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“You leaving already?” Arran said, watching me button my jacket.
“I am. Marcia?”
She unfolded her arms. “I’m staying.”
The few men left in the room looked at her with renewed respect. “I want to be useful, and I know where you’re going and I certainly won’t be useful there.”
Arran cocked his head to one side. “Where are you going?”
I paused. None of them knew about my recent discovery – that I wasn’t even a Thorn. As much as I now felt repulsed about the idea of being related to the Thorns, I knew it carried power. While ever I kept this a secret, I had a direct route into the heart of the family, which was the only way we could bring it down. The fewer people who knew the truth at this stage, the better.
“Home.”
I left Marcia with a marginally less uncomfortable-looking Jasper and drove out of the shabby municipal district and into the hills where the rich resided. I’d always been conscious of such a great divide on the island, but never more than now. I wasn’t one of the rich after all; I was one of the poor. But crossing over into Consortium territory didn’t make me feel nervous or out of place, it made me feel vengeful.
Once inside Blackcap Hall I made a beeline for the East Tower. I knew Sinclair was at the labs with Ossian, but Aro… As far as I was aware, my uncle – the man who’d been more of a father to me than Sinclair had ever been, despite knowing I was stolen goods – was home.
My stomach curled into a knot as I raised my knuckles to knock. I needed Aro’s help but had no idea of where his true loyalty lay. He’d known about me and Hector and he’d carried that secret for twenty-seven years.
Why?
The door opened before I had a chance to knock.
Before I could unleash a string of accusations and deeply piercing curse words, Aro held up a hand. “You were the key to ending this family,” he said, shocking me to the core with his calm words. “That’s why I never told you.”
My head swam with questions. “What do you think I’ve come here to ask?”
“You wanted to know if I was in on my brother’s treachery,” he replied, bluntly.
My mouth dried up and I had to remind myself to swallow. “How?”
“Adele called.”
My eyes almost popped out of my head. “You’re in touch with Adele?”
Aro glanced up and down the corridor, then held the door wide. “Let’s not have this conversation where the walls have ears, shall we?”
I walked into his living area, the early evening light coating the room gold. “I don’t understand,” I said.
Aro walked to the soft chairs around his fireplace and signalled for me to sit, which I did, numbly.
“You want to know how long I’ve known,” he said, taking a seat opposite. He settled comfortably into it, unlike me. I was as rigid as a pitchfork, ready to spear anyone I no longer trusted.
“I’ve known all along. In fact – and I’m almost ashamed to say this – I encouraged the idea.”
I shifted uncomfortably. “What idea?”
“Sinclair’s idea to buy a second heir from one of the island families.”
My chest felt weak from a sudden lack of oxygen. “Why did you encourage it?”
“Because by then it was clear Ossian was a law unto himself. There was something not right about that kid. Never has been. He’s never shown any empathy. He’s always harboured a strange taste for harming things. His moods and tempers made him impossible to raise the way we needed to if we wanted to continue the Consortium presidential legacy.”
The knot in my stomach tightened. “And you wanted to continue that legacy as much as Sinclair did?”
Aro paused and picked at the arm of his chair. “At first, yes. But for the wrong reasons. The more I was exposed to Sinclair’s style of leadership and his unsatiable greed, the more anxious I became that his rule could spell disaster for the island. And it pretty much has. We’re in a crisis situation here Rupert. Your fa—, sorry, Sinclair, is probably going to lose everything, because he simply screwed over too many people. And he hid behind Ossian. He’s bringing shame on our family. I knew it would happen eventually but you’ve helped to slow him down.”
The sound of grinding teeth echoed in the room until I became conscious of the tension that held me fast.
