Page 27 of Twisted Ties
My uncle glances at him nervously and my aunt, mother and cousin shift on their chairs. Only Azlan remains unmoved. He’s faced my father’s wrath often enough.
“This information should have been imparted to us as soon as you were aware,” my uncle says. A heat crawls up my neck and I stare down at the polished tabletop in front of me. “The girl is unsuitable and–”
“Would have been disposed of,” my father says.
Azlan’s head whips towards him. “You will not touch her.”
“You will not tell me what to do.” My father jabs a finger in Azlan’s direction, sparks hissing on his fingertips.
“She is a nobody, a nothing,” my uncle continues, mirroring my words. My stomach rolls. “There is even talk that she was unregistered.”
“She was. I was assigned to bring her in.”
My father snarls, jumping to his feet and slamming his fists down hard on the table.
“Are you determined to destroy this family, our good name, our reputation?”
“You know I don’t care about any of those things, Uncle.”
“Leonardo!” my father says, glaring at his brother. “See what your leniency has led to?”
“He doesn’t mean it,” my uncle says. “He is newly mated to the girl, the fated bond freshly formed. He is–”
“Emotional,” my other cousin, Azlan’s sister, continues, eyes full of fear as she examines my father’s furious face.
She leans across the table, to clasp her brother’s hand. “She cannot be a nothing. Not if fate has chosen her for my brother. There must be something special about her.”
Azlan’s gaze falls to his hands and he swallows.
“Well, is there?” my father hisses.
When he doesn’t reply, my father directs his attention to me. “You know of the girl, Tristan?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“And is there? Is there anything remarkable about her at all?”
He glares at me with his piercing eyes, and my magic flares in my fingertips.
Is there anything special about the girl? Anything at all?
I think of the wound on Spencer’s stomach.
I think about the way she’s captured my attention.
I think about the way she has bonded to a man who swore he would live his life as a celibate.
“No,” I say flatly, “nothing at all.”
“Can it be undone?” my mother asks, sitting upright beside my father, her golden hair swept back in a bun, her manicured hands crossed on the table in front of her.
I hold my breath. There has to be a way. He can’t have her.
“You know as well as I do, Cassandra, that there is no way to undo such ancient magic. The foolish boy has sealed the bond. Only death will part them now.” Azlan leaps to his feet, but my father simply smiles that crooked smile of his. “It was merely an expression, Azlan.”
“Gone are the days this family can murder and plunder without consequence,” my cousin says.
“This family does not stoop to the actions of the criminal gangs. You have made your bed, nephew, you can rot in it with your whore.” Azlan lifts his hand and it is only the pained ‘no’ from his sister that prevents him from blasting magic at my father.
