Page 124 of Bride By Initiation

My heart races faster.

Sean claims, "We put my father's design on us. Not a big deal."

"Not a big deal?" Dante snarls.

Bridget grabs Sean's hand, weeping. "Why did you do this? I told you not to do this!"

"You never told me not to put it on me," Sean argues.

Her face turns red with rage.

Fiona asks, "And why are you talking about my dad?"

Sean ignores her question and asks some of his own. "Why doesn't everyone tell us why they're freaking out? If the mark isn't a big deal, why are you all making it one?"

"Agreed," I add, wondering what my father and Dante know about the skull.

Do they know about The Underworld?

It's just another one of my father's secrets.

The room is quiet.

No one says anything.

Fiona finally breaks the silence, saying, "Mom? I need answers."

Tears well in Bridget's eyes, and she shakes her head.

Dante tugs her into him, asserting, "Your brother and Zara have done something stupid. That's all."

"What does it have to do with Dad?" she questions.

Sean speaks up. "Fiona, you remember the skull on Dad's hand?"

She furrows her eyebrows. "Um, maybe. I don't know. I..." Shame fills her expression, and she looks down.

Sean quietly finishes for her. "There's not a lot you remember anymore?"

Her eyes flow with tears. She swipes at them and then guiltily looks at Sean.

He gives her a compassionate look, offering, "I know."

She sniffles. "Why does it matter?"

Sean holds his hand up. "Dad had this skull branded on him. I got one, and so did Zara, but hers is on the back of her neck."

Mom snaps, "You've burned yourself? What would possess you to do that?"

More guilt eats at me. I hate not being able to answer them. But I also don't like how they seem to know something about whatever Sean's dad was up to.

In a stern voice, Bridget repeats, "I told you not to do it."

"No, you didn't. I never said I would put it on my hand," Sean claims.

"You know damn well what I meant," Bridget adds.

Dante warns, "Stop playing games with your mother, Sean."

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