Page 20 of Blood Magic (Ariel Kimber 3)

“If you want me to do what I’m here to do then you will damn well get the hell out of this room so that I can get on with it. I don’t require an audience and you will gain nothing by sitting in here and glaring at me while I work. Get out.”

I held my breath, waiting for Tyson’s famous temper to explode all over us.

He said nothing to Julian. He looked to me, and said, “Don’t let him fool you, girl. He may come across as nice, but he’s got more in common with Uncle Quint than you could ever imagine.”

His chair scraped across the floor as he stood up. He glared at Julian and left the room with a vicious curse under his breath.

I let out a relieved sigh and sat back in my chair. That could have gone far worse. At least there had been no bloodshed. I had yet to see one of them physically harm another of them but that’s how I knew arguments to be ended, with violence.

“He’s right, you know.” Julian murmured.

“About which part?” I asked. I didn’t really know anything about Julian outside of the fact he was a healer and always nice to me. And he didn’t like horror movies.

“All of it,” he said. “Quint and I are a lot more alike than you probably think.”

“Okay,” I said even though I somehow doubted the sincerity of his words. No one could be that much like Quinton. Certainly not the sweet Julian.

“You don’t believe me?” He cocked his head to the side and studied me carefully. “No. I can see it on your face, you don’t believe a word I’ve said.”

Uncomfortable with his scrutiny, I shrugged. He was correct, but I wished he would stop looking at me in such a way. Like he wished to see inside my head. I didn’t want anyone in there, it was a dark, unfriendly place to be. I didn’t need visitors.

Julian swallowed thickly. “I poisoned her, Dash’s grandmother. She would have survived that heart attack otherwise. And Dash’s mother, well… we had her committed to a facility.”

“Wait a minute.” I gasped as I tried to remember something Quinton had said to me. Something about the women in Dash’s life… what was it? “I thought… Quinton had said… I thought he said they were both dead and that Dash didn’t grow up here. But he moved here with his mother after his father died. But everyone else acts like he grew up here. Like he’s lived here since forever. And how come he has memories of his father sitting around the table in the kitchen if he came here after his father died? None of that makes any sense.”

How could I have forgotten what Quinton had said to me when he first brought me here? Who was lying to me? Quinton? But why?

“I don’t think you want me to answer those Questions, Ariel.” Julian told me cryptically.

He was probably right. I wasn’t even beginning to process what he’d told me about him poisoning Dash’s grandmother and them having his mother committed in what I assumed to be some type of mental facility. If I couldn’t process that then how could I honestly be expected to handle any more? I never seemed to be able to process hideous information in a healthy way. It’s a good thing I was too young to legally purchase alcohol, or I could see myself processing these things in a whole new and horribly unhealthy way.

But…

Wasn’t I just telling myself that I wanted to know everything I possibly could about them? I believe I had and I was no longer interested in taking the cowards way out when it came to things.

“You’re right,” I told him honestly. “I don’t want you to answer those questions. I’m nervous and afraid of what your answers might be. I know, with what you’ve already said and how you’ve said it, that I am not going to enjoy what else it is that you have to say. But, I wish to hear it all the same. In fact, I think Ineedto hear it. Tyson was right, you guys shouldn’t lie to me or keep things from me. That’s no way to build any kind of relationship, be it a friendship or more than that. If you want to build trust between us, then you cannot lie to me. I’m not asking you to tell me all of your secrets, I’m not stupid enough to ask for that, and I have no desire to be that invasive when it comes to your past or that of the others. And, if you feel it’s something you can’t share with me or shouldn’t, then I would rather you tell me that and not lie to me. I feel like my whole life so far has been a lie. I don’t want my life in this coven to be one big, fat lie as well. Can you understand that?”

Julian turned his back on me and focused on the things he’d laid out on the table. He picked up the bowl and moved it. The knife was moved next and placed beside the bowl.

He fiddled with the rest of the things, moving them just so and I feared he was going to shut me out and not tell me a thing. Would I allow my disappointment to show or would I swallow it down whole and hope I didn’t choke on it? One would make me incredibly sad and the other would embarrass me.

“You know we’ve all had rough lives to some extent?” He asked with his back still turned to me.

I didn’t like the way this was starting out and knew it would only get worse the more he talked.

I pushed my hands between my thighs and the seat of my chair. I didn’t want to rip open my palms on accident with so many people paying attention to my every move at the moment. Lord only knew how they would react.

“I only know parts about some of you,” I told him honestly. “Some of you I don’t know anything at all about.”

His back stiffened. “And you know how the covens feel about females with magic? I’m going to assume Quint or one of the others has told you?”

“They think females born with magic are precious because there are so few of them. It’s rare for a female to be born with magic and some people believe girls with magic aren’t born often because the males are said to be cursed. When witches were persecuted and burned at the stake, their men either ran or hid away. So now it is believed you all are cursed because of your ancestor’s cowardice.”

There was more to be said but I was sure he got the gist.

“You know how we’re taught to feel about them, obviously. Most covens are brainwashed enough when it comes to females that they don’t care if she’s unattractive or not. She could have a massive bald spot on her head and a face covered in hairy warts and most fools would be so blinded by the fact that she was female and had magic that they would not care about these other unattractive traits at all. So you see, Ariel, these females, females just like yourself, could be worth a great fortune.”

He paused as he rubbed one shaking hand over his close-cropped hair and I was suddenly positive that I no longer wanted to hear the rest of the story. What could be so bad that it made Julian’s hands shake so badly? And, did I really have to know?

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