“Alex?” he whispered. “What are you doing here?”
Uriel’s image shifted between his usual early thirties, handsome, brown-haired male, and a distinguished older male with mostly silver hair. Uriel was Alex? How did none of us see through his deception?
“Hello, Nick,” Uriel said, a smile curling his lips. “Sorry for the abrupt revelation.”
“I don’t understand.” Nick looked between us, confusion etched across his face. “What's happening?”
Nick understood, he just didn’t want to accept what he’d learned. “Evidently, Uncle Uriel has pretended to be Alex all these years to watch over you.”
“Did you know?” Nick asked.
The accusation stung, but it was deserved. I could promise to tell him everything, but that didn’t change all the lies I’d told in the past. “No. I haven’t seen Uncle Uriel in decades, and I never met Alex. I had no idea until now.”
Vicky, Trevor, and Brenda hovered in the doorway, watching the exchange with a mixture of awe and apprehension. Behind them, Zeke and Orion had arrived, looking as confused as everyone else.
“Alex.” The pain in Nick’s voice mirrored the emotions rolling off him. “How…? Why?”
Uriel sighed, his shoulders dropping slightly. For a moment, he actually looked sorry. Then it faded. “I’m here because no one else can give you the answers you seek.”
I felt Nick's shock like a physical blow through our bond. This wasn't just any revelation—this was betrayal layered upon betrayal. Alex had been his mentor, his surrogate father, the one constant support he'd had since moving to D.C.
“Everything was all an act.” Nick’s body language changed. “You’ve been lying to me since… since I was born. Even today, when I was coming to you for help. And you made others lie to me. Why should I trust anything you tell me?”
Any decent person would be ashamed of what happened to Nick, but Uriel showed no sign he regretted his actions. “I did what was necessary to keep you safe, Nick.”
“Necessary?” Nick's voice cracked. “Everything about my life is a lie! My powers, what I am, and now you—” He broke off, shaking his head in disbelief.
I reached for Nick's hand. He pulled away, and the rejection stung. Through our connection, I felt betrayal, anger, confusion, and beneath it all, a deep, aching hurt. A moment later, he slipped his fingers around mine. The contact eased some of his pain.
“I hope in time you can trust me, but I didn’t come here expecting you’d embrace me as a friend.” Uriel's expression softened, but he was still unrepentant. “I plan to tell everyone the entire story tonight. Whether you believe it or not is up to you.”
Given my interactions with Uncle Uriel, and his concern for Nick, I’d unconsciously taken his “side” in his dispute with Michael. Uriel turned out to be just as big a dick as his brother. They were both cold and calculating. The only difference was Uriel had helped me keep Nick alive. “We should listen to what he says,” I said to Nick. “We’ve been trusting his visions and following his plans for years. This is our chance to find out why he made those decisions.”
Nick was angry, and I feared he’d let that antagonism influence whether or not to listen to Uriel. If he decided he didn’t want to hear what my uncle had to say, I’d stay and ask all the questions Nick put to me that I couldn’t answer.
“Fine,” Nick said, but he refused to look at anyone.
Raphael and Wallace arrived on the second floor. Unlike everyone else, Raphael didn’t appear surprised by Uriel's presence. “Sorry I didn’t come up when you arrived,” Raphael said. “Wallace and I were securing the D’val and making sure its handlers couldn’t track it.”
“Ralph?” Nick whispered as if trying to equate the two. I was glad I remembered to include that fact in our discussion.
“Hello, Nick.” Unlike his brother, Raphael sounded remorseful. “I’m truly sorry for all the deceptions. We did asmuch as we could to support you, but our first concern was keeping you alive.”
“People keep saying that,” Nick said. “Why would anyone want to kill me? I’m no one special.”
“That was the point,” Uriel said. “No one wanted to kill Nicholas Fenton.”
“But I’m Nicholas Fenton.” He looked around the room, and ended with me. “Aren’t I?”
“No.” Uriel said.
That one word broke Nick. He’d endured loneliness and rejection from his family, but he still clung to them because it was all he had. Now he didn’t even have them.
“Michael and Gabriel will be here soon,” Raphael said. “Perhaps we should move to the study, and wait for them to have this discussion.”
Uriel must’ve agreed with his brother because he led the way downstairs. The rest of us stood there for a moment until I shrugged. “I guess if we want answers, we need to follow.”
“My apologies, but it will be better if we moved,” Raphael appeared contrite. “When Michael gets here, he is going to be exceedingly angry with Uriel and myself. Best if we don’t have that encounter in the upstairs hallway.”
