“What has his balls in a knot?” Sebastian inquires, surveying the room. “Or is it that no one has them in a knot that’s got you wound so tightly?”
Glaring, Lev retorts, “Fuck off, Bash. My balls aren’t your concern. I’m just trying to get us to focus on the task that could get us all in serious shit.”
Lev’s words sober the atmosphere of the room. Since our impromptu trip to his house, we’ve all been sleuthing, but Lev’s been doing the bulk of the work.
Sebastian takes his seat, and Lev instructs Geoffrey to secure the room. We’re meeting at his house because we know there’s no chance of The Council accessing this room. All of our electronic devices were left in a secure box at the entry point of this part of his house. The Tombs is not the place to be having this discussion.
“Tell me you found something on what happened to the Bradfords,” I voice, hoping to get answers to my earlier train of thought.
Lev doesn’t respond, not at first. He pulls up files to the screen at the front of the room.
I read the words and then reread them, ensuring what I’m seeing is indeed true.
“Someone was killing off the Bradfords?” Owen mumbles. I’m not sure he intended to ask his question out loud because it was barely above a whisper.
Lev clicks to another screen showing case after case of Bradfords that were killed. Some by poisoning. Others by more gruesome methods. A whole line almost wiped from existence.
“Are Ariah and her dad all that are left?” I question. So many of them died. I don’t know how we kept this out of the public eye. Then I remember who we— Fraternitas is. They own everything. If they want it hidden— it never existed.
Lev brings up yet another image. “That’s the thing. I’m not sure. Until we were told who Ariah and her father really were, there was no evidence of Bradfords anywhere. I had to hack into the restricted town archives to get this much,” he sighs. His face still is marred with frustration, and not just from this.
“So, there can either be a town full of unknown Bradfords or only two remaining ones left?” Wyatt chimes in.
“Pretty much,” Lev replies, showing another set of documents. “Ariah’s father is the rightful head of the Fraternitas, and as his daughter, Ariah is the heir to it all. Well, she would be, if she weren’t born as a girl.”
I look around the room, gauging the expressions on everyone’s faces, seeing if theirs match my shocked one.
Sebastian massages the bridge of his nose before he speaks, “Do you-do you think our fathers had anything to do with the mysterious deaths of the Bradford line?”
That thought has crossed my mind since I discovered who Ariah truly was. Why else would they want her back in this town?
“No,” Lev responds, with no hitch or hesitation. “The Fraternitas ordered Aaron hidden until college, where he reappeared as a Bishop. Our fathers let him continue to hide once Ariah was born until we came of age, and then he was expected to return.”
“What the fuck? You mean Ariah could’ve been here with us this whole time? Why’d they do this?” Owen growls, flipping his knife open and closed as he narrows his cold gaze on the offending information.
Sebastian is the first to respond, “No, she couldn’t have. Did you miss the part where Bradfords were being slaughtered? Aaron Bradford was being hidden, and once Ariah was born, not to mention her siblings, they had to stay hidden. At least until the Selection.”
Piecing it all together, I shout, “She’s who they expect us to pick.”
It has to be that. There’s no other way they’d let her come here after trying to keep them hidden for so long.
“Yup. It took you assholes long enough to figure that out. I was getting lonely being in the know,” Wyatt adds.
Every head turns in his direction.
“You knew, you little shit, and you said nothing?” I snarl.
Of course he knew. It’s so fucking Wyatt behavior to know and keep quiet. Sowing chaos and trying to pull strings like a puppeteer.
“Oh, chill the fuck out. I’m the smart one and knew she was ours, so I got to get the insider information until you asshats got your shit together. Only I figured it out before most of you did,” he says. There’s not a hint of remorse in his tone. Instead, he casts an accusatory glare in our direction.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Lev asks, his voice strained and his hands fisted on the oak table top. He’s at the end of his patience. I think if one more thing happens tonight, Lev might snap, and I haven’t seen him seriously lose it in a very long time.
Wyatt turns, tilting his chin and quirking his lip, “I just said it. You all were, and some of you still are, too blind to see that a Queen walks among us, and until you do, I’m holding the cards to my chest unless I know it will cause her harm.”
She’s doing it again— division in our ranks. Ariah is tearing at the seams of a brotherhood— something that’s never been in jeopardy before now. I expect Lev to flip shit.
“I get it,” Lev says.
