Chapter 10 #3
“Bel,” Autumn said in a placating tone, but Isobel didn’t respond. If anything, her grip sharpened. Was she trying to excavate his veins with her fingernails?
David looked into her dazzling eyes and turned on the voice, letting the sugary cadence insinuate into her frontal lobe. “Let go.”
Her pupils dilated, and she released him.
Several seconds of silence followed, broken only when Kywyn hesitantly asked, “So you have such abilities? You—you can control people?”
David settled back into his chair and imagined a blank wall. “Everyone but Sean.”
He’d tried many times when they were children, but no amount of silk in his voice would convince Sean to do anything.
Sean rolled his eyes. “Lucky me.”
“It didn’t work on Lhynion, either,” Kywyn said, eyes clouded. “Your—your mother can help you control it.”
“I don’t want to meet her,” David said. “I don’t need her help.”
“You do,” Kywyn said, a sudden edge in his tone. “And you will.”
Autumn leaned closer to him. “The beauty of realizing your history is the knowledge that you’re free to make your own choices. Galadaine may be inside you, but you can make different decisions. You don’t have to let the magic control you.”
“It doesn’t,” David said, a new tension gathering tight in his neck.
“That’s what Galadaine thought, too,” Kywyn said. “Autumn remembers Galadaine Manae protecting her, fighting for her, laughing with her. But Isobel’s memories show that he was also capable of cruelty.”
A challenge rose in Sean’s expression, a silent taunt.
Dual urges formed, then branched in opposite directions—the first to strangle Sean Archer until that derision disappeared from his face, and the second to gauge Isobel’s reaction.
She had terrible memories in her head. Memories of a man who resembled him, practically torturing her.
How could she stand to look at him?
Kywyn sighed. “When it was predicted the quartet would come again, well…the realm split. There are the Queen’s supporters who back the Exorcism, and Galadaine’s Followers who still want to storm Viterra and rule it. The Followers have dissolved, but they’re out there, waiting for their new leader.”
“Even more than before, we’re dying here,” Isobel said.
“Our numbers dwindle. Conquering Viterra is not an option, but the Indies there can be defeated. The Exorcism must prevail. In that effort, Galadaine’s line has been watched—monitored—for centuries.
The realm will expect you to follow gladly in his footsteps.
The Seelie Queen will be watching for any sign that you should be restrained. ”
Autumn sat straight. “Which is why it’s so important for you both to check this hate.
It won’t go unnoticed. The realm has been waiting for Lhynion’s heir for a long time, hoping to revive the Exorcism, but for that same amount of time, Galadaine’s heir and the potential war he represents has been dreaded.
The four of us have to stand united. We need each other, regardless of how much you dislike each other. ”
Suddenly tired, David rubbed his eyes. “Why would they keep me alive if this is what they believe?”
“Not everyone believes you are destined for evil, David,” Kywyn said, “and we don’t punish crimes that haven’t been committed. You are of noble birth, and you deserve your title. But you should remain vigilant, and you should never intimate that there’s any animosity between you and my son.”
David opened his mouth to argue, but nothing came out.
He’d known Sean Archer for many years and had despised him for every one of them.
None of that hate blinded him to the fact that Sean was both smart and dangerous.
Intuition had been David’s saving grace, kept him from trying to hurt Sean even when the hateful voice in his mind begged him to.
It wouldn’t be hard for David to control himself.
But Sean? Sean was impulsive, a slave to his gut instincts. Sean knew how to read a room, how to win it over with charm and an engaging smile, but if David’s unnatural memories of Lhynion were correct, Sean also knew how to kill a man in seconds with his bare hands.
The crystalline light gleamed over the ebony waves of Sean’s hair as they feathered across his forehead, messy like always. “I can hide it if you can,” he said, “though I don’t see why I should be doing you any favors.”
And this was when understanding people’s emotions came in handy—when David could, with just a few cutting words, shed a spotlight over the pinpricks of insecurity dotting everyone’s psyche, making them shine like stars.
It was a gift not to be wasted. “I don’t know, Sean.
Seems like you have a lot to prove here.
I’ve got nowhere to go but up. You? You’re starting on a pedestal. One wrong step and you fall.”
The color drained from Sean’s skin, and David congratulated himself on striking a chord.
Isobel set a hand over Sean’s. “That’s not true.”
David turned to Kywyn. “How many people are expecting me to follow in Galadaine’s footsteps?”
The older man’s mouth set in a grim line. “It doesn’t matter what they expect, David. It only matters how you react.”