Chapter 46
Cece
Iglance between Xan and Alistir, my heart pounding.
“Is this true?” The words tear out of me, sharp and raw, aimed straight at the man who gave me life .
. . and took so much of it away without a word.
A man I don’t know. A man who shattered everything I thought I understood about myself with a single truth he should have told me years ago. And now this.
I search his face, desperate for something that makes sense . . . remorse, explanation, anything . . . but all I get is one word.
“Yes.”
That’s it. Just that. Like it’s enough. Like it doesn’t carry the weight of decades.
Something in me buckles. My knees, my stomach, my breath—everything just gives. The world feels off-kilter, and I feel hollow and unsteady. I can’t process this. Not fully. Not yet. Maybe never.
Luc is beside me in an instant, slipping an arm around me to keep me upright. Even hurt, he’s the one holding me up.
I look up at Luc, and his expression mirrors the feeling inside me . . . fury, betrayal, disgust. All of it trained on Alistir.
On my father. Xan’s father.
And then, like a tidal wave crashing through me, it hits.
I have a brother.
Xan is my brother.
All these years I thought I was alone, wandering through life without roots, without family. After losing my parents, I believed that was it. That I had no one.
But I did.
I do.
I had a brother all along. I had a father. And I could’ve known them. I could’ve grown up knowing Xanther, not as some stranger, but as my family.
But Alistir stole that from me. From us.
My chest tightens with fury.
“I will never forgive you,” I say, my voice shaking with restrained rage. “You denied us a relationship. A family. Do you even understand the destruction you’ve caused?”
The words come out jagged, choked with emotion. And I mean every one of them.
“I know,” he murmurs weakly. “I never wanted to hurt you. Either of you. You’re my children, and I love you both.”
Xan and I laugh . . . bitter, and in perfect unison.
“Oh, is that how it works?” Xan snaps. “You had me, then met Cece’s mother and just . . . what? Walked away from your first child? Abandoned our realm? Then, right on cue, you disappeared on them, too?”
His voice is sharp, laced with fury, but beneath it, I hear the pain. I know it well. I feel it, too.
“No, that’s not how it happened.” Alistir’s eyes flick between us, pain etched into every line of his face.
“There’s so much you don’t understand. I never stopped wanting to be part of your lives—never.
The only reason I stepped away was to protect you both.
There are forces at work you can’t even imagine.
Aris and the Surgers aren’t the real threat—they’re just pawns serving something much bigger.
Something that’s been controlling them, and for some reason, they now believe Chloe is the key. ”
His eyes dart quickly between Xan and me.
“I’ve been trying to uncover who they are and why they believe that.
My absence was never about a lack of love.
It was the only way to keep you safe. But when your signature surfaced through the warp, I knew they’d found a trail—and that I had to reach you first. All I’ve ever wanted was a chance to explain properly. Please let me do that.”
Again, he looks at me, then at Xan, searching for even a flicker of understanding.
He won’t find it in me. Not yet.
Luc steps in before the silence stretches too far. “We need to unpack this later. Right now, let’s move; the police won’t be far behind.”
Xan scoffs, the sharpness in his voice barely masked. “Luc’s right. This twisted family reunion will have to wait.”
With Luc’s hand still resting lightly on my back and Xan guiding Kate, we make our way quickly toward the exit. Once we step outside, we head to the end of the street where Luc flags down a cab pulling up to the curb.
I glance back just in time to see Xan gesture for Alistir to give us some space. I think I catch Alistir saying something about looking deeper into the threat and returning soon. Then Xan leans in and whispers something I can’t quite make out.
Whatever it is, it stops our father cold.
He turns on his heel and walks away without another word.
The cab ride is silent. Not the comfortable kind, either. This is the kind weighed down by too many revelations and too much left unsaid. It’s just so much damage to process all at once.
Kate’s the one who finally speaks. “Cece, can I stay with you tonight? I just don’t think I can—”
I take her hand in mine before she can finish. “Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
She nods, a flicker of gratitude in her smile before it fades. She leans into Xan, resting her head on his shoulder.
My mind keeps racing. I can’t stop looking at him, at the details of his face.
The shape of his nose. The curve of his mouth.
Similar enough to mine that I wonder . .
. if we walked down the street together, would people assume we’re siblings?
Our eyes are different, and the hair too, but the resemblance is there.
“Hey,” Luc says gently, pulling me out of my thoughts. His eyes are full of concern. “You’re going to be okay.”
“Yeah,” I say, managing a smile. “I know.”
When we arrive back at the apartment, the group settles into the living room, and I slip out to the fire escape alone, needing air and a moment to make sense of the night. The city stretches out quietly below me, a small mercy after the madness.
I startle when the window slides open and expect Luc, but Xan steps out and leans against the railing beside me.
“So . . .” he breathes, the word more an exhale than a question.
“Yeah. Should we address the elephant on the balcony?” I say, a half-smile nudging at my lips to ease the awkwardness.
He looks at me, serious now. “I’m furious with Alistir.
I could damn well break him. And damn, Cece, I want to know everything.
Your childhood. Your mom. All the things we missed by not being in each other’s lives.
But then, another part of me is just . .
. happy. I’ve got something I never had before.
Not by blood, at least. Family. And I’m glad it’s you. ”
Tears slip down my cheeks as his words sink in, but I brush them away quickly because I don’t want that to be what this moment is about.
“Me too, Xan. Just a few weeks ago, I told Luc he was lucky to have you in his corner—the way I have Kate. Chosen family and all that. But now I get you, too. Blood family. And whether by blood or by choice, I feel lucky right now.”
He smiles, eyes dropping to his boots, and it makes me smile too—this incredibly powerful warrior, my brother, suddenly shy.
“So,” he says, “I’d like to spend some time with you. Get to know you. Like you said, we’ve got a lot to catch up on. Especially since you’ve existed, what, a thousand years before me?”
That earns a grin. “Try about five hundred fifty years older. Get it right—don’t age me prematurely,” he counters, all sass. Then he pulls me into a warm hug.
I laugh. And though tonight has been the hardest in my life, in this moment, my heart feels full.
I head back inside and make my way to the kitchen to put on a pot of tea. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Luc flinch. He lifts his shirt, wincing as he checks the damage. A massive bruise is already developing across his side, dark and spreading.
“Oh God, Luc,” I say, alarmed. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”
Xan chuckles under his breath. “To us, your medicine would be equivalent to asking a medieval barber-surgeon for help . . . amputations, bloodletting, and all.”
I let out a resigned sigh. “Alright. Point taken.”
After handing Xan and Kate each a cup of chamomile tea, I sit down beside Luc.
“I’ll be fine,” he says. “I’ll get healed up quickly.”
I wrap my hands around the mug, letting the warmth seep into my fingers as I process what he just said. “So . . . does that mean you’re leaving?”
I search his face, dreading the answer I already feel coming.
A shadow passes over his features, his jaw setting, his eyes darkening with disappointment.
“Just for a little while,” he says gently.
“I’ll see our medic and make sure things with Aris are handled.
What he did—orchestrating an attack on you—directly violates the High Laws.
He’s not allowed to interfere in conflicts involving beings from another realm.
Or in general. That kind of act can’t go unanswered. And I’ll make sure it doesn’t.”
“What does that mean, Luc?” I ask, the words catching in my throat.
He reaches out, his fingers brushing along the curve of my jaw, then trailing slowly to the corner of my mouth. The gesture is tender. His eyes—electric blue, taking me back to our first night—lock with mine.
“It means,” he says, his voice low, “I will let no one hurt you. Ever again. And that starts with him.”
Then he leans in.
His lips meet mine with a softness that steals the breath from my lungs. It’s not rushed, not desperate. It’s purposeful. Like this moment matters more than anything else.
His hand cradles the side of my face, his thumb grazing my cheek as his mouth deepens the kiss, coaxing a response from me I can’t hold back. Heat coils low in my chest, and for a few seconds, everything else fades—the pain, the fear, the looming goodbye.
There’s only the press of his lips.
And the way he tastes faintly like tea and adrenaline.
When we part, my heart stumbles in my chest. The thought of him leaving again makes my throat tighten, the weight of it nearly bringing tears to my eyes.
I hear Kate mention the Surgers while talking to Xan, and something tightens in my chest. I haven’t asked the one question that’s been quietly gnawing at me.
“The Surgers,” I say, my voice quieter than I expect. “Will the rest of them come for me? Are we . . . safe now?” I look at Luc, but I speak loudly enough that Xan hears too. I need the truth, even if it’s hard to hear.