That cut deep inside the infected wounds of Theodore’s soul. He’d always known his father despised him, but to see this resurrected corpse confuse the abomination Amara referenced as Theodore, purely because he knew his father found him utterly disgusting.
“I am referring to the Slave King of Hell,” Amara snapped.
That horrifying moniker sent a shiver through Caleb. This title of king, of slave, of Hell itself belonged to him, and he had no idea what it meant. What it truly meant. Was he supposed to rule over the demons? Was he meant to serve beneath them? Would he reign or suffer if Amara completed this wretched ritual?
He wouldn’t have to find out those answers. I’d kill her the instant an opportunity presented itself.
“You and me both, friend.” Theodore lifted his gaze to the ceiling, his haunting blue eyes turned a bit glossy, but any sadness that touched his heart vanished just as quickly.
“I couldn’t sacrifice, Tate,” Tobias’ corpse spoke with a soft fondness. “He was my baby boy.”
Amara scoffed. “You named it.”
The vulnerability of his words and the lack of protection his mind held as a mere living corpse opened his thoughts to me. They were fragmented, already stained with bile and rot, but some came in crystal clear.
Flashes of an exhausted Amara, pained and crying as she delivered her children. A sweaty, exhausted mother holding her small babe, the infant who held her heart. She cradled baby Tara with a softness I’d never seen on the cruel witch’s face.
However, when Tobias presented his baby boy, Caleb, she turned away, refusing to acknowledge him.
“I took him to the Gate of Hell,” Tobias continued. “I followed the ritual as you commanded. When the envoy arrived, these demons stepped into our world, hatred and filth, and they dared to take my child.”
Amara glowered.
“I banished them, then sealed the Gate.”
“Leaving me none the wiser.” Amara tsked. “And you hid him under my nose?”
“Found a branchless witch who wanted a child,” Tobias said. “Came from a family of branchless witches. Provided an altered birth certificate with a new date. Kept him in Chicago. Good place to hide him. He was close enough to cloak if you came looking, far enough to avoid suspicion.”
Caleb listened intently, haunted by more questions than answers. There were few things he remembered about his mother, but he very clearly recalled the day she left him.
“It’s just not working out,” Caleb’s mother had said, tousling his hair. “It’s not you, it’s me. I’m just not cut out for the mommy thing.”
Christ. The way Caleb’s mother abandoned him came across like a bad breakup line. It’d never haunted him before, finding joy with grandparents who showered him with love. He’d also believed in offering people grace when they had shortcomings. The way he saw her abandonment as a shortcoming instead of a failure astonished me. But now he believed himself the cause of her leaving.
“Do you regret it?” Caleb asked, calling out to Tobias. “Not sacrificing me?”
My heart dropped, wanting desperately to call out to Caleb and reassure him here and now, but I only had one chance to surprise Amara. If I took a misstep now, losing the opportunity of an advantage, he and Tara would suffer for my error.
Caleb craved an answer from Tobias, knowing so little of the man, but understanding he possessed a cruel streak. He thought so little of branchless witches, he’d pushed Tara to her limits to master her many magics, and Caleb sank into this despair that maybe the world would’ve been better if he’d been given to Hell.
“Never,” Tobias wheezed. “Tate is a Whitlock. Destined for greatness. I mostly watched from afar, careful and cautious.”
It became clear from the memories soaked in this corpse that Tobias sent Tara to Gemini specifically because he learned of Caleb’s interest in the academy. Had he pulled strings to get them assigned to the same homeroom coven?
“Tate did so well on his own,” Tobias said with a crack of his jaw as his body struggled to function. “Perfected a root magic. Excelled in an academy surrounded by branches far superior. Never deterred. Barely required my help to get into Gemini, whereas Tara required a significant endowment for her acceptance.”
Caleb was stunned to learn he hadn’t earned his place in Gemini Academy. Tobias Whitlock had bought it.
That was a lie. Even if Tobias nudged, he must’ve done so incredibly discreetly. Caleb earned his place. He fought day in and day out to prove he deserved to attend Gemini.
I wanted to reach out and strangle that corpse, slap these memories back to wherever Tobias was rotting. How dare he diminish Caleb’s hard work?
“I even took Amara’s proxy for Theodore, found real use for the doctor.”
“Kendall?” Amara asked with a small smile, probably reminiscing about how she had slaughtered the woman for leading Theodore astray. “You pushed for her branchless research to what end?”
“To give Tate a branch of his own one day,” Tobias answered. “He is sophisticated, stellar without a branch, so I imagine he would do truly great things if gifted with the Whitlock inheritance of power. Magic which is rightfully—”
