Page 134 of The Stone Initiation
“Your father will see you in the headmistress’s office now,” Travani said.
“He is not my father.”
She pressed her lips together. “Unfortunately, we do not get to choose our sires or how they subsequently choose to treat us.” She held open the door. “Regardless of your feelings—or lack of—toward him, he is the only creature able to answer your questions.”
And I needed those answers. I stood slowly. “In that case, lead the way.”
Breathe, Cam. Breathe. Do not lose your shit.
The main building was as silent as the grave. Predawn was downtime, most everybody would be climbing into bed soon so there wasn’t anybody about to see me being led to Mistress Carter’s office. Miss Travani knocked on the door to the study then pushed it open and stepped back to usher me inside.
Panic seized me. I was about to meet the male responsible for half my DNA. The male who’d abandoned me and my mother, who’d wanted me out of his life so badly that he’d made my mother sign a contract to ensure my true heritage never came out.
I hated this man, and yet, in this moment, I couldn’t help butwantto see him. To look into his eyes and maybe see myself reflected there. I hated myself for that weakness.
“Go on,” Miss Travani said kindly. “You’ll be fine.”
I swallowed past the dryness in my mouth and entered the room. Gray light flooded the space, washing out the color and making everything look ashy. Mistress Carter watched me from behind her desk, a small smile playing on her lips that looked suspiciously like pity. That smile added steel to my spine as I finally allowed myself to register the male standing at the window with his back to me.
His shirt stretched across his back, not Lastonflex, but normal cotton, and he wore dress trousers and leather shoes as if he wasn’t concerned about having to shift. Which, based on what Palia had explained about the effects of ageing on gargoyles, in Mirrowind’s class, made sense. His hair was ashy-blond in the gray pre-dawn light but would probably be white-blonde like mine.
“Lionel?” Mistress Carter said softly.
Basque turned to face me.
I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting. Stern angry features maybe? Someone who looked cruel? I’m not sure. I do know that I hadn’t expected to see warmth, or the tentative smile that lifted his mouth.
“Cameron. It’s good to see you.”
Good to see me? Ribbons of emotion tangled in my chest. “Are you joking right now?”
His lips made a thin line. “Yes. I can see why you may feel that way.”
“You can? Oh, good, because I was beginning to think I was delusional and that I’d imagined the last twenty years of being ignored.”
“You have every right to be upset. To hate me even, but please, allow me to explain.”
“Frankly, I don’t care enough about you to wonder why you left me. All I want to know is if my brother is still alive.”
His jaw ticked. “Up until last night, we weren’t sure. But after what you reported, I believe that he may be.”
His words knocked the wind out of my sails. I grabbed at the back of the armchair and doubled over eyes hot with the threat of tears.
He was alive.
Romi was alive.
“Please, sit down. Miss Walker,” Mistress Carter said kindly.
I slipped onto the armchair, grateful for the wooden support. “How? What happened to him? Where is he?”
“He was taken during a mission,” Basque said. “We’re not sure where he is, but if he is alive then it’s likely they have him at their stronghold.”
He was alive and the relief mingled with fear for him, for what they might be doing to him. “I don’t understand why they’d keep him alive.”
“There are many reasons.” Basque said, “Romi is an elite, therefore he has information that they could use against us, but his psychic shields are impeccable. He’s strong.”
Numbness swept over me. “You think they’re torturing him, don’t you?”
