Page 88 of Gift from the Source
I can barely form the words.
“The Vitos never won the Realm Trial. Not truly. Therefore, we were never given the full blessing of Elementra.”
“What?”
“My great-grandmother spared a person’s life. Which means not every individual who took the vow of the trial died,” I murmur, looking at her with complete disbelief and understanding pounding at my chest.
“You’re saying…”
“The Summum-Master is Malvolio Choice. He was the last living opponent in a trial that never truly ended.”
Ten
Willow
There are so many voices floating around the throne room, I have to reread the words written in the Vito book multiple times just to concentrate.
The Vitos, all current living ones, are in an uproar over what’s been discovered. Between my men—with the exclusion of Draken, who’s pacing around with V on his shoulder—and the Vito parents, the walls are echoing with their raised voices.
Poor Gaster is trying his best to calm them down while simultaneously trying to deny the information. He can’t wrap his mind around the fact this slipped by him when he was there and lived it.
Keeper is sitting beside me as a silent companion, reading the words just as I am. It’s all here. The truth is laid out, written in fact by the Matriarch two generations ago.
I’ve voiced my suspicions that the Summum-Master’s—shit Malvolio Choice’s—hatred festered sometime between Drudy’s rule and the guys’ great-grandmother’s. I never would’ve guessed, though, that once upon a time, the Vito line was friends with him.
Persley Vito didn’t mince her words, though.
She stated clearly that they, the Dews, the Neworts, the Beylas, and the Choices all were well acquainted with one another.Some even on the level of friendship and all it took was the current Matriarch’s death for friends to become foes.
She did, in fact, rewrite the history of the realm.
My first question after Cas shadowed us to the throne room and summoned everyone was how did he know Elementra hadn’t blessed the line? They’ve been ruling for two thousand years now and from my perspective, they’ve been blessed.
Sure, horrible things have happened, but horrible things have happened to many families across the entire realm.
He briefly and quickly asked if I remembered the power that surged through the arena at Lyker’s trial. That made my throat close, but I nodded as I’ll never forget that experience. He went on further to explain that that was Elementra blessing his ruling.
The previous Matriarch that died, resulting in the Realm Trials, had explained to Persley and the other council Primaries of the time that the power creates an undeniable tie to the realm itself once her blessing has been passed.
Persley admitted in her writing that there was no surge of Elementra’s power.
The collective excitement and uproar of the crowd mimicked what that would’ve felt like and Persley never admitted otherwise. She knew on a soul level that tie was missing. She used the information given to her by the previous ruler to base her story.
“Do you or do you not feel like Elementra has blessed you, Mom? It’s a simple question.” Caspian’s tone finally drowns out everyone else’s voice.
“It has always felt like I have the tie described by Persley and Drudy in the book. Not to mention the things I have ruled, the hard decisions made, always felt like I had Elementra’s approval. Maybe it isn’t as deep as it should be, but there’s most certainly something there,” Aurora states with a faraway gaze.
My heart hurts for her. Her whole world and everything she’s known is being flipped upside down. I know that feeling all too well. She never wanted this, and now she’s finding out, the Realm Trial her family endured was never even finished.
Thinking about everything the Vito family has been through…it seems that they’ve been living through trials ever since.
“Elementra has blessed us. There’s no doubting that. Look at everything we have. So just put that aside,” Gaster says, waving his hand around at all of us in the room. “What I don’t understand is why he’s dragged this out for so long. I understand wanting revenge for your family, even though in the laws of the trials, you know what you’re signing up for. We’ve all sought revenge one way or another.
“But Persley died so long ago. From everything we’ve learned, he may have been the one to kill her. Regardless, she spared his life and when she died, he should’ve been thrilled. He was given a second chance in life. One where there were no restraints and responsibilities all the time.”
The room erupts once again in noise, only this time, it’s everyone agreeing with Gaster. They insult the Summum-Master in every way, shape, and form. Of course I agree with what’s being said, but unfortunately, I understand his motives that no one else seems to see.
I grit my teeth so tightly at that thought, I’m positive Keeper can hear it. Disgust crawls through me at just the thought of agreeing with anything to do with that monster.
