Page 59 of Sworn to Revenge
His shout stops me cold, and frustration replaces the anger that had gripped me. He’s right. For the first time in my life, I want to strangle my brother because he’s goddamn right.
The sparks flying around are dying, and Mariano gets back on his feet, brushing off the dirt from his suit with his hand.
“Come on, Alin’s waiting.”
Bay
The long and awkward drive with Luca to the beach—one he claimed would be the closest and quietest from Vegas—makes me want to jump out of the car and walk the whole way. How does Alin love such a cold, serious, and intimidating block of ice?
“So, Alin’s training Pedro?” I ask, trying to break the silence in this exhausting two-hour ride we already passed, lifting my head from the weird bubble game Alin downloaded on the phone she got me.
“Yeah, he can’t help you or us when he’s a walking time bomb,” he answers without taking his eyes off the road, his expression still as cold as ice. You can never know what’s going through this guy’s head. I’m seriously impressed by my cousin right now.
“You’re a real talker, huh?” I roll my eyes and sigh. Can’t even keep a conversation going.
“I’m not here to entertain you, Bay. I’m here because I promised my wifeto do everything I can to make sure nothing happens to you on the way,” he replies in the same tone, but this time shoots an annoyed look my direction, as if making a point, before returning his focus to the road again.
“So romantic,” I retort sarcastically, going back to staring at my phone screen. “How much longer?” I ask impatiently, tapping on the bubbles popping up on the screen.
“At least another two and a half hours, assuming we don’t hit any traffic,” he responds again, in that disinterested, cold voice.
“I have no idea how you and Pedro are related. You’re like two completely different people,” I poke at him again, not hiding the frustration in my voice. Maybe I really should just walk.
“I could say the same about you and Alin. You’re family, but you couldn’t be more different from each other,” he chuckles now, like he’s remembering some amusing memory.
I raise an eyebrow at him curiously, “Do you know something about my family? Did Alin tell you anything about them?” Maybe I could actually start a conversation with him to pass this horrible boredom.
“Just that they’re not exactly Parents of the Year. I gathered they sent you to the Hunters’ pod, but I don’t think even Alin knows much about what happened there. She said she didn’t want to push you to talk about it,” he dares to glance at me now, clearly intrigued.
“You all think I’m a ticking time bomb, just like Pedro, huh?” I sigh heavily. “You might not be my favorite person in the world, but you’re more family to me than anything I’ve ever known. I’ll answer any questions you have—if you’re interested enough to ask and stop treating me like I’m madeof glass.”
Luca looks at me quickly and chuckles, “Looks like the big mouth runs in your family. No survival instincts, huh?”
I laugh now, he doesn’t even know how right he is. “So, do you want to ask me what’s on your mind?”
He rolls his eyes but seems like I’ve managed to amuse him. “Why did your parents frame you?”
“Finally, the golden question,” I snort, not shying away from it. “If they hadn’t framed me, my mother would have been sent to the Hunters’ pod, and my father would’ve been exiled—stripped from his powers and survive on his own.”
“So, they threw you under the bridge to save their as—I mean, their tail?” He’s clearly surprised by this information. Seems like Alin didn’t tell him much about the darker side of our world.
“That’s putting it mildly. They could’ve lied, said it was a mistake, and lessened my punishment—it would’ve hurt their place in the pod, but we’d all have stayed there together, safe. They were so desperate to keep their status that they gave every detail of what I did to the castle guard and completely disowned me,” I explain for the first time to someone I never thought I’d have this deep conversation with.
Luca’s hands now grip the steering wheel tightly, looking like he’s about to tear it off. “They’re your blood—how could they do that to their own daughter?”
I laugh sarcastically, “Just like Alin’s parents tried to force her into aterrible marriage—to protect the family line.”
Looks like I hit a nerve with Luca, as he mutters curses under his breath, still focused on the road ahead.
“At least now we know Aunt Lora did it because that was what would keep us alive. My parents don’t even deserve to be called parents, let alone be part of the pod,” I share my thoughts, feeling a sense of relief letting out what had been bottled up for so long. My gaze shifts to the road ahead, staring at a distant point on the horizon as memories from the cursed day they banished me flood back.
“I know that look... you’re out for blood,” he says, more as a statement—maybe to himself, maybe waiting for confirmation from me. This guy is hard to read.
“I’ve sworn to revenge. And they’ll get exactly what’s coming to them when the time is right,” I declare with confidence.
“She betrayed the royal house. She tried to escape to the human world and wounded a guard of the palace on her way. He lost an entire fin and can no longer return to his duties,” my mother announces in the closed court chamber of the palace to the royal advisor of Uncle Clarion. “We didn’t raise her properly, and we want no connection to her. We are disowning her and asking that you sentence her as a mermaid with no connection to royalty.”
My breath catches as her words burn through every part of me. The pain in my chest sears from their betrayal, and the palace guards hold my arms, preventing me from moving until the sentence is passed—a trident pressed against my back, warning me not to fight.
