Chapter 29 #2
“They had a lead, some guy from the town the Ambrose family lived, but he didn’t make it far.
They found him in a motel, overdose. No you, no Glynnis.
They found your mother a week later. They think you were taken from them both.
They think someone killed Glynnis, and staged your would-be father’s death and sent you into the world.
I’m sorry, brother. Glynnis and the Ambrose family were third cousins to Rix’s family, which is why you were placed with Stephan.
Though my father thought you should have been placed with Finn’s family.
” He looked down. “And Finn’s father fought for you.
Stephen would have none of it.” He shook his head.
“Here’s the big thing. Dad thinks it all started with you. All of it. Because after Ambrose died things started getting strange, and others started either disappearing or other Elders were being appointed. It was slow at first but by the time you had been delivered back to us...a lot had changed.
“Here,” he continued, coming to sit with them all on the floor.
“Dad references a Dark Path, one the priests warned over. A prophecy, where seven would gain the knowledge, the power to lead, to bring order to our Order.” He flipped a few pages.
“The Dark Path would emerge when some would try to stop that though certain...situations, one being the birth of a brother not solely of the blood.” He frowned.
“The Book of Prophecy... Rix, hand me that green book!” he said as things started to come together.
“Thank you. The Prophecy of the Seven, here it is.” He began to read.
“The Seven will usher in a new age with He Who Sleeps, anointing their age with knowledge, and wisdom and untold power. Lo, beware that of the Dark, the quelling constriction seeking power above all else, for the few, not the many.
“Six of the Blood, a seventh that marries the waking world and that of his own blood. A conduit to His Direct Divine becomes the bridge to everlasting.”
He looked at them. “Now, I have no fucking clue what it means, but the three that went after Easton took twelve years to find him. Visholu, Tannet and Frane. They inducted Easton into The Order as soon as he had been born, and were honor bound to find him, but the tie to Him was weak because of the half blood, and those working against this.”
“Hang on,” Rix said, chatty and clearly annoyed. “We are part of a fucking prophecy?”
“Apparently. I hadn’t gotten through everything by the time you guys came through. You know my process, I skip pages and take tidbits then follow the fucking bread crumbs...”
“Then keep following because right now, people gonna die at Solstice.”
He nodded. “Dad says that when Easton came back, brought by the Warders, that’s what the priest’s called the three, the Elders, well some of them were happy and I think those were the ones that were killed.
The others, the assholes in power now, weren’t and oddly they were the ones that insisted Easton be placed with Stephan, citing blood ties to physical family, but really ‘all our blood is the same, and serves him,’” he read from the journal.
“It was then Dad was approached by the priests to hide this book, and write these journals with everything he knew. I don’t think they realized he didn’t know everything. ”
“Fuck.”
“Apparently, and this is underlined, ‘our seven are the seven of the prophecy, as all of us are the same age, and the culmination of seven high families, full bloodlines, aligning the stars.’ I think they would have been the seven but Ambrose had a daughter, not a son, so the next generation was us...all seven of us. Three days after this journal was written, they went to their deaths.”
"Okay." Full of nervous energy, Finn was pacing again now that Easton was calm enough to be seated.
"It's fairly obvious that the Dark Path is the way we've been raised to only kill.
That's pretty fucking dark. And according to this prophecy, we're supposed to fix it.
So my understanding is that we're supposed to destroy or remove the Elders insisting on the death-only path.
I fully expect the priests will be on our side, given that they've supported the pact thus far.
What I can't understand is why the Elders didn't shut us down when they knew what we'd started with Petra. "
"Maybe they don't know," Easton said into the thoughtful silence that followed, his face still pale and ravaged by grief and shock.
"All this time we've assumed the priests and the Elders are the left and right hand of The Order, but if the Elders are actively weakening the God, they're directly working against the priests, who exist only to support Him.
Has anyone here actually told an Elder explicitly about the pact? Anyone?"
They all shook their heads, realization dawning that The Order didn't function as they had thought it did.
"They must be wondering how we've gathered so much energy the last couple of years," Finn said.
"The priests must know about the prophecy if they told Emerson's dad about it.
They wouldn't have asked him to record it and hide the journals if they didn't expect us to find them at some point.
So they'll be with us, but I'm guessing the Elders don't know about it at all.
If they did, they'd have tried to kill us already. "
"What are we actually talking about here?
" Easton asked, looking up at Finn. "I mean, I'm going to kill all the usurping bastards that killed my family and left me in hell, but what about the rest of The Order?
Who will take over from the Elders? Will the others even support us if we're the only ones that know about the old ways? "
"We need to speak to people." Finn stopped pacing and turned to Emerson.
"Finish reading and make a concise summary of the information.
We'll get everyone together this morning over brunch and talk about it as a group.
We act as one. We make decisions together.
And then if we need to gather support, we'll start contacting people we know and trust. We have a little time before we leave. Let's use it wisely."
Emerson nodded. “There’s a lot of information here, I mean my dad’s journals only have so much but these books.
.. And we need to talk to Petra, ask about the orphanage, what she knows about it.
Dad’s journal names where our mothers came from, maybe we start looking that up.
It’s clear they aren’t even a thought to the current regime, unless they took them out? ”
"Those are questions for a later date," Finn said firmly. "Right now, we need to focus on securing our position and keeping Petra safe. We can worry about the women when the Elders have been removed."
"Killed," Easton said flatly. "Not removed. Killed. I want them skinned alive the same way they did your fathers. Stephan included."
“Amen there, brother,” Emerson said on a sigh. “No survivors.”
Jack, Petra and Leo took that moment to walk in, Petra looking entirely fuck rumpled. “Theres the birthday boy,” she said and smiled at him, then looked around. “What’s going on?”
"Emerson here has been dishing out the revelations left, right and center," Finn told her with a rueful grin. "But there's no point in him repeating everything all over again without everyone here. I've asked him to make a summary while we go and get brunch and then we'll have a group meeting."
"A war council," Easton said somberly.
"War? Sounds like fun." Leo flashed a grin, ever the cocky bastard. "Come on then. To the kitchen! I'm in charge of waffles."