Page 88 of The Human’s Heart

Which was incredibly naive. She was a threat. She’d been working against us this entire time. Her family had been trying to kill me.

Hell, her family was the reason I was now a vampire—even though that had been a blessing in disguise, all things considered.

After everyone took their seats—Hiro standing by the door with the three of us sitting across the table from the woman—Basil made introductions, and before he could ask her a single question, she asked, “You’re really Hugo Rochfort?”

“I am… how do you know me? We’ve never met.” I was even more sure of that now that we were in person.

“No, we haven’t. But the last time I spoke to my cousin, Phia, she said she was going to see you. Next thing I know, she turns up dead. So what happened? Did you kill her?”

I jerked back in response, shocked and horrified that she’d think that. “Wh-what? Of course not! I’ve never hurt anyone, let alone someone I considered a friend.”

She stared at me for a long moment, her intense gaze making me want to wiggle in my seat. Finally, she said, “I believe you.”

“Okay. Good.” I had no idea what to say.

“What happened, then? Were you there when she died?”

I looked down at that table, and Zay placed his hand on the back of my neck, offering the comfort and strength I needed to tell this story once again.

By the time I was done telling her how Phia died, the woman had her eyes closed, and I saw a tear streak down her cheek. She wiped it away angrily, and I noticed her hands were cuffed together with what appeared to be magical handcuffs.

I did my best not to stare at them, and even though she was maybe a bad guy, I was glad that everyone in the room gave her a moment to process the death of her cousin—or at least the manner in which she’d been killed.

After a long time, she sniffled a little, wiped her face, and said, “I want a deal. If you can guarantee my protection, that you’ll help me change my name and move far away where my clan leader can’t get to me, I’ll tell you everything.”

Basil said, “Easy. Done. We can keep you safe from Theroli Egawa.”

“I need it in writing. Signed and legally binding.”

Basil sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Fine. Give us a few minutes. Come on.” He waved us out of the room, told us to stay in the hall, and marched off, looking pissed.

It only took him fifteen minutes to return with a big stack of papers—it must’ve been nice being an Ellwood and having all those connections to get things done quickly—and when he walked into the room, he waved us back in. We all took our seats across from Anithea, and Basil slid the stack of papers over to her.

She took what felt like a million years but was probably only a few minutes to look everything over before she signed in at least five places. She passed the stack back to Basil, who signed the papers himself, then set them aside.

Anithea said, “Alright. I’m ready. Ask your questions.”

Basil didn’t hesitate to jump in. He started by asking basic questions about her clan and everyone in it. It was all interesting, but didn’t really seem relevant to me. But what the hell did I know? I was absolutely not an interrogator. I was just grateful that Zay’s uncle hadn’t asked us to leave yet.

I was pretty sure Zay was thinking the same thing because both of us remained quiet during this, not bringing attention to the fact that we were still in the room.

“Alright. Tell us everything about this plot against Hugo.”

“It wasn’t really Hugo Theroli wanted.”

“Then who was it? Zaos?”

She shook her head. “Not… exactly. Let me… let me tell you why so you understand better.”

Basil waved her on.

She took a deep breath, nodded, and began her story. “After the Berserker War, my clan, like many others, was relocated.”

My eyebrows rose, surprised she was starting so long ago, like way before Zay and I were born—close to five decades ago, for crying out loud.

She continued, “Our original home had been destroyed during the war, so the leaders that be gave us new land—a beautiful lake surrounded by forest. Unfortunately, the forests outside of our small land were sold off. This was maybe fifteen years after we’d moved there… give or take a few. Whoever bought the forest cut it down and built a bunch of large buildings on it. Our beautiful land was surrounded by cement and the ashes of our trees. It was horrible. Disgusting.

“Eventually, all their filth started coming onto our lands and into our lake. Theroli took his concerns to the new government, and they did nothing. No one was willing to help us, even after we’d begged over and over again.”