“What the fuck?” I whispered brokenly, glaring at the man who’d raised me. He turned to me, his soft blue gaze meeting mine, swallowing before he pushed his hands into his pockets. “I saw your dead body.”
“It wasn’t me, Xari. What you saw was my twin brother. His recent appearance in this world made it easy to replace me in the eyes of our enemies.” He searched my face as the color drained from it. “You should sit down, Kid. A lot is happening that you don’t know about.”
“I planned your last rites ceremony,” I cried. “I arranged for your fucking funeral!”
“Pocket it, Kid,” he ordered, watching the tears stream down my cheeks. “Get your shit together, Anderson. Now!” he demanded in a firm tone.
I blinked slowly at the ludicrousness of his statement. My father didn’t die, which meant that his twin was the fae that had attacked us, and I hadn’t even realized it. Of course, I’d never met my father’s brother, since Xavier had stolen his wife, my mother, from him. I felt like the earth was shifting around me, and I didn’t know how to stop it from moving.
Chapter Thirty-One
I stood inside Kieran’s den, gradually fighting through the emotions of wanting to beat the shit out of my father and hug him for not being dead. He had refused to tell me anything until Noah, Micah, and the others in our small group were present. While I called, asking them to meet me at Kieran’s estate, my dad sent a quick message on his phone, then informed me that a few hunters he had hand-picked to aid him with his secret plan, would also be joining the meeting. My dad depended on these individuals to blend into the background to help run the guild from the sidelines. When my team entered the room and saw who was in attendance, their shock and expressions mirrored my initial reaction.
“Those of you that had no knowledge of the events unfolding should at least take a seat before I begin,” he demanded, holding my stare. “Xariana, sit down.”
“I don’t want to sit. I need to know what the hell was so important that you let your only child assume you were fucking dead. I have been searching for you. I mourned your death, and you’ve been here, at Kieran’s estate this entire time?”
“Yes, and no,” he stated carefully. “The murders started a year ago, and I have been working the case with only those I chose to be in the loop regarding recent events.” His admission caused my stomach to churn from the mistrust I heard in his voice.
“And you didn’t trust me?” I countered, rethinking my need to sit on the couch. Instead, I crept toward him, fixated on his stare.
I slipped my hand from my pocket and tossed salt into his face, causing him to swear. Withdrawing my other hand, I squeezed a tiny bottle of holy water on him. Then, reaching into my bag, I pulled out some sage, lighting it and placing it under his nose while he glared murderously at me.
“Satisfied?” he snapped crossly, tilting his head.
I wasn’t because I knew he was full fae, which meant I couldn’t test him with iron. He’d fail. Instead, I brought the sage to my lips, blowing on the smudge stick Talia had given me. Embers touched his skin, and he growled as he put them out.
“No, you taught me better than that. I learned never to trust my eyes or my infallible heart. Unfortunately, the only conclusion I can come up with is that you didn’t have confidence in me.”
“Stick a pin in it, Xariana. Join the others on the sofa or leave the room. Make a decision, now!” he ordered.
I blinked, popping my jaw before I turned on my heel to join Micah and Noah, who waited impatiently, trying to figure out what was happening. It burned that my dad had called all these people to Kieran’s house before explaining the situation to me. He clearly had no intention of filling me in until everyone was present. I stepped up beside Noah, searching his eyes while he did the same to me.
“How?” he whispered, grabbing my hand.
“I don’t know,” I replied, squeezing his in return.
I looked at Kieran, who was studying me closely. His lip twisted, but the cold, lethal glare I sent in his direction made it vanish. My father moved to the front of the room, commanding our attention as he stood before an opulent stone fireplace.
“As you are all aware, our mission is to stop the trafficking of humans and Otherworld beings. What you don’t know is that I began this battle long before starting the guild. As a boy living in the Otherworld, I witnessed the death of my oldest brother, who was the keeper of the sun element. When he died, the fae were plunged into darkness, remaining that way until the sun chose a new host. Our world was unbalanced, creating a void that prevented my people from bearing offspring. Without the means to procreate, the sun element could not be reborn. We lived with little hope for nearly a hundred years until a soothsayer came to visit the Day Court. She read a prophecy to my father, the king, telling of an heir that would be born into our kingdom in the spring, restoring the sun.” My dad glanced at Kieran and then at Noah and me before continuing.
“During this time, I watched men savagely take unwilling women, trying to force nature to provide children. Kings attacked their courtiers and subjects, craving an heir to hold their title, because, without one, a king could be challenged for his throne. When their mates failed to become pregnant, they took other women to their beds, enslaving them, raping them as they begged to be freed. My brother, Xaven, was born five minutes before me, and was declared the heir to the Day Court. Try as he may with his bride and the women he held captive, Xaven couldn’t produce an heir to ensure his kingdom was safe from challengers.” He paused, exhaling as he stared at me, and I noticed a flicker of unease in his expression.
“My wife was one of those women. Xaven had forcibly taken Nyla from her family, marrying her in hopes of birthing a royal heir. She approached me during one of my trips, asking me to take her away from him, and I brought her here to escape Xaven’s cruelty and insanity. I went back to free others and soon found that I had nowhere to hide that many women and young girls. So, I sought the one being that had already slipped from his kingdom, choosing to leave his throne in the hands of his mad uncle instead. Kieran is the rightful King of the Shadow Court. He had all the connections I needed to build my operation, becoming an unexpected ally. He agreed that the events taking place in the Otherworld were wrong and couldn’t be allowed to continue.”
I swallowed past the shock of his admission. Xavier stole my mother from his twin? I hadn’t known that, but then I had no reason to ask until now. He’d always seemed standoffish when I brought her up, so I gave up at a young age, deciding I would rather be oblivious than to have him relive painful memories.
“We removed hundreds of women, full-blood and half-breeds alike, but the one I claimed as my wife, my fated mate, she had a secret. When I discovered Nyla was pregnant, she told me she was a Princess of the Spring Court, and it was then that I realized why Xaven had taken Nyla from her family, and that our child was destined to be special. Three months into her pregnancy, Nyla began getting sick, and we didn’t have healers or know how to find or fix what was wrong with her. The center wasn’t finished, and we still lived inside the mansion. Every day, I watched her waste away to nothing. Then the day came that she gave birth, and with the new life we’d created, hers expired.”