Page 29 of Unbroken
Hattie snorted. “You mean so you could get drunk without any of us pestering you to lay off the bottle.”
“Well…yes and no. I don’t see a lot of new faces, living on the estate.” He looked to Irene. “I don’t have an outside job like some. And I don’t want to travel—I need to stay close. In case…in case anything goes wrong.” He swallowed. “As it did before. If I’d been there when it started, maybe I could have…could have done something.”
Irene’s expression softened. “He’s never been right since Balefire fell, Seeker. You know that.”
Rupert sighed. “I do. It affected every one of us, deeply. But it cannot excuse this betrayal.”
“I didn’t betray anyone!” Fire flashed in Ambrose’s eyes, and for the first time Sebastian glimpsed the man he must have been in his prime. “Or if I did, it’s no less than you or Cousin Irene.”
Irene’s nostrils flared. “What do you?—”
“He’s their grandfather, isn’t he?” Ambrose gestured at Ves, and Sebastian stiffened. “Him and his brother. I remember one of you saying that at the pub.”
“That’s different!” Irene exploded.
“Is it?” Ambrose’s hands clenched. “Maybe I am just a drunken fool now, as Ira said.”
“Ora,” Sebastian said.
“But at least I remember what we used to be.”
Hattie’s remaining eye narrowed. “Ambrose,” she said with a note of warning in her voice.
“No! You wanted answers—well, here they are!” Ambrose swayed slightly as he spoke, but his anger was clear. “This family once had a place in the world—no, a purpose! We protected humanity from monsters. There was a clear line, with us and the rest of humankind on one side, and creatures like that on the other.”
He looked straight at Ves, as though any of them could have mistaken what he meant. Sebastian took a step forward, fury boiling in his gut and his scars tugging. He could wound Ambrose without so much as a word, break his bones, make him pay for his cruel words?—
“Be still,” Rupert ordered, and Sebastian paused. Rupert’s eyes remained locked on Ambrose, and cold anger made his stern face even sterner. “The world has changed, Ambrose. We have changed.”
“Don’t I know it.” Bitterness coated Ambrose’s words. “Balefire is gone, and most of my generation with it. We still seek knowledge, but we’ve been defanged and declawed. The principles I believed in, that I risked my life for again and again, have been left by the wayside like rubbish thrown from a cart.”
He slid into moroseness with the ease of the intoxicated. “I’m as much a fossil as those in the museum. But I’ve stuck with the family, even though none of you appreciate me anymore.”
“That isn’t true,” Irene protested.
Ambrose snorted, but didn’t reply directly. “So what if I found another old monster-hunter like myself? What does any of it matter, if we’re embracing abominations and inviting their blood into our family, and-and…”
He trailed off. Sebastian became aware his nails were digging into the flesh of his palms and forced them to relax. How dare he call Ves and Noct abominations? Ora was the real monster.
Rupert sighed. “Have you read Darwin’s theories, Ambrose? If creatures fail to change along with the world around them, then fossils are all that remain. Adapt or die—that was the choice we faced. Personally, I believe our mistake was not changing our ways sooner, instead of waiting until our family stood on the brink of destruction.” Ambrose stirred, but Rupert lifted a quelling hand. “I am not here to argue the matter with you, Cousin.”
“What do you want to do with him?” Hattie asked.
Rupert sat back in his chair. “Take him back to his room and let him sleep. Ambrose, when you’re awake and fully sober, you will give a full accounting of everything you said to Ora Rune. Leave nothing out, even if you’re not certain you’re recalling it correctly. Do you understand?”
Ambrose nodded, defeated. “Yes, Seeker. And my trial?”
“Will be arranged.” Rupert glanced at Hattie, who nodded and walked to Ambrose’s side.
“Come on, you,” she said, taking his arm. “Let’s get you to bed.”
Once they were gone, along with the two guards, Rupert took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “Damn it,” he said quietly.
Ves stared at the floor. “I’m sorry.”
“You aren’t responsible for Ambrose. Or your grandfather, sad to say.” Rupert put his glasses back on.
Sebastian looked to the door through which Ambrose had disappeared. “What’s going to happen to him?”
