Page 85 of Unveil
“Why do Wildes do anything? And Bossie Wilde’s kin is some of the worst,” he snaps bitterly. “I don’t know how it started,Hatch won’t talk about it, but the next thing I saw was the dry brush going up in a flash.”
My heart climbs into my throat.
“Flames were everywhere. A tree fell across the fence in front of the exit, trapping Momma and Hatch against the gravestone. And Bossie Wilde’s boys… fuck, they juststoodthere. Watching.” His eyes flick to mine. “Rufus’s and Bart’s father, along with two other bastards I never knew.”
Rage boils hot behind my sternum. Orion’s gaze returns to the gravestone, like he sees it all again in his mind’s eye.
“Dash went straight to Momma and Hatch, but I… I saw red. Two fled. I didn’t give the third coward the chance. I stabbed him, but he cut me back before he went down.” He presses his fingers over his heart, his birthmark. “I didn’t even feel the pain. Not then anyway.”
He swallows, and his voice gets even quieter, reverent.
“Momma protected Hatch, shielding him against the gravestone with her body. When the tree cracked”—he points to a broken section big enough for someone to fit in—“she pushed him out before it fell on her. I went in, not thinking. I got her out.”
His hands flex in the air like a tactile memory, and my heart hurts at the sight of the roughened palms that have only ever been soft with me. The burn scars. I never asked the specifics. My dad hates when people ask about his, so I learned early to let people tell their own stories.
But I don’t think I would’ve ever been ready for Orion’s nightmare.
His voice trembles. “I was too late. Dash did everything he could, but the trunk crushed her thigh. She never stood a chance.” He nods to the gravestone. “This is where Momma bled out in our arms.”
I trace the FURY on the headstone, a new reverence in the touch as another Fury name I didn’t realize I remembered comes to mind.
“Ruth ‘Queenie’ Fury,” I say, the words choking my throat.
He waits a beat, then takes my hand, lifting me up.
“I’ve protected you ever since. One way or another. At first from here, making sure no Wilde crossed the Louisiana line. Then when you turned eighteen, I went to New Orleans.Iwas your shadow. I honored the pact by staying away as much as I could, but I still protected my wife. Always.”
My heart pounds as he steps closer, and with the dark promise clouding his eyes, for the first time, it fully resonates how far he’d go for that vow.
“But when I saw Bart and Rufus, the sons of one of the monsters who killed my mom… I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t prevent my mom’s death. But I’ll be damned if a Wilde, ifanyone, takes you too.”
The graveyard seems to hold its breath with me.
“This,” he gestures broadly, “is why our families need the Troisgarde-Fury pact.” His scarred palms close over mine, as he says gently, “This is why I need you. You may think this pact is a curse. Butyou’remy salvation.”
Those words weigh heavy between us, pressing against my chest.
He scans the stones again, then exhales. “And Sol is one of the most dangerous men in the country. The King kin want to bring him back into play.”
I’m shaking my head before he finishes. “And I’m supposed to accept that? That I’m some… bargaining chip in a blood war I have nothing to do with?”
His jaw hardens. “The Wildes won’t stop with us. Your father’s denial doesn’t change the reality that your family’s already in this war. The Bordeauxs are the closest to our feud.If the Wildes wipe us out, y’all are next. The Troisgarde fathers pledged themselves into this alliance. If they’re honorable men, their word is their bond, and so is mine. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect the people I love from getting hurt again.”
Love?
Thick, humid mountain air catches in my lungs.
Does he mean me? His family? Both?
“What if I’m the one you hurt in the process?” I ask, almost too softly to hear. “Would you still do ‘whatever it takes’?”
“If it saves you fromthisfate?” His eyes flick to the burned gravestone. “I would, Luna. And I wouldn’t lose a wink of goddamn sleep over it.”
I cringe, the words cutting deep. “But… couldn’t my family just agree to protect you? That’s how it is with the Troisgarde.”
He shakes his head. “They’ve had decades to strengthen their power. We need you now, and there’s nothing to ensure the Troisgarde will make good on their promise. Not without marriage.”
My stomach drops. “So that’s why marriage is so important to the Furys?”
