Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
“I had nowhere to go before,” I counter. “You knew I wasn’t going back to the Order. But if I had family, I could leave.”
“If you had family, I would take you to them,” he says and I don’t want to be stupid and believe him. “But you don’t, Wren.”
“Everyone has a family. I literally couldn’t be born if I didn’t.”
“You know what I mean,” he continues. “Your parents and your aunt were killed the day you were taken.”
“How would you know?”
“I looked into it,” he presses.
“And what? You just expect me to believe it?” I widen my eyes and shake my head. “What’s my last name then?”
“Wren,” he tries. “This isn’t going to solve anything.”
“Yes, it will!” I reply, voice getting high pitched. “I deserve to know where I came from!”
“I tend to agree,” Devon says apprehensively and Xavier growls.
“Why won’t you tell me?” My brows furrow and I look at Xavier. “If you really know, why wouldn’t you tell me? I don’t believe you.”
“You really want to know?”
“Yes!”
“You won’t like what I have to say.”
“I probably won’t believe what you have to say.”
“Wren,” he tries, and I can tell he’s losing his patience.
“Tell me,” I say through gritted teeth and the light above us starts to hum as they grow brighter.
“You need to learn to listen.”
“No,” I snap. “My locator spell worked. My parents are somewhere on the East coast and I’m going to find them.”
“You will find their corpses, because they are dead!”
“I asked to find my blood. Corpses don’t have blood.”
Xavier steps in. “I am trying to protect you, Wren.”
“Keeping the truth from me is hurting, not helping.”
“You are impossible,” he snarls, fangs coming down. He takes the book from me and turns, going to the counter and loudly setting the book down. “Fine. Have it your way.” He comes back, stopping just inches from me. Electricity radiates off of him, pulsing through me. “Your name is Florence Blackwood.”
I gasp. Vivian was telling the truth. Which means my parents are alive. They have to be.
“Your mother was Felicity Blackwood and your father was David Walker. He took your mother’s last name because the Blackwood line of witches was more respected. Your mother’s younger sister—your aunt—Francine, was with them in Italy at the time the Order of the Mystic Realm gave Vivian and Marco Russo the order to kill everyone in their way so they could get to you. You weren’t born in Italy, but your family was vacationing there at the time. The Order thought it would be easier to catch everyone off guard while they were out enjoying Rome and having a good time. Marco fired the first shot and put a bullet in your father’s head from a rooftop across the street.” He raises his eyebrows. “Want me to keep going?”
My body has gone numb. No, this isn’t what happened. Vivian and Marco might have taken me, but they didn’t slaughter my family to do so. They couldn’t.
“My parents are alive,” I say again.
“They’re not, Wren.” Xavier brushes my hair back and wipes away a tear I didn’t realize had run down my cheek. “I am sorry to have to be the one to tell you this. Your parents and your aunt are dead. They’ve been dead for nearly twenty-five years.”
“Why me?” I ask, voice breaking. “Why…why would the Order?” I shake my head, refusing to believe it. There has to be someone in my direct line then that caused the spell to work. Someone alive.
“I don’t know,” Xavier says gently. “Knowing the Order, it was strategic more than personal.”
Feeling like I might pass out, I put a hand on Xavier’s chest and close my eyes. His hand lands on the small of my back, bringing me comfort. I want to believe him. I want to trust him. More than anything, I want to have a person that is a true ride or die, being the loyal and loving partner to me that I know I can be to them.
But this doesn’t make sense.
The locator spell was specifically done to show me my parents. And it did.
“Hey,” Mabel says, softly knocking on my doorframe. I’m sitting on my bed, flipping through the book. “You okay?”
She doesn’t need to tell me that she overheard everything that was said only a few moments ago. Vampire hearing is ten times better than humans and she easily heard every single word that was spoken even if she wasn’t intentionally listening.
“Yeah. I think so.”
“It’s okay to not be okay sometimes,” she says and comes into the room.
“I know. I guess I’ve been trained to not show emotions because it can be seen as a sign of weakness.”
“Not letting yourself feel anything is the real sign of weakness. You’re avoiding what’s scary because it’s easier to just ignore those feelings than deal with them.”