Page 75 of Hexbound
The woman smiled, and her entire face softened. "Come in, come in," she said, gesturing her inside. "I've been expecting you."
Which was a rather strange thing to say. Verity glanced at her sidelong as the stranger closed the door behind her. "You were?"
"My thief," the stranger said proudly. "I'm so relieved to see you. This has been a horrendous week, but at least your appearance gives me hope." She saw Verity's expression and her cheeks flushed. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm babbling. My name is Cleo. I used to be the Cassandra."
"I see."
She didn't, at all.
"I Saw the future," Cleo added, accurately reading her. "I saw you," she corrected, "plucking the eyes from a blind crow in order to save a man dressed all in black who was being crucified."
A cane clicked on the marble floor and the duke appeared, wings of silver highlighting his dark hair. He looked nothing like his son, Bishop, except for the sensation of absolute power and competence that he exuded. His gaze dipped to the book in her hands, then back again. "Adrian?" Those knuckles tightened on the handle of his silver-topped cane.
"He's well." She knew Bishop was worried about his father, but the opposite appeared to be true as well. "He saw something he thought you needed to know, and he's investigating further. So he sent me to tell you about it."
Drake's gaze swept over the pair of them, then he gestured her inside, just as Lord Rathbourne appeared in the shadows, like a concerned wraith. "I'll send for some tea," Drake said. "Come. And tell me everything."
"You knewMorgana and Sebastian were still alive and you didn't tell me?” Bishop demanded ten minutes after he'd arrived at his father's house. "Why? Why would you do that?"
The rest of the room remained very still. Verity looked like she'd spent the afternoon stuffing teacakes in her mouth with the girl his father had introduced as Cleo, Tremayne's daughter. Both of them watched with wide eyes.
"It was a recent revelation. I...." Drake paused, then glanced toward Cleo uncomfortably.
"I've spent days traipsing all over this city." Worrying about his father, worrying about Verity and who had threatened her life. "Why would you keep this—" His expression cleared as his thoughts raced ahead. "You thought I'd go after Sebastian, didn't you? You thought I'd carry out the threat I made against him."
Turning around, Bishop shoved his hands through his hair, tension screaming through him. He didn't know what to think. Morgana and Sebastian still alive after all this time, and living with the demon. Now he knew who had commissioned the theft of the Chalice. Morgana. And Tremayne. Everything was intertwined, and the threat against his father had just tripled. It was no longer merely the Sicarii Bishop had to worry about, but the demon as well, and Horroway, who must have the Chalice.
"I just wanted a chance to reach him," Drake replied. "I'm nearly there."
Always this cursed brother of his. Bishop curled up his lip. "So you can do what? Rescue him? What price will Morgana demand from you? You know what she'll want. You. Dead. Is Sebastian worth that to you? Christ, he tore that house apart last month as though he was ripping paper! You can't stop him.Ican't stop him! He is dangerous!"
"Everyone deserves a chance," Drake replied, his face paling. "If Sebastian can be shown another way, taught to control his powers—"
"Maybe he cannot be saved?" Bishop yelled.
"You don't know what Morgana's done to him!" This was the first time he'd ever seen his father lose his temper. "Cleo tells me there's been torture, abuse, possibly worse. How can I leave him to that?"
"How can you save someone who's so badly wounded?" The breath exploded out of Bishop. "He knows nothing but Expression, and if he's been tortured, if...." His stomach curdled. He couldn't truly understand what Sebastian had been through, but he knew that coming back from that would be virtually impossible. "How does a man so wounded set aside his emotions and learn control? I know you've seen what happened to others we've tried to rehabilitate."
"You're asking me to leave him there? To abandon him?" Drake snapped. "The same way I abandoned you when you came home from Burma in such a mess?"
"It wasn't the same." He turned on his heel, remembering all that his father had done to see Bishop's trial set aside and to help him find a mentor in Agatha. Those had been dark days. But not this dark.
"If someone likeyoucan learn control," Drake said coldly, "then so can he. I've never—" He broke off as if biting his tongue, then turned back to Bishop as if he simply couldn't stop the words. "I've never been so disappointed in you in my entire life as I am in this moment. Yes, I kept the truth from you. For precisely this reason!"
The words blinded him. Bishop turned away, the world washing out around him. Christ. It hurt. He had to get out of there. "I'm done," he said blankly. "I cannot watch you sacrifice yourself for a lost cause."
Then he was out of the room and staggering down the stairs, the numbness sweeping up to lock him in a cold, dark place.
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Chapter 19
"WELL," VERITY WHISPERED, finally locating him on the terrace on his rooftop. The afternoon sun peeped through the clouds, highlighting the man on the daybed, his knees drawn up to his chest and his eyes on the sky. "Here you are."
It felt like it should be raining, after such a brutal confrontation.
Bishop glanced her way, then sank his head onto his palm. "How is he?" he asked quietly.
