“What is the point of this story, Mother?” I asked, feigning a yawn. My head began to pound, and I could not tell if it was from the earlier effects of the spell or from listening to her wicked velvet voice. “Because from where I am standing, none of this pertains to you holding a fucking gun to my wife’s temple.”
“Because I want you to understand, you ungrateful boy. I want you to realize that everything I have done has been foryou.”
“Bullshit,” I snapped, taking a step forward. I was done listening to her fabrications. “Everything you have ever done has been foryou.”
She held out one hand and shook the gun slightly for emphasis. “One more step, and I will blow her brains out.”
“You need both of us alive and willing to break the curse, so no, Mother, I do not think you will.” I strolled forward, calling her bluff. Calia’s eyes grew wide, but I hoped she could trust meenough to know I would not do anything I knew would get her killed.
But as I closed in on my mother, a blinding pain shot through my head, sending me to my knees. I could not breathe, I could not think, as I hit the stone floor. The impact reverberated through my body like a sledgehammer against concrete.
“Rion!” Calia cried out, but Leonora grabbed her hair and tugged her back.
Jasper collapsed next, clutching his head and screaming out in pain. Sloane knelt beside him, her eyes filled with worry as she screamed his name over and over. Elios’ hand hovered over Jasper’s back, lips moving too fast to discern what he was saying.
“What have you done?” I asked, baring my teeth as I looked up at my mother’s wicked visage. I searched for any hint of kindness, of the woman I wanted to believe she could have been but saw nothing but cunning cruelty.
She leaned forward. “I would have thought you figured it out by now. It seemed somewhat reckless of me at first. Your uncle certainly deemed it so, but I had little choice.”
“Get on with it,” I bit out.
Footsteps sounded behind me, and it took everything I had to turn and look at the figure emerging from the darkness. For a moment, the pain abated. It was a courtesy, I realized, as Ballard’s haunted eyes stared back at me.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
“You fuckingtraitor,” Sloane breathed, allowing Elios to take her place at Jasper’s side as she stood. Tears shimmered in her eyes, freely falling as she looked upon the man who had been like a father to her. They were not of sadness, but of anger.
Betrayal.
It was a sensation I had been all too familiar with. Experiencing it at such an early age had done nothing to lessen its keen sting as it tore through flesh and grasped my lungs.
Sloane struggled to remain upright as she whispered, “How long?”
Ballard opened his mouth to speak, his voice faltering. “Sloane, I?—”
“How. Fucking. Long?”she seethed. Sparks danced at her fingertips, a manifestation of power so raw and potent it could incinerate everyone in this room in a matter of moments if she willed it to.
Leonora cackled, drawing Sloane’s attention away from Ballard. “Oh, sweetheart, I have had Ballard under my thumb for decades.” She walked toward him and patted his cheek,watching delightfully as he turned to her with all the hate he could muster. “When I met him, he had no direction or purpose, just a worthless, wandering witch. As an elder’s son, he could have been destined for greatness, but Ballard was content to live in his father’s shadow like an indolent child until I came along.”
“She dug her talons into a vulnerable young mind, twisting and molding it until they spilled long lost secrets which were never meant to reach the ears of anyone outside the covens.”
Ballard had spoken these words only days ago, the secret confession spilling from his lips like soured wine. There had been a time when I vowed to make the traitor pay, even knowing they had likely been coerced by my mother’s evil.
But I had never imagined it would be someone I knew, or that punishing such betrayal would bring me no joy.
“It did not take long for him to open up to me.” She pouted theatrically. “Just a poor, lonely woman who understood the shame of living in someone’s shadow. And suddenly, every bit of information I had been searching for across the centuries was in the palm of my hand.”
“You were never poor,” I spat through gritted teeth.
She smiled down at me. “Perception is different from reality, is it not? And it is all too easy to make those who are weak see what you wish.”
“So, you willingly gave her our secrets?” Sloane asked, unable to tear her gaze from her uncle. “And for what? Your opportunity to shine?”
Ballard’s face fell. “I have been trying to atone for my mistakes ever since I realized what I had done, Sloane. I swear I have. If you could just listen to me?—”
“There is no time to listen!” she shouted, shaking her head. “Because from where I am, it looks like you’re standing against us,Uncle.”
“I’m afraid that is my fault, darling,” Leonora purred, eyes brimming with excitement. Everything she ever wanted was within reach—all the scheming and death and lies—it had all led to this moment in time. She gestured between Ballard and Sloane. “Youruncle—is that, right? Well, he has been hiding you from me for a very long time. And you would have remained hidden if you had not answered a desperate call from an old friend.” Her gaze slid to Jasper, who had not moved.
