Page 27 of Ashborne Phoenix

She smiled back, but it faded as she scanned me from head to toe, before raising the other brow as well. “You are not dressed like a servant, son.”

“That’s because the plan has changed.”

Her expression went tight. “We discussed this. You agreed—”

“The time for pretense is over. I’ve come to tell you what I suspect you already know.”

“How thrilling,” she said dryly.

I smiled wider. Then leaned down, bracing one hand on either side on the dressing table behind her, boxing her in.

She didn’t retreat, but the sparks of warning lit in her eyes. “Vane?”

“You have your eyes and ears in every corner, Mother. I won’t share this with them,” I muttered. “It’s important you know two things: The first is that I am onto you. And the second is that I am one step ahead of you. I knew who she was. So, I took her. She’s mine now. And unless you help, I will remove her, and none of you will ever see either of us—or the power we’re growing—again.”

Mother’s eyes widened a hair. “You do still practice?”

I smirked.

My skin crawled when she beamed and reached for my face. “Vane! Why did you hide this from me? We should have been celebrating—”

I caught both her hands before she touched me, no longer smiling, and kept my voice low so the eavesdroppers wouldn’t overhear. “I do not believe it’s wise to trust the followers as you do,” I whispered. “There is unfinished business between us, Mother. You have served your purpose thus far. You remain alive because I prefer to let you handle these affairs. I have no desire to become a spectacle. Unlike you, I do not need the adoration of others to enjoy my power.”

I straightened abruptly, releasing her hands, but standing over her. She craned her neck to look up at me.

“What do you mean?” she asked breathlessly. Falsely innocent. Apparently thrilled.

As an adult, I understood much better how she’d always managed to keep men in her thrall—including my father.

Including her young son.

“I mean that you will be the agent of Grace’s release from Breckon. But she will leave with me.”

She frowned. “I was already working toward that.”

I shook my head and sighed. “No, Mother. I know what you were doing—but you should have had more faith. She’s already mine. I only needed to understand who hovered with a threat. And good thing I was patient, because now, I do. So, from this moment forward, we follow my plan.”

Mother put a hand to her chest as if she were worried. “I truly don’t understand—”

“I think you do,” I whispered. “But just in case you are more stupid than I give you credit for, understand this: She. Is. Mine. Sealed and vowed. The Old Blood is alive.” I let myself shiver in response to the crawling skin on the back of my neck as my mother’s expression turned avid. She likely felt the pulse of power that crackled through me—turning my stomach—and her eyes widened.

I sighed. “You fell even more easily than she did. Such a pity. I really believed you would be more of a challenge.”

My mother’s gaze flattened. “I hold the Dominus power, Vane. I know her blood isn’t alight. You haven’t—”

I lifted a hand and snapped my fingers. A heartbeat later, Grace—who’d used the secret passage in Breckon’s chamber to meet me here at the appointed time, though I’d ordered her to remain hidden until I signaled her to come out—hurried from the panel in the walls, into my mother’s chamber, her eyes shining with the light of zealous adoration.

I barely gave her a glance. I couldn’t. I had to watch Mother, to see the truth take hold as Grace threw herself across the chamber to sink to her knees at my feet.

Standing casually, smirking at my mother’s open shock, I dropped a hand to Grace’s hair, petting her as if to soothe her.

Grace, admirably, gazed up at me as if entranced.

And thank God, I hadn’t been wrong about that vow—though it still made my blood run cold that Grace had offered it in ignorance, and that it worked.

Yet, it played in our favor, because there was no denying it. The truth was evident in my mother’s avid gaze. Her mouth dropped open as she gaped at Grace.

“The Old Blood…” she whispered. “It’s alive.”