Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

W e moved the conversation to the dining table so that everyone could have a seat, and Curi and Touron carried the sofa with Selas on it closer so that she could be involved if need be.

By the time everyone was settled, I'd had a chance to gather my thoughts. I fixed my attention on Lionel, seated opposite me, and began. "When we said that we hid in the tunnels, we lied. We were taken by the graynites."

"What? But how?—"

"They saved us. You know their leader. His name is Ivor Basque."

All the color drained from Lionel's face, and I could see his mind working, putting together the pieces, probably wondering how much I now knew about our true relationship.

He wouldn't have to wonder for long. "I know you're not my father."

He swallowed hard. "Cameron, you don't understand, I?—"

"I understand perfectly now. You're my brother, and Ivor is my father. He told?—"

"You can't trust him! He's a soulless monster who killed my mother and?—"

"No. He didn't. But you killed mine, didn't you?" This wasn't how I'd planned to bring up Melanie's death, but the words were out now and couldn't be taken back.

He flinched, eyes flaring. "How…" He swallowed hard and sighed. "It doesn't matter how. Tell me what you know, and I swear to you I'll fill in the blanks."

"You blackmailed Carter and Travani into kidnapping my mother and holding her hostage at the academy. You had them take me from her, then you had them poison her."

The temperature in the room dropped, and a chill swept up my spine.

He squeezed his eyes shut. "The drug was meant to wipe Melanie's memories, not kill her. She had an allergic reaction to something in it, and…I didn't intend to kill her."

"But you did intend to take my child," Melanie said from the kitchen island.

Lionel's face froze in shock, then he slowly turned his head to look at her. "Oh…Melanie…How…" Comprehension colored his features. "You've been here…all this time?"

"You didn't know?" I stared at him in confusion. "Didn't you ever hear about the resident ghost?"

"I did, I just…I didn't realize…"

Melanie's smile was brittle. "I would say it's good to see you again, but that would be a lie."

The way he was looking at her, devouring her with his gaze… "How well did you know each other?"

"Lionel was in love with me," Melanie said.

"I was," Lionel said. "But you never felt the same way."

"Is that why you kept tabs on me? Watched me? Is that how you found out about my liaison with Ivor?"

Lionel closed his eyes and exhaled. "I had you watched to keep you safe."

"From what? Life?"

He looked uncomfortable. "Maybe my motives were selfish. I wanted to know what you were doing…How you were doing when not…not with me. I knew I couldn't have you, but I needed you to be happy. Safe. When the pictures came in and I saw Ivor, I reached out to you."

Melanie looked at me. "He came to see me. I thought it was a friendly visit, inquiring about my life. I thought we were friends." This she aimed at Lionel. "I see now you wanted to get close to Ivor. Except Ivor was gone by then. You continued to keep me under surveillance, didn't you?" She flickered and appeared closer to him. "You found out I was pregnant." Another flicker and she was standing right next to him. "Then you took my baby!" she screamed in his face, her visage distorting for a moment, eye sockets darkening and maw elongating.

"Don't!" I reached for her, but my fingers passed through her icy spectral form. "Don't lose yourself, Mum."

Her face morphed back to normal, and she looked at me in awe. "You called me mum…"

I swallowed past the lump in my throat. "I did. Because you are. And I'm so fucking sorry you didn't get to raise me. So sorry for what happened, and I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive Lionel for what he did to you, but I don't want you to suffer any more for it. I don't want you to lose yourself to vengeance."

She pulled away from him, her ghostly form flickering. "I won't. I swear it."

"I was trying to save you," Lionel said to Melanie. "Save you from the monster that killed my mother and from the abomination that I thought might be growing in your belly."

"You could have spoken to me," she said. "Told me the truth."

"I didn't know what kind of hold he might have on you. I made a choice. I realize now it was the wrong choice because Cameron is an amazing woman. I'm sorry, so sorry for taking her away from you."

Melanie vanished then reappeared by the island again. "Keep her safe. Keep her alive, and I might find my way to forgiving you…eventually."

Lionel's shoulders sagged. "Yes, I can do that. I want to do that."

Melanie nodded before misting into nothing, her energy to manifest spent for now. But she was still in the room with us, I could feel her, and I had more questions, answers to which I was sure Melanie would be interested in.

"Who was the woman you had raise me?"

"An old lover. A good friend. She'd lost her husband and child in an accident, and you were a blessing to her. When she died, I didn't want you to be without family, and so I sent Romi to find you, although he never realized I'd orchestrated it. I took you from your mother because I thought you might be a graynite, but you weren't. You were human and goyle. A miracle that shouldn't have existed because it's impossible for a graynite to procreate with a human. So I kept you hidden from the council. I was afraid if they discovered your existence, they might experiment on you."

"But I am different. I've changed, and it's because of the fae blood I got from my mother."

Lionel exhaled heavily. "So that's why he was able to procreate with Melanie." His lips turned down. "He beguiled Melanie. And I wager he's done the same to you too, Cameron. Whatever he's said, it's a lie. He's a murderer and?—"

"No, Lionel. Everything you've been told about what happened back then is a lie."

He opened his mouth to argue.

"Listen to her," Serath snapped.

Lionel sat back with a sigh and a nod.

I told him about the curse, about the sacrifice his parents made for the greater good. I told him about the shedim and how they were allies until the faction rose to discredit them. "The war we've been waging is a lie. The faction is our true enemy, and they're preparing to open the rift. We've got to stop them." I explained how Serath was vital to the faction's plot and how we hoped to lure them out. Finally, I looked to Selas to tell her part. She did so, her tone weary and weak.

Lionel listened intently, absorbing everything.

Finally, we were done. He had all the information that we did, and I was talked out.

"We were told about the curse," Lionel said. "That it was cast to help us fight the gray. We were told the graynites came from that curse—gargoyles who lost their souls. We were told that once the rift was closed, the graynites turned on us. All this time, I thought my father killed my mother after losing his soul. That he remained him, just without any sense of morality or empathy. I never realized killing her was a sacrifice they both made to initiate the curse. The same sacrifice that took his soul from him. I never realized that this powerful force they made a deal with were the shedim. My father is truly dead…"

And a shedim lived in Ivor's body now. Yes, he finally understood the truth of it.

"We need your help," Serath said. "We need to get Ulrickson alone, somewhere secure."

"I could call him," Levi said. "But if he's with the faction, they may be watching him. He might be followed. We can't be sure."

"Is there somewhere completely secure that we could speak to him?" Orix asked.

Lionel mulled this over for several seconds. "The list you've shown me might not be complete. And everyone on it is in positions of power, so this web could be much larger than anticipated. I'm afraid that there may not be any truly secure place to call him."

"What about our Asteria residence?" Selas said.

"And how would we justify getting him there?" Orix said.

An idea formed in my mind. "Levi, what about your mother? Ulrickson's still carrying a torch for her, right?"

Levi made a face. "So it seems."

"Then it wouldn't be strange for them to have dinner together, right?"

"Viola's in Asteria?" Serath said, picking up my train of thought.

"Yes! And if anyone is watching Ulrickson, they'll soon get bored and chalk it up to him being on a date."

"Then we somehow lure him to the house?" Orix said. "But how?"

"The existence of the elite residence isn't common knowledge," Serath said. "We acquired it ourselves. It isn't on any official books, so if Levi's mother takes Ulrickson there, then they'll simply believe the two of them are…um…liaising."

Levi groaned. "I get it. I'll speak to her."

"I'd like to be there when you question Ulrickson," Lionel said. "I need to know what could possibly make him turn traitor."

I had an inkling. A feeling that it had something to do with what happened with Serath's parents, but I'd keep my mouth shut on my suspicions for now.

"We'll need a way to get to the house without arousing suspicion," Shar said. "If the faction wants Serath, then the tower is probably being watched."

"Which means they'd have seen Selas arrive," Touron said tightly.

"They would have seen me arrive too," Lionel said, chewing on his cheeks. "All right, hear me out. I'll report in saying that Cameron called me when Selas arrived here wounded. I'll say that Selas is hurt and confused and seems to have no memory of how she got here. I'll check in with her father and assure him that his daughter is safe but seems to have experienced some memory loss from a head wound she must have sustained on her journey."

"Perfect," Orix said. "That'll buy us time."

"We still need to find a way of getting to the Asteria house without being seen," Shar said.

Lionel snapped his fingers. "A port from inside the tower. I have someone I trust implicitly who can create an orb for us. He created the port to the elite trial."

"Doran?" Orix said.

"Yes. I had him personally vetted."

"But the port was compromised, wasn't it?" Shar said. "We got stuck there."

Lionel shook his head. "Doran was responsible for the port to the elite trial location. Another member of port management was supposed to get you out. They went missing. The authorities are looking into it…apparently." He didn't seem too convinced about that. "In the end, we called in Doran to open a port to the location, and that's when we discovered what had happened. I'll need the coordinates to the house, and he can prepare the orb."

"We can do that," Selas said.

"Good, then I'll make a point to check in on Selas tomorrow evening." Lionel smiled. "It would be the responsible thing to do."

"Okay," Serath said. "Then we have a plan."

All we needed to do now was execute it.