Page 160 of Bloom
“M’lord,” said one of the men.
Aleric took the blade and approached the one with glass in his eye. He lifted his head more, hearing footsteps.
“Please take it out. I-”
“Fuck you.”
He screamed when Aleric grabbed him by the hair. “I’m sorry! He didn’t give me a choice. Please do-”
He cut off when the edge of the dagger entered his throat. Aleric drew it across in a swift motion, watched the blood spray out, and dropped the man who gurgled and stopped spouting his pitiful lies.
“Commander William,” said a man.
William had his glowing fingers in the wicked cut on Lord Monet’s side. “If he’s killing someone, they probably deserve it. What do you think those bastards were doing in here? Having tea?”
Aleric was almost unnerving as he slit the throats of the others to ensure they were dead while the men watched in shock. They probably hadn’t expected to be pulled out of bed in the night to see the lord’s Hall with bodies, blood, and broken crystals all over. At least the tablecloths had gone out, and they were ruined beyond repair. The tables that had suffered a hit from magic were scorched. Gautier’s partially burned sleep shirt merely smoldered while he lay in his own blood. One of the men pointed at the sword still sticking out of his neck and swore.
“Anything else?” William touched Lord Monet’s knee since he said something about being kicked there. Gautier must have attacked him simply to put him down so he could focus on Aleric who had been more dangerous and closer at the time.
Zacharie shook and tried to wipe his bloody hands on his legs, and William spoke. “Why are you all standing there like idiots? Take the damn bodies out. Get a damn servant too, and get Lord Monet a glass of something stout. I don’t care who fetches it. Damn it, I need something myself. Come here.” He pointed at Jaime. “You look like shit.”
The servants probably hadn’t heard a thing depending on where they slept in the back. Many also went home at night. Aleric stood over the body of the last man he’d sliced to ensure he was dead. Once Jaime’s burns were healed, he wanted to go over to Aleric and hug him. He had to be in shock. William headed toward him to heal his arm.
Jaime remembered Aleric’s terrified face the morning Zacharie had said he was Gautier’s son. It was true, and he couldn’t show his sword hilt to put him at ease. He wasn’t a Scaliger. Not truly.
Aleric wouldn’t want to raise his abuser’s grandson with his son.
He sank to the edge of the dais while Lord Monet spoke to the Commander and explained what happened.
How had Mother withstood it? How had she always been able to treat Jaime with love? Plenty of people did away with rape babies, and nobody blamed them for it. Her parents had also treated Jaime like he was worth it. And Father…he treated Jaime like his own, and there was no way he couldn’t have known.
Aleric suddenly sat next to him and looped his arm through Jaime’s. “He’s dead.”
He sounded more like he was trying to convince himself. Jaime stared at the body of his real Father. It was over, and for some reason, Aleric was by him and even touching him.
“I thought-” Jaime’s voice hitched, and he remembered Aleric telling him he was too pushy. “What if some part of him is in me, and I just don’t know yet? Maybe I’ve got a foul streak and-”
“You’re the opposite,” Aleric muttered. “We don’t have to be our parents. Your Father told you you’re a Scaliger, and he meant it. Keep the name. Or you can have mine if you want when we get married.”
Jaime glanced at him. “You’d still marry me?” And not have the spawn of Gautier tossed outside the gate?
“Yes.” Aleric leaned into him.
“I’m still his son. I mean-when you look at me, you’re going to rememberhim.”
“No. I’ll see the man you are. Our child won’t be like him either. I think the man you called Father would be proud of you. That one over there doesn’t matter. He wasn’t around, and he only sought to take. Your Father gave. You’ve given me a lot too.”
Jaime moved his arm to sling it around Aleric and hug him.
Chapter Thirty-One
A couple of flabbergasted servants dragged out of bed were cleaning up the Hall. A guard had fetched the evidence from Gautier’s room, and of the two cups, one had a faint sheen on the inside, like something had been rubbed on it.
If Zacharie had done as told and brought the cups and sherry to Aleric, he likely wouldn’t have noticed.
The sherry was sealed and deemed safe. William said he’d test it and took a few good glugs. “Ugh, you like this shit? The mint’s overpowering, but it’s open, so might as well drink it, right?”
Aleric was almost jealous as they sat at a round table. Lord Monet and William passed the bottle back and forth.
