Page 97 of Heir of Ashes
“I couldn’t tell. How many of us are out there?”
“Like you?” She emphasized the two words. “I’ve never heard of any offspring of a human and a Rejected before. On the other hand, there are a few thousand of us scattered around the worlds. It used to be that we bred like rabbits, but for the past few centuries, the ability to reproduce has progressively deteriorated.” She paused with a frown. “I don’t know how many there are from the Seelie Dhiultadh, but they breed with other species and dilute their Sidhe genes, so they don’t have trouble reproducing.”
Was that disgust I detected in her voice? This woman clearly had deep-seated prejudices. She didn’t like me, and I hadthe nagging feeling that it went beyond being the reason for my father’s disgraceful death.
“If the Rejected are so keen on staying incognito, why didn’t anyone try to get me out of the PSS? I mean, aside from my disgusting status as half-human, what about my other half?” There it was, the million-dollar question.
She looked at me seriously, her expression remote and a little cold. “You exposed yourself when you tore your way out of your mother’s womb. Out of respect for your father’s sacrifice, the Rejected chose not to kill you outright. The High Council held a meeting and decided that one of us would take care of you, discover which traits you inherited from your father, and reconvene once you reached puberty. When you did and didn’t develop an alternative form and your aura remained human, we concluded you didn’t have enough to expose the clan.” Ignoring the narrowing of my eyes, Elizabeth continued, “Besides, once the Scientists finished running their tests on you and found only talons, enhanced speed and strength, they would realize we were not the dangerous, all-powerful phenomena they had heard about. They would cease trying to capture one of us, or at least lessen their efforts.” She raised her eyebrows, her expression earnest, as if she really wanted me to understand her point. “It was your father’s fault they got all stirred up in the first place. It was only fair you should be the one to fix it. Besides, you should be thankful we let you live.”
I gaped at her, flabbergasted. She was serious. “None of you thought about vouching for me, claiming me as your own and getting me out of there?” Even as I asked, I knew the answer. Bitter as it was, no one wanted to expose themselves for a child they considered an abomination. For a group of people considered abominations by their own kind, they sure were hypocritical.
She shrugged daintily.
A sudden realization struck me. “You worked as a lab technician. The annual blood work you ran on me—it wasn’t a health check. It was to determine what I had and what I didn’t. You were examining my genes, figuring out which traits I inherited from my father.”
Elizabeth took another sip of her cold tea, but the silence was all the confirmation I needed.
My anger surged. Not only had they left me to the wolves, but they had done so to cover their tracks while the wolves were busy ravaging me. Logan was wrong; Archer had known about me all along.
“You’re just as cold as the PSS,” I said scathingly. “Instead of protecting an innocent child, you sacrificed her to cover your own backs.”
I realized something at that moment: the Rejected didn’t know I had inherited much more than just talons, enhanced speed, and strength.
She huffed. “Don’t be so dramatic. It was one life against thousands of others. They got wind of us because of your father’s foolishness. It was only right we use the same tool that exposed us to fix the mistake. We didn’t take cover in this world thousands of years ago to be hunted because one of us was stupid enough to father a child with a human.”
Would they have tried to kill me if they knew how much of my father I had inherited? I believed they would. I thought about Vincent. If he had read my file—which Roland confirmed they did—then he knew. Maybe he was on my side after all. It paid to be cautious though. “So you sacrificed that child for the sake of others. Did you ever consider the suffering you inflicted to keep yourselves safe? Did you stop to think that her father’s mistakes were not her own? That hiding her would have made more sense?” My voice was rising, escalating with my anger.
“Roxanne, there’s no need for the drama. This is not about you. We would have done it with any other child. It just happened to be you,” she admonished impatiently, rising to answer the buzzing intercom.
I stood as well and shrugged on my coat. “No need to bother yourself. That’s my ride,” I said, opening the back door of the kitchen. I paused under the threshold and glanced back. “So, if I place a call to the PSS now and they take your daughter away, would you leave her there or expose yourself to get her back? Or would you kill her instead and take her out of the picture altogether?”
I didn’t have to wait for an answer; I saw it as clear as daylight in her alarmed, terrified expression. As I had suspected, Elizabeth had never loved me. She had never cared, not one bit.
Chapter 28
I met Tommy by the gate, and we hugged longer than was proper, but he seemed to understand I needed it. I didn’t answer his question about who lived in that big mansion, and he let it slide.
We went out for dinner and talked about the past. Well, he talked about his past; I mostly skirted around mine. I mentioned that Elizabeth had lied about my father and that I had to leave when I was twelve. I didn’t elaborate, letting Tommy believe I’d been with my father all this time. Tommy, bless him, sensed I didn’t want to delve deeper and didn’t press me. Instead, we focused on his experiences with Vicky, their high school and college years. They had drifted apart during college but stayed in touch and occasionally got together.
After dinner, Tommy and I went to his newly-acquired house in East Sacramento. He talked about converting the garage into his workspace and showed me around his nearly bare house, with tools and half-finished projects scattered across the living room and kitchen table. He showed me the rocking chair he was working on, a gift for his sister, and a large armoire he was building for the master bedroom.
We brewed some coffee and sat outside on the porch to drink it. It was cold and late, but neither of us complained. The sky was mostly clear, and we watched the millions of stars shining brightly.
“Remember when we’d lie on the grass and see who could make the most figures from the stars?” I asked.
“Hmmm. And clouds. I won most of the time.”
I chuckled at the exaggeration. “You most certainly did not. I was the one who came up with most of the shapes. You and Vicky would hardly make one or two.”
“That’s because we let you,” he said, smiling. “Do you remember what the winner’s prize was?”
A kiss.
“Vicky would always have a boy in mind and, well, I liked it better when you came on to me.” He laughed, a sheepish grin on his face. “So, you see, I always won.”
“Pervert,” I said indignantly but smiled at the memory.
An hour later, a black sedan pulled up in front of the house. Vincent climbed out of the driver’s side, and I got up. So did Tommy.