Page 113 of Gift from the Source
How in love almost all true Nexuses are. Us included.
“Kids, what’s everyone doing?” Aunt Rory asks, but the second she senses the moods, she backtracks. “What happened? What’s wrong?”
“We just, well, Tillman just gathered some information from a prisoner that was apprehended this morning. Apparently, he gathered something that needs to be shared with all of us,” Corentin says.
There’s anxiousness laced in his tone, so I won’t drag this out. Not that that’s what my intentions were. This is pretty sad shit that everyone needed to hear at once.
I nod as all eyes look at me and point over to the massive table. “Everyone, take a seat.”
“You all have me worried now,” Aunt Rory says as she sinks down slowly.
“This is going to be a long story I’m going to get out all at once. Everyone just wait before you say anything unless I ask something. Which I’m going to. Starting with you, Aunt Rory.”
“Go ahead, Tillme.”
“You may have to dig into your memories quite a bit for this, but do you recall the first Spring Ball after meeting my uncles? Drudy forced you to dance with Nexuses even though you were already with my uncles and had your awakenings, correct?” I ask.
Four grunts and noises of displeasure fall from my uncles, and she snorts. “That’s correct. It didn’t go over well. She did it every year, our bonding ceremony, and my coronation.”
“Do you remember if Dillon and Pran Gale were two of the men you had to dance with?”
She startles, almost taken aback by my question, then her eyebrows draw down in concentration. “As a matter of fact, Pran came up to me and whispered, ‘I don’t mean to offend you, but we have a Primary and would prefer to skip this dance. We just don’t want to seem rude.’ I laughed and told him I had a Nexus and didn’t want to do this at all. He excused himself and I didn’t see him or his brothers for the remainder of the night. I later found out that they had approached Vicki Gale earlier that night and askedher to be their chosen Primary. She and her parents agreed sometime after that.”
She spoke the first part of that story fondly until she reached the mention of Vicki. Her disdain will only grow from here.
“That night they did find their Primary. But Pran and Dillon are not Hunt and Isaiah Gale’s true Nexus brothers. Maxima, the gentleman we have in the prison right now, as well as a man named Joslin were their Nexus brothers. That Spring Ball, Joslin had his awakening with a woman named Lucila—”
“Wait, Lucila Gale? Vicki’s cousin? That can’t be right. Lucila was unfortunately…” She pauses, giving Keeper a sad smile. “She was attacked by a rouge vampire that had been slipping under the radar. He was apprehended and put in the forest. She succumbed to her injuries.”
“That is the version of the story that’s been told, but it isn’t the right story,” I say sadly as her eyes well with water. “Vicki wasn’t happy that Lucila was a true Primary. She demanded from her father that she be given Lucila’s Nexus.
“Unbeknownst to them, Lucila and Joslin cemented the bond that night. According to Maxima’s memories, they couldn’t wait. They declared their love for one another right after their awakening and nothing was going to keep them apart. The others wanted to wait until their own awakenings happened.
“Vicki’s father called for a meeting and asked Lucila to come, introduce her new Nexus to the family. She was excited and eagerly agreed. When they arrived, Maxima got held up outside speaking with an old academy buddy and told them to head on in and he’d catch up.
“The moment they walked in, Vicki killed Lucila right there. Unknowingly also killing Joslin. His death was not dragged out but seemingly happened seconds after her last breath. Dillon and Pran lost their minds and attacked Vicki. They were restrained and taken to the cells beneath the Gales’ home. Maxima ran in once he felt his brother’s bond rip from his and saw the other two being taken away. Pran shook his head at him not to follow. Maxima ran and hid in the home until nightfall and then went below to check on them.
“When he snuck in and found them, they all mourned the death of their brother and the true Primary they never got to bond or awaken fully with. Before dawn, Pran ordered Maxima to leave and not stay behind with them. He was their only ally on the outside for whatever the Gales had planned. He told him to stay away and they’d find him. Years went by without any communication between them, but Maxima stalked them from a distance.
“This is the part where there is some information missing for me on Dillon’s and Pran’s sides. One night, they kidnapped Maxima. Kidnapped is a strong word, but ultimately that’s what they did. They apprehended him and placed in him the Mastery. While he was going through processing, his brothers acted as though they didn’t know who he was. Once he was fully in and marked, they came to him again one night and explained everything that had happened over the years to an extent.
“They’d been kept in those cells for a while. The only way they were to be released was if they agreed to bond with Vicki. They refused, no matter the consequences. Something changed along the way, though, obviously. From there, they explained their long line of plans and began interfering with the Mastery from the inside out.”
The air in my lungs whooshes out of me. That isn’t half of what I saw in that poor man’s mind. His loneliness, his multiple mental fights of ending his own life, his desperate desire for his brothers. Even once he got them back, they weren’t truly back. They’ve always had to be kept at a distance since then and his identity as the fourth Nexus brother has always had to stay secret.
“Uncle Orien’s interference. When did he come in the picture of their lives?” Cas asks calculatingly.
We all sit in silence again as we look at Willow. She sits still with slow tears flowing out of her unblinking eyes. She’s already speaking to our uncle in her mind but isn’t opening the line of communication.
When she finally does blink, she also inhales harshly and wipes her face clean.
“The Gales announced the arrangement of Vicki and the men even before they had formally agreed. I guess they figured the men really neverhad a choice. CC had a vision of Pran and Dillon locked in the cells, plus a mystery man whose identity was obscured from him after reading the Chosen Primary decree sent out from the Gale family. He disguised himself as a part of the Gales’ security and snuck into their house. When he met them, he told them who he was and the vision he had of them. They tried to explain who the third man was, but CC told them to stop. If his identity was hidden from him, it needed to stay that way.
“He told them the truth of most things. That he was a seer, tasked with the unexplainable, and asked them to trust him. If they did, he promised one day, their Primary’s and brother’s deaths would be avenged. They did. And that was the beginning of their unforeseen friendship.
“Maxima always stayed a blind spot for him because he was so close to the Mastery. It was too dangerous for him to facilitate a relationship with him and his brothers.”
“Poor Lucila. Oh Elementra, she was so sweet, so young. She was only a little younger than me. She’d just turned twenty-six. Oh—” she says as she pops out of her seat and begins pacing. “My mother put away another innocent vampire. She took the Gales’ word and ordered the vampire to be captured immediately. All the innocent lives…”
