Page 40 of Heart of a Witch
I white-knuckled the back of the wooden chair tucked on my side of his desk. “He isn’t demonic.”
“You should be leading him too. He won’t listen to me, but he will you.”
“I try, but he struggles. He gets upset.”
He rolled his eyes. “Weak.”
I clenched my jaw. “Don’t.”
He waved his hand dismissively, gesturing for me to sit. He had no idea how much I tried to get Corbin to stay on the straight and narrow, but my brother was as stubborn as my father, a shared trait neither would admit existed. There had been nopunishmentsfor some years, but I knew that both the memory of them and the threat he still loomed over Corbin affected him. I would intervene if Father pulled out his whip again, but the last time I’d stopped him from hitting Corbin, we’d both lost so much. The loss was so painful, it still ripped through my nightmares some nights.
I shook my head as if to scatter my thoughts. I couldn’t think of it anymore. He tried to keep us on the right path, in his own warped way, and while it wasn’t okay, I couldn’t hate him. He’d given up so much for us, time and time again, and he always looked out for us. His health wasn’t what it had been. Some nights I heard him coughing up a lung until the early hours. He kept up appearances well, however, by managing his symptoms with remedies made up by the family doctor, but I didn’t know how many years he had left with us.
“I need to talk to you about something,” I said tentatively and lightly touched the book of Zerheus lying on his desk. “I’ve been wanting to discuss it for some time.”
He gestured for me to sit. “What is it?” He placed down a paper, with a list of names.
To find:
Terra Vineroot
Mary Vineroot
Elliot Vineroot
Lily Amberwood
Cassian Amberwood
Victoria Amberwood
Alexandra Amberwood
Richard Blackwood
“The ones who escaped me,” he explained, seeing my expression. “Fear not, my boy. We can find them together after your training.”
I took a seat, clearing my throat. “That’s actually what I wanted to talk about. I don’t believe that witch-hunting is my destiny,” I said, cutting to the chase.
His expression hardened, but I continued, keeping my tone as calm as possible.
“It’s a noble career, but I enjoy running the club, and I’m looking to expand into other businesses. I find great joy in it, and I can continue to build our wealth while you work and Corbin studies.” I placed my folder of prepared numbers on the wood surface between us, moving his glass paperweight. “Profits have tripled at the club. I know you don’t agree with all the practices there—”
“The only reason I have allowed your club to remain open,” he said, interrupting me, and pushed the unopened folder back to me, “is because it gives the men in this town a safe place to go for the evening, where they can practice debauchery and I can have eyes and ears on their activities because people will always sin. I admit, I’d rather you run it than someone I can’t control, because those Zerheus-forsaken places will always pop up in every town, but if you think I will allow that house of sin to come between you and our family’s legacy, then you are sorely mistaken. I would rather hand it over to another than to see you turn away from your true purpose. Son, we are anointed, blessed by Zerheus and Celeste to rid this world of evil.”
I gripped into the side of the chair, scratching at the wood where he couldn’t see. “You were anointed, not me. It’s not something that aligns with my skills. It would be a waste of my talents. Grandfather imported cigars and tobacco. That was his legacy. This is yours. I will create my own.”
He laughed and rolled his eyes for a second. “Come on, Elijah, we both know it takes no real skill to run a club or something like that. It’s not a legacy. Do you know what is? Hunting. You’ll see in your training.”
“No.”
His expression dropped, his thick eyebrows pulling inward, creasing the scar around his eye. “After everything I have done for you, for your brother, and you will humiliate me like this?”
“I’m not trying to.”
“But you will.” He slammed his hand on his desk, and I noticed the curved scars running around his fingers and up to his wrist. “Everyone knows the first son takes over the family business, and if you go rogue, everything I have built will come into question. They will wonder why my loving son doesn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps. They’ll see it as I cannot manage my household.”
“They won’t see it like that. It’s not unlike anything you did before, with your own father.” I shook my leg, barely holding my temper from taking over. “Times have changed.”
