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“I wanted to prove to her that I’d still want her, no matter if the prophecy came true or not,” I told him. “So, I kissed her, and when she immediately melted in my arms, she accused me of doing something to her. She claimed there was something in my kiss making her compliant.” I ran a hand through my dark hair. “I’ve kissed lots of women in my lifetime, and that’s the first time that it wasn’t just a kiss.”
“Mora Kamra is also an empath, Kalon,” he said. “She felt you’re need for her when you kissed her. It’s something that…that’s going to be a struggle for you, son.”
I could feel my hand grip the phone violently. “What does that mean?”
Brander let out a deep sigh. “When I changed you…” Another sigh. “I never intended to change you, Kalon,” he admitted, and I could feel myself taken aback by such a confession. “I’d been feasting that night. My intent had been to kill you.”
“Why didn’t you?” I asked, shocked and angry.
“I did,” he answered pointedly. “I drained you completely, Kalon. You should have died from your mortal wounds that night.”
When we changed someone, a measurable amount of blood had to still be left in the body. There had to be enough blood to carry our venom throughout a person’s blood stream. Our venom had to permeate every living cell that made up the human form or else they’d just die. If you drank a victim dry, then they died because there was nothing left to distribute our poison.
“When you came to, I’d been…shocked,” Brander continued. “I’d also been terrified for the first time in centuries. Human and vampire, I’ve always believed in everything happening for a reason, so you not dying meant that you were destined for something greater than any of us could ever be.” He sighed again over the phone. “I’d known it with my first taste, but there’d been something in your blood that wouldn’t let me stop, even if I’d wanted to. You tasted different, and I should have known.”
“Do Phaeron and Thorin know about this?”
“Yes, they do,” he answered honestly, and no wonder they let Brander rule uncontested. If Brander was scared of me, then it stood to reason that Phaeron and Thorin were, too. “When we found out about Mora, everything started clicking in place. You were meant for Mora, Kalon.”
“That still doesn’t explain why she felt so affected by my kiss,” I snapped, feeling betrayed by his silence. For years, I’d had to listen to how I was different, but whenever I’d asked Brander how, he’d lie and say that he didn’t know; he justfeltit.
“Everything about the prophecy is true, Kalon,” he said. “But…we left one part out.”
Oh, for fuck’s sakes.
“I’m losing my patience, Brander,” I warned.
“It was also said that only the immortal of the immortals would be able to capture the visionary of darkness,” he explained, and I felt like I was about to set the world on fire with my rage. “It was prophesied that once the immortal of the immortals captured the visionary of darkness, their gifts would become two halves of a whole, separation causing the world to end in destruction.”
“And that’s why you didn’t tell me,” I seethed. “You didn’t tell me because you knew that I would never bond myself to her if I knew that I wouldn’t be able to live without her. That’s why Phaeron had advised me to turn her immediately. That’s why he’d been in California, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” he answered. “He’s been paranoid ever since Hugo told us about Emmaline’s pregnancy. He feared that you wouldn’t go through with it.”
“I wouldn’t have,” I snapped.
“Kalon, calm down-”
“Don’t tell me to fucking calm down!” I roared. “You used me!”
“I didnotuse you,” he lied. “You’re still my son, and I still love you.”
“Bullshit!”
Just then, Mora’s screams pierced through the room.
“She’s waking?”
“I’ll talk to you later-”
“Kalon?”
“What?” I snapped.
“No matter what you decide next, keep in mind that youcannotlive without her now,” he said, and my stomach tightened with what he was saying. “Just the same way that she cannot live without you.” I could hear him sigh again. “Whatever happens, you and Mora are in this together. Do you understand what I’m telling you, son?”
I closed my eyes as Mora’s screams kept rattling my eardrums. “They’re going to come after us,” I said without any infliction in my voice. “They’re going to hear about us, and whoever feels threatened by what we are, they’re going to come after us.”
“And we’ll be waiting for them, Kalon,” he said firmly. “No matter how pissed off you are at me right now, you’re still my son, I’m still your father, and we’re still your family.”
