Page 12 of Rose and Shadows
“You know about that? Lazriel wouldn’t have told you. He made me a promise and he takes those very seriously.”
“Lazriel is aware of what was done to you?”
“You mean, what I did?”
“No. I mean what was done to you.” Curiosity sparked in his eyes. “How did he react?”
“Like Lazriel. With understanding, compassion, and love.”
He smiled. “Yes. That is my son. Once he allows you beneath the harsher exterior he’s unfortunately felt it necessary to develop—in large part due to my absence from his life for so long.”
“If it’s any consolation, it’s clear he understands the absentee father bit now. Deeply. And as for that harder outer shell, it’s actually served him well. Now he balances it better, allows the real, non-repressed version of himself free, allows himself to draw close to those he loves, he’s actually in a good place. This fucked-up war we find ourselves right, smack damn in the middle of, notwithstanding, of course.” I sucked in a breath. “So, how do you know about Glasswake?”
“Necromantic expulsion of that magnitude can’t escape the notice of The Shadowed.”
“Given what a threat rogue necromantic action can pose to vampires, specifically. Our ability to puppet your kind.”
He nodded. “When the exact nature of the situation at Glasswake Settlement became clear, I saw to it.”
I frowned. “Saw to it?”
“The Guardian Movement, nor the Unity Council, nor even anyone throughout the supernatural world is aware of your involvement. How do you suppose that is the case, considering the severity of what occurred?”
“I wiped the scene.”
“You didn’t do so sufficiently. You were hurt and emotionally compromised, mentally taxed, at the time. So I saw to it myself.”
“Why? That can’t have been about Lazriel. We hadn’t even met then. Was it about Morien, even back then?”
“He was partial architect of that massacre.”
“I figured that out recently.”
“His claim to you that he’d had a hand in leading you down specific paths is true—to an extent. You’ve also exerted your own free will and defied much of what he’d intended. However, he did have a hand in that and other defining moments for you. I have access to one such thing through a Stone of Recollection, which I mean to show you. But I can’t risk doing so if you’re in a volatile state.”
“Whose memories are infused into the Stone? My father’s? One of his associates? Corvin’s?”
“Mine.”
I started. “What? Why would you—”
“I needed proof created, proof that could not be twisted by Morien’s false claims, which he could very well use with you in order to curtail our alliance. Something neither of us—nor the supernatural world as a whole—can afford.”
Well, then.
Curiosity sparked.
And a whole lot of wariness.
I was sure there would have been some personal sentiment there too if I wasn’t currently compartmentalizing to a massive degree now that I had my magic back.
“Me continuing to compartmentalize should be an asset. I won’t have an emotional reaction to whatever it is that you mean to show me.”
“My concern is that what you see will decimate that compartmentalization and leave you unable to control it, or yourself, because you have been shutting down to such a great degree.”
“Jeez. What the fuck is it that you want to show me, then? What could possibly be that devastating to me?”
“After we are done here, you will cease the compartmentalization and grieve the murders you were forced to commit earlier. And at Glasswake. Only at that point will we discuss this any further, only at that point will I show you.”
