Page 160 of Prodigal Son

“It’s okay, Cain. I trust you.”

His stare jerked to hers and she smiled, glancing back at the road. “I thought you didn’t trust anyone.”

She smiled. “You’re the exception to the rule.”

If it was possible, he loved her more than he had a moment ago. His fist opened and their fingers laced together. Her trust was a precious gift and he would value it always.

“So if I feed, will my body change?”

“I hope not too much.”

Her hand squeezed his. “I could kiss you for that answer.”

“I’ll remind you of that later.”

“Please do.”

When they arrived at the farm, Cain was anxious to take her to bed, but his siblings wanted to welcome her properly, so Larissa insisted on having the family over for dinner. Everyone attended but his mother and father.

“She couldn’t pull herself away for one hour?” Cain asked when Adam announced she wasn’t coming.

“Father’s gotten worse,” Adam explained. “She’s afraid to leave his side.”

Rather than sulk, he took a moment to visit his parents and saw right away what Adam had implied. While his father’s vitals remained intact, his overall health had gotten progressively worse. Breath rattled in his lungs with each wheezed inhalation, and his face seemed frozen in a mask of agony. Through the entire short visit, his mother clenched his father’s hand and cried.

“She needs to get out of that room,” Cain told his siblings the moment he returned to Adam and Anna’s. “The skin is practically hanging off her bones. She looks almost as sickly as him.”

“She barely feeds and when she does, she passes most of her nourishment to him by opening her vein. It’s the only way she can get him to eat,” Anna explained.

Gracie had little to say on their father’s condition, and Cain sensed she didn’t condone their mother’s sacrifices. Their kind valued forgiveness, and the fact that Gracie could not bring herself to forgive their father was likely costing her more than it would ever cost him.

“How long can Mother go on this way?”

Adam sighed. “Knowing her, forever. Or as long as he survives.”

“Our biggest concern right now,” Anna said, “is Jaden. He’s severely neglected. Your mother feeds him and dresses him, but she spends more time caring for your father. It’s not healthy. The child cries and tugs at her apron, but Abilene is too lost in her own grief to mother him.”

Cain looked at Adam. “And I suppose you feel this falls under family law and it’s not our place to intervene.”

Adam’s lips pressed tight, and Anna scoffed. “Of course he does. I, on the other hand, think he has a duty to protect his baby brother. You all do.”

Cain drew back, digesting her request and wondering how they could possibly work around one of The Order’s most guarded laws. It wasn’t likely. The best solution would be to help their mother come around and remind her that she has responsibilities outside of looking after their father.

Cain hated witches and wished his father never involved them in their life. “We need to put more pressure on the plebe. Only she knows what her aunt did to him. She could reverse it.”

“She says she can’t. Blood magick ties a spell to a specific witch and her aunt’s gone.”

“Um, can someone catch me up?” Destiny said, reminding his siblings of her presence and that this was supposed to be a celebratory dinner. “There are witches? Like, real ones capable of real magic? Broomsticks and all?”

Cain looped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, kissing her temple. “Witches are nasty little manipulators and never to be trusted.”

“They don’t like our kind,” Anna explained. “Something about immortality going against the laws of nature.” She rolled her eyes and waved away such nonsense. “Gracie killed one.”

“Anna!” Gracie snapped. “Why would you tell her that?”

“Well, I didn’t want her to be afraid of them. We’re way tougher.”

“You’ll have to excuse my wife,” Adam said. “She forgets herself from time to time.”

---