best friend.

He, still sitting relatively uninvolved at the other end of the table, became aware of so much at that moment. Countless days, weeks, even years he had spent with these people. And he realized that he still didn't know them.

Out of nowhere, his brother jumped up angrily, as always, not in control of his emotions. Just as they hadnotlearned to do.

“Watch your tongue!”

“That's what separates us from you!” Amanda interjected again, her tone condescending.

“Oh, shut your loose mouth, Westcode witch. You're no better yourself!” his brother growled.

Amanda's jaw dropped. However, she quickly regained her composure. Faster than the boy, whom the blond now pulled back into the chair. But he jerkily snatched his arm away.

“The Senseque have destroyed everything. Every possibility of conducting business and managing this city decently!” he continued angrily, and a reddish flicker flitted through his irises.

The blond has had enough. Of his own family.

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