Page 57 of Blood Bought

Chapter Twenty-Five:

Azel didn’t show upuntil the next day, when I was groggy and sad and scared. She brought food and alcohol, which I hadn’t had much of in my stay there – so two drinks in, I was feeling it.

“Who in the hell gave Ciro the right to come at Alaris, anyway?” I asked, leaning forward in my seat. “I thought the Disciplines basically ran things and the other Alpha families fell in line?”

“Usually, that’s correct. But even the Disciplines are subject to our laws, and those laws are clear. Alaris knew exactly what he was doing when he violated those laws. Don’t feel too bad for him... he tends to leap first and think later.”

That tracked with what I knew of him, but the thought didn’t make me feel any better at all. “I don’t regret asking. It was pointed out to me that I carry too much guilt, so I’m trying to let some of it go. He didn’t have to say yes,” I mumbled, taking another swig and reaching out with grabby hands for the bottle. “He’s an idiot.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “You better hope he didn’t hear that. Alaris doesn’t take kindly to insults.”

“Yes, he does.”

“I’ve known him for longer than you can comprehend,” she leveled. “He doesn’t.”

I smiled a little, poking my tongue out between my teeth. “Maybe he doesn’t like it when others insult him, but he seems to like it when I do. Guess it’s a mate thing.”

“He told you?” She stood abruptly, running a hand through her copper hair and staring at me like she was trying to see through a lie. “Couldn’t have been him. Who was it?”

“Technically, Brander, you, Kell and Renz... everyone told me but him in bits and pieces. Kellian is the one who really explained it, though. Told me Alaris didn’t believe it and stuff, but he broke up with you, right?” I asked, hugging the bottle. “You said you knew your relationship had an expiration date. You knew I was his mate and that one day, I’d come here and you’d be set aside.”

Her eyes darkened as her gorgeous face took on a sour expression. “Yes, I knew. Before I defected from Hivell, there were rumors of a Veresian mate who would upend the world.Hismate. You. So, I thought we should stop you and I was overwhelmingly overruled. Witches don’t like to get involved, especially in the squabbles of other territories. I tried for almost fifty years to change their minds, and when I realized they’d rather let Earth burn again than stick their noses where they didn’t think they belonged, I defected and came here. I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with him, so I told him everything. They gave me sanctuary here, gave me a job. A purpose.”

I was still struggling to wrap my mind around the fact that I was going to upend the world, so I couldn’t put any of my questions into words before she kept going.

“Fast forward a couple of centuries and I was on his arm thinking he’d forgotten all about you, and then you wereborn.”She spat the word like an insult. “He felt it. He may not have ever believed me that one day you’d upend the world, but you upendedhisworld the moment Senna spread her legs and you fell out. Alpha Brander didn’t care who you were, he was going to let you die. Alaris wouldn’t have it.”

My heart was beating too fast again. “I don’t want to upend anything,” I said quietly. “How do we stop it?”

“You don’t, but relax. I’m almost positive that prophecy was bullshit anyway,” she admitted. “I refused to gamble on that gut feeling at the time, but not all prophecies come true. Actually... hardly any of them do.”

“Really?”

“Really. Free will is too fickle. For something foretold hundreds of years ago to come true, do you know how many things have to go exactly right? How many people need to make a thousand decisions precisely the way they’re supposed to, how many rainy afternoons need to turn to summer storms, how many break-ups and make-ups and backroom dealings need to happen?” she asked. “You can’t imagine. That’s not to say it’s unheard of, and usually at least bits and pieces come true, but rarely entire prophecies.”

“That’s why Brander didn’t want to save me even though I was his only son’s mate and his best shot at having a grandchild,” I whispered. “He thought there was a chance it was true.”

She nodded. “Yes. But now that you’re here, I’m absolutely positive it’s not true. That bracelet I gave you had a third purpose – it would’ve burned you from the inside out if your heart wasn’t as pure as your pussy. Alaris and Brander used a loophole in our law to take your mother instead of you, and that wasn’t supposed to happen. Had you grown up here, surrounded by vampires, you would’ve turned out differently. Colder, meaner. You’d probably be a Faux by now, and those bloodthirsty, savage little urges you have would’ve swallowed you whole. By leaving you there at home to grow up with a loving, albeit distant father and a little sister, you grew up to be a different person. Free will isn’t always a bitch.”

So Alaris saved the world.Something about that had me barking a tipsy laugh and drinking a little heavier than I intended. “So what happens now, then?”

“You write your own story,” she said simply. “There are other prophecies that tell of a Great War, and I can feel it in the air, in the magic surrounding us. It’s coming. What you do between now and then is your own choice.”

Earth had been at peace for a very long time despite petty territorial squabbles and the occasional civil uprising. The thought of another war, a big one, had me on edge – but my part in the end of the world had been erased. That had to count for something. “Is there anything you can do to help Alaris?” I asked, desperately wanting to change the subject. “Can you get him out, sneak him food, bewitch the guards?”

“No. If I interfere, they’ll kill me, and then they’ll kill you while Alaris watches. Then they’ll kill him. Our punishments are absolute, Adalind. Nothing anyone says or does will change his, and you should be grateful. A week without food and allowing another Heir to take a bite of his mate isn’t the worst they could’ve done to him, especially since you two haven’t actually bonded.”

“We have, though. I mean... sort of, anyway. I can’t say I trust him completely yet but I’m starting to, and I don’t like it when he’s not around.”

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