Page 81 of A Clash of Embers

“But what if I don't want to seeanything?What if I don't trust you? What if everything that you show me is a lie?” Leo countered him.

I saw the defeat on Eros’ shoulders as he turned his head back to face Leo. “Give me one chance to show you the truth and ifthat's not enough, then I will leave you alone and we don't have to discuss this anymore. But I think you need to know the truth about who you are.”

They stared at one another for what felt like an eternity. Finally, Leo nodded in agreement, not even using words to agree. I watched Eros nod his head and they both started to walkdirectly to me.

I could feel my throat bobbing up and down with nervousness as the two loves of my life came to me for answers.

“Clara, if you wouldn't mind showing Leo what he needs to see,” Eros asked me softly and kindly. He knew my answer—he didn't have to ask, but he did because he felt it was important to show the respect that we have for one another.

I nodded nervously as I watched the green eyes that I loved so much and the golden amber eyes that I had lost along the way. Leo's eyes shimmered slightly with tears. I felt his anxiousness and his worry wrapping around me, strangling me, pulling me in. I reached out my hands to him just like we had done before when I had shown him the truth that I knew.

“Remember that you need to hold onto my hands and don't let go,” I said.

Leo studied my hands and worked his gaze up to my face. It was the same look that he gave me in the garden when we were sixteen years old. The way that he looked at me was like I held all the secrets in the world, that the script for him was written on my face. He blinked once, twice, and with the third time he held on tightly to me.

A moment later I felt Ev’s hands grip my shoulders and hold them tightly, letting me know that he was there to share the parts of his world that he needed to show Leo.

I was nervous not just because of what I was feeling from Leo, but because I didn't know how I would react, knowing this new information from a different perspective. Eros was about to letthe biggest secret in our world be known and he had waited to share the secret because he wanted to be the one to tell his brother the truth. It was admirable and I did not want to mess it up for him.

“Are you ready?” I asked Leo, and when he looked up at me, he smirked and huffed out a soft chuckle.

“I guess I am,” he answered.

I smiled, swallowing my nervousness and anxiousness. What if I showed him something I wasn’t supposed to?

Don’t worry, darling. I will keep that perfect ass of yours out of his thoughts. That’s for me only.

I closed my eyes, allowing myself to open up to him. To both of them. It wasn’t like it was the first time I’d been this close to both of them.

Stop with the dirty thoughts, Clara Bear. This is serious. Clear your mind.

Yes, sir.

You can call me that later.

I rolled my eyes internally because this man had such an easy way to get under my skin, but also, that’s what I wanted. I wanted him under my skin, always.

“Clear your mind, Leo,” Ev said.

I knew he was also talking to me because my mind was full of ideas that were not appropriate for this moment.

When I closed my eyes, the visions started filling my head that Eros wanted to share with Leo. I bridged the two of them together and the memories flooded me.

I heard the soft singing of “Hush, little baby, don't you cry” and I saw Amari holding her two babies. She was happy, she was content, and she was loved. I watched the man who had almosttaken my entire world from me, Theo, step behind her and embrace her as he nuzzled her neck. He looked at the two babies in her arms. There was so much love. I looked closer at her face and I could see the tears streaming down her cheeks as Theo leaned over to wipe them away and he whispered something to her.

Another woman stepped into the room, a woman that I knew. I saw Queen Anne.

“I need to take him with me. You have to separate them, no one can know that they are brothers, and no one can know that there are two sons. I have to be in Athiana’s good graces, Amari, I can't have her question everything. She needs to think that there is only one son,” Queen Anne said.

I watched Theo stand firm as his feet pressed further into the ground, closing his eyes not wanting to do what was being asked of him and Amari. Theo said, “Then it must be done.”

I watched as Theo took one son and held him in his arms while Amari held the other. Amari and Theo linked their hands together and they said words that I didn't understand. When they did, both of the babies lit up, and bright colors swirled around them. I watched as the babies started to cry and wail, not out of pain, but uncertainty.

Theo was holding who I can only assume was Eros because he held him tightly to his chest not daring to let anyone take him. Whereas Amari held Leo who was calm. The only one that was crying was Eros.

Leo looked up at his mother, she looked down at him, and whispered to him, “My sweet Leonardo Madokus, my Madok, I'm sorry for what I must do. You will be angry with me for a very very long time and I don't know if I'll ever be able to make it up to you. I will always and forever be your mother, Theo is your father, and you have a brother, Eros Vander. The two of you are very special because you are a half vamprye and angel,but you won't know this in your life as long as we can keep it that way.

I watched as Amari started to cry and her tears fell onto Leo. His little round face looked up at her not understanding anything she was saying, just knowing that this was his mother, his life force, the person that protected him.

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