Page 83 of The Child of Rue Royale
Cassius looks at me, his face wrecked with anguish. “What are you accusing her of, exactly?”
“We found out who set the fire and put the protection spell on Franklin. It was Rosemary and Violetta. The elders of my own coven betrayed me. I don’t know why; I haven’t confronted them yet. But in my vision, Oksana was with them all. And we just want to know why.”
Cassius looks to Oksana, the pain so apparent it’s uncomfortable to witness. I knew the Delacroix family trusted her implicitly, but I didn’t know so much emotion was attached to that trust.
“I don’t want to believe this,” he says to her.
“I didn’t either,” Bastian says, and Nicola stands.
“How can we believe what Aster saw actually happened?”
“You can’t, because it didn’t,” Oksana yells, looking to Cassius and Nicola, setting her purse on the sofa. “Maybe she thinks she knows what she saw, but she didn’t see me.”
“You saw her with them?” Cassius asks me.
I look to Bastian, my heart stammering because this won’t help my case, but I won’t lie. “I didn’t see her.” The three of them sigh in some sort of relief, so I raise my hands in defense. “I heard her. Franklin said, ‘This one’s dreams are about to come true.’ Then one of my aunt’s told her, if this gets out, she’ll pay with her life. And I heard Oksana say that she completely understood.”
“So you heard a voice that sounded like Oksana’s and then you come over here and accuse her of betraying our family? I’m sorry, but Oksana has been loyal to us for twenty-one years. We’ll need more proof than that,” Cassius spits, looking to his brother for backup, but Bastian only emits a growl from his throat.
“Aster has no reason to lie—”
“I’m not saying you’re lying, Aster. Please understand. I’m just hoping there’s some kind of confusion in your vision.” Cassius’s eyes soften toward me, and it makes me feel a tick better, yet they still don’t believe me, and that’s not helpful.
“I can try my best to prove it to you. But my mother and I will always see Oksana as a traitor to not only us but to your family as well. Unless there’s a logical explanation she would like to share.”
“Yes,” Bastian seems to plead to Oksana, whose face has grown so pale, it’s like guilt is pulling all the blood from her body. I know who I heard, I just have to prove it to a room full of vampires. “Tell usthere’s a reason why you were at Aster’s aunt’s house with Franklin when he took the potion that protected him.”
“I wasn’t there,” she says, doubling down, and now we are at a standstill. Her word against mine. And Cassius and Nicola will believe her. I may be with Bastian, but I can’t erase the twenty years of loyalty she has provided them. I have to prove it.
“If you didn’t do it, allow me to look in your memory then.”
Her eyes dart to mine. “Absolutely not. My most private thoughts…are you mad?”
“I wouldn’t be in your mind. Only your body. Only seeing what you saw. If you didn’t do it, I would think you’d want to prove it.”
“You going in her mind doesn’t prove anything to us,” Nicola says, her hands folding in front of her. “If we can’t see it for ourselves, how do we know it happened?”
I look at Bastian, defeat cloaking my nerves. I didn’t plan what would happen if Oksana denied everything, and it was stupid of me to think Nicola and Cassius would believe me blindly. They don’t understand that magic makes no mistakes, not like this. I don’t blame them.
It’s like Bastian can read my mind when he grabs my hand and pulls my face to meet his and says, “Do what you have to do to get the answers we need.” And then he whispers into my ear, “But please, don’t hurt her.”
I’ll have to go into her mind without her permission, and I don’t need Cassius’s or Nicola’s approval. That’s not why I’m here. I’m here to get answers, and that’s what I’m going to get.
I nod at him, not sure how to start, and then he says, “I got your back, baby.” And I almost sway, but I squeeze his hand tightly in mine, grounding me. He’s got my back. He’s always had my back. Even in death, and what a feeling to know that if I fall, if I falter, he will still have my back. I let go of his hand and take slow, calculated steps toward Oksana.
“I’m not going to be reading any of your thoughts; I will be as respectful as I can. But if you’re not going to be honest, then I need to know why you were working with my family against me. I need to know.”
Oksana turns to Nicola, her hands clasped at her chest. “I’ve worked for you as a member of your family for twenty-one years. And you let your natural enemy threaten me. This low-life, peasant trash?”
And there it is. Oksana has always treated me like I was less than her, just as filthy as the garbage on the street. But she’s never said it out loud. Yet, I’m glad she did now because it allows all my anger to fester in my hand as I walk toward her.
Bastian warns his family, his tone sharp as a razor. “Allow it.”
“Gravity,” I whisper as I press a hand against Oksana’s chest. The spell presses her hands, head, and limbs against the wall so I can touch her face and try my best to get into her memories. She’s not willing, and two spells at once might completely drain me, but there’s no turning back now. Now that I’m a Seer, it should work. Bastian’s back is against mine, protecting me from his mother and brother.
I place another hand on Oksana’s cheek, allowing me to say the words that will take me to her dealings with Franklin. I don’t know what I’m getting, but I will take what I can get.
“Retrosum, retrosum,” I chant, and the tunnel consumes me, my mind flying to a different place in time.Take me to memories with Franklin Maltese. I envision his greasy, gray hair, leathery skin, and coal-black eyes.
