Blood Tied (27 page)

I blew out a lungful of air and calmed myself down. This wasn’t easy for anyone, and I wasn’t making it any easier by getting upset. When I’d gotten control over my emotions, I continued, “Because Aiden’s not human. Your Aunt Millie was,” I finally answered. “Fae aren’t like humans or even warlocks. They are beings of pure magical energy, given life by the Gate to fulfill the duties of nature. Their bodies don’t expire like ours do.”

King Oberon reluctantly agreed. “When a fae passes, his energy returns to the Gate. We don’t wither and decay.”

“That’s what makes Aiden different. When a human or a warlock is turned, he dies and is reborn as a mindless, bloodthirsty vampyre, but that’s not what happens to fae. The curse of the
immortalitas
spell obviously works differently for them.”

“I have heard enough,” the king said. He was aware of the distrust still spreading among the fire fae. He moved his wife and me aside. “The warlock is right. I don’t know what any of this means. I’m your father, and I accept you with open arms. I always will.”

Aiden flung himself into his father’s arms. Tears streamed down his face, and a relieved smile replaced the fear he’d previously worn.

“But I’m not just your father,” he said, pulling out of the embrace. He took a step back, pain etched into each aged line of his face. “I’m also a king, responsible for the safety and welfare of my people.”

The fire fae murmured their approval while Aiden glanced back and forth from his subjects to his father. “I don’t understand.”

I did. I stepped around the king and took Aiden’s hand in mine.

“I have to make decisions for our tribe and all the fae who look to the Royal Fae Court to keep them safe.”

Queen Una grasped her husband in grief.

“You must leave,” he said. He swallowed hard, the words sticking in his throat. “And you should never return.”

I could practically hear Aiden’s heart break. He gaped at his father, unable to process the words.

“Are you stupid?” I asked. My question drew the sneers of the fae, and their swords once again returned. Even though my brothers didn’t trust Aiden, they sprinted to my side, ready to protect me. “You can’t stay here, either. The Hearthstone is gone. If you stay, you will die.”

The king waved away my concerns. “Your kind has always underestimated mine,” he said. “I would thank you for your assistance, but our world lies in ruins because of you and your Conclave.” He gestured, and a ring of fire completely surrounded us.

“What the hell?” Pierce asked. Blue lightning streaked from his clenched fists.

“Go home,” he said. The ground beneath us disappeared and for a moment we hung, suspended in the air.

“Good-bye, Dad,” Aiden managed to choke out before the five of us fell through the portal and into the void between worlds.

THE PORTAL
opened up in the middle of the living room of Blackmoor Manor, and we fell to the ground in a heap.

“Fuck!” Pierce cursed. He landed on his back, and Mason landed on top of him.

“Thanks for breaking my fall,” Mason said. Pierce cursed and shoved him off.

“Boys!” my father yelled. He charged into the room, wearing his stone armor. Our thunderous entrance had no doubt made him think the house was under attack. When he saw us on the floor, his rock form disappeared, and he sprinted to our sides. “You’re finally back. It’s been almost a week.”

I returned the confused gazes of everyone in the room. “We’ve only been gone two days.”

“All that matters is you’re safe,” he repeated over and over as he inspected each of us from head to toe.

“We’re alive,” I said without much enthusiasm. I was too busy watching Aiden. He sat up and pulled his legs to his chest, looking like a lost child.

Dad was too caught up by our return to notice my mood. He pulled Mason up from where he sat and gave him a big bear hug.

“Aw, man! Cut it out.” Mason grimaced when Dad grabbed him and delivered a huge peck to the top of his head. “I’m not broken.”

“Speak for yourself,” Drake said.

Dad pulled Drake into a giant embrace. “At least someone enjoys my fatherly concern.”

Drake hugged him back while Pierce groaned. “When did you turn into a witch?” Pierce asked.

Instead of shooting my brother a warning glance, Dad released Drake and tugged Pierce into his arms, kissing his cheek. “You’re not going to rile my temper tonight. I’m just glad you’re back in one piece.” He smacked my brother on the back of his head. A devious grin lit up his face. “But tomorrow, you’ll pay for that.”

Pierce smiled, clearly accepting the consequences.

He arched an eyebrow at Aiden, who had yet to move or say a word. “Where’s Ben?” Concern quickly replaced his delight over seeing his sons alive when everyone believed we wouldn’t return.

Instead of answering, my brothers and Drake exchanged glances. They then turned to me, expecting me to do the honors.

Dad followed their gazes. “Thad?” he asked. “What happened to Ben?”

I let out a long exhalation before filling my father in.

“Ebenezer Kane has been alive all this time? And he was here? In
my
house?”

When we all nodded, he fell back on the sofa. “You’re going to have to give me a minute,” he mumbled.

He could take as long as he wanted. Aiden needed me.

“Are you okay?” I asked, kneeling by him. He stared at the wall, but that wasn’t what he was seeing. His eyes had glassed over. He was most likely replaying the last few moments we’d spent in Otherworld.

“No,” he said.

I sat behind him and pulled him to me. His back rested against my chest as I squeezed him tight, attempting to fill the huge hole being banished from his home by his father had caused. “I know,” I finally said. “And I’m here. For whatever you need.”

“What happened?” My father stood over us. He rested his hands on his hips and studied us with the eyes of a parent. He could tell something was wrong. “Are your people okay, Aiden?”

“They’re not my people anymore,” he muttered.

Dad cocked one eyebrow at Aiden before gazing at me. “Care to explain?”

“It’s complicated,” I answered.

He turned to my brothers and Drake. “Well, someone needs to answer me. Just what the hell happened?

A voice echoed around us. “We’re interested in hearing what transpired as well.”

The Conclave blinked into existence in the middle of our living room. Gerald Wa stepped forward and lowered his hood. “I’m glad to see you’ve returned.”

“Don’t you mean surprised?” Mason asked. He hadn’t trusted the Conclave since Mabon, and the latest turn of events had me right there with him.

Gerald shot him a glance before he covered his irritation with a thin smile. “No,” he said. “I had faith you would succeed and return.”

“You’re only half right,” Pierce said.

Gerald gathered his gray robes and studied Aiden. He tilted his head to one side and a strange expression played across his face. It was a mixture of surprise and curiosity. He then sat down on the wingback chair. “Tell us what happened.”

“What would you like to hear first?” I asked. “That someone we knew turned out to be our enemy? That we couldn’t stop him from stealing the Hearthstone and possibly destroying Otherworld? Or do you want the really juicy stuff? Like the fact that Aiden has been turned into a vampyre and cast out of fairyland?” My chest heaved, and the temperature inside the room dropped.

All the anger I still harbored since Ben’s betrayal surged forth. My breath plumed out of my mouth while snow flurries fell from the ceiling. Ice formed along the windows, sending crystallized trails snaking across the panes.

“Aiden’s been turned into a what?” my father asked.

“A vampyre,” I said, speaking to Gerald instead of my father. I clenched my hands as the ground underneath me froze.

“We can discuss all those things in a moment,” Gerald answered. He wiggled his fingers, and my advancing freeze halted before completely reversing. The frozen patch of ground retreated, the ice melted on the windows, and snow stopped falling on the wooden floor. “First, we need to discuss your anger.”

“Do you think that’s wise?” I asked. The Conclave was responsible for everything we’d been through. Their lies and secrets covered an agenda.

My father tried to calm me down, but I pulled away. So what if I pissed off the Conclave? They might turn my bones to powder with a single thought, but they were the ones who needed to answer questions. Not me.

“Speak your mind,” Gerald said, lacing his fingers in front of his face. “You have much to say.”

“Why didn’t you tell us Ebenezer Kane was still alive?” I asked.

He sighed. His eyes darted back and forth in that infuriating way when he was magically communicating with the Conclave. Why couldn’t they for once just speak out loud? “Because his continued existence has been a much guarded secret. How do you think the magical community would have responded had it known such a powerful creature was still alive?”

“Why was he?” Dad asked. The distrust Mason had started and that I helped fan had begun to burn in my father. It pleased me to see he was no longer acting the part of a soldier. “We’d all been led to believe the Conclave of his time had eliminated him.”

Gerald nodded as he studied us. He and the rest of the Conclave could no doubt sense our suspicions. Only Pierce gazed at them as he always had, with respect and reverence, while Aiden still sat on the floor, not really paying attention to the world around him. “And that is what they wanted everyone to believe,” he finally said. “They instead kept him prisoner.”

As I suspected, lies compounded by cover-ups. And we were supposed to trust them? “Why the hell did they do that?” I asked. “That makes no sense whatsoever.”

“I won’t disagree,” Gerald replied. “But that was not
this
Conclave’s decision. That choice was made by those who came long before us.”

That didn’t get them off the hook.
That
Conclave might have spared him, but
this
Conclave and every Conclave since that time had kept him alive. “You allowed him to live.”

“Because we needed him in case the
immortalitas
spell was ever uttered again,” he said. He realized only the truth would turn this around. The Conclave might be the most powerful of us all, but they needed us as much as we needed them. “Though steps were taken to eradicate the knowledge of that incantation from every book of spells in existence, we couldn’t guarantee it would not somehow be unearthed. If it ever was, we could use our studies of Ebenezer Kane through the years to find a way to combat a new horde of vampyren. Or at the very least use blood magic to make him do our bidding to even the odds.”

I couldn’t believe my ears, and neither could the rest of my family. My father’s lips moved but no sound issued forth. Mason shook his head in disbelief. Even Pierce clued in on the magnitude of what Gerald had just revealed.

The Conclave had broken their laws by using blood magic on Ben.

“You were the ones who taught him blood magic.” I pronounced every word as an indictment. “That explains why Ben knew how to cast it. By using it on him all these years, you inadvertently taught him everything he needed to know to cast it himself, and you made him even more powerful than he was.”

“We realize that,” Gerald admitted. “Now.”

Pierce finally found his voice. “You’re the ones who forbade blood magic to begin with.”

“And we still do,” he said, rising from the chair. He crossed to me, his gray eyes wide with friendship. His gaze pleaded with me to remember he was my friend, not my enemy, and I did my best. While Gerald had kept secrets, he’d most likely done it at the will of the majority. He’d proven to me he was willing to help when he could.

I had to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“I know you think our decisions foolish, and perhaps they are.” The eight robed figures behind him mumbled. He shushed them, then gripped my hands in his and held them tight. “But we were doing what we thought best to protect our kind. That was our only motive.”

I could buy that. Sometimes those in charge had to act against the principles they’d established to protect the greater good. That was what Aiden’s father had just done. It was true of any government, and like human politics, the Conclave was flawed. They knew that, and now they knew we knew that. It was a start.

“Did you know Ben was Ebenezer Kane?” I asked.

“Goodness, no!” he said. His eyes grew wide, and he seemed offended that the thought had crossed my mind. Either he was a good actor, or he was telling the truth. I had to believe it was the latter and not the former. “Had we known, we would have immediately taken care of it. We had no clue where Ebenezer Kane was once we discovered his empty cell. We could only hope his whereabouts and plans would be stopped. That was why we sent only you and your brothers to Otherworld. If he attacked while you were gone, and there were no protector covens around, the Gate would have been too easy a target for him.”

“But he was with us,” I said. “And what he wanted was there. Why did he take the Hearthstone? What can he do with it?”

Gerald scanned the air for several minutes. The rest of the Conclave didn’t want him to answer. “I can’t say,” he said after glaring over his shoulder at his brethren. “But I will tell you that by itself, the Hearthstone is useless to him.”

“So what does he need to make it useful?” my father asked.

“That is a discussion for another time,” he quickly answered. That meant he would say no more, no matter how much we pushed. I had to accept that. For now. “Our present goal will be to locate Ebenezer and take back the Hearthstone. That will eliminate any threat and prevent whatever he might be planning.”

“And what about the fae?” Aiden asked. He approached us, his shoulders slumped and misery etched onto his face. I took his hand, lacing his fingers with mine. He straightened in response to my touch. Gloom still held him in its tenacious grip.

“The fae will not perish, but Otherworld will continue to die without the Hearthstone,” he answered. Gerald glanced at our joined hands, and a strange smile spread across his lips. “If we can find it and return it, your world will rebuild itself.”