Chapter 15: The man who should be dead
1575 Words
Damien couldn’t move.
For twenty years, he had imagined his father’s face in a thousand different ways.
Sometimes in dreams.
Sometimes in nightmares.
Sometimes in the quiet moments when memory became more painful than reality.
But never like this.
Never standing ten feet away.
Alive.
Alexander Ashcroft looked almost exactly as Damien remembered him.
The same silver-gray eyes.
The same perfectly composed posture.
The same expression that had terrified him as a child.
Only the years had changed.
His hair was almost completely silver now, and faint lines crossed his face, but there was no mistaking him.
Damien’s father was alive.
Seraphina looked at Damien.
“That’s your father?”
Damien didn’t answer.
Alexander smiled faintly.
“You’ve grown.”
Damien’s hands curled into fists.
“You died.”
Alexander tilted his head.
“That’s what I wanted everyone to believe.”
“You let me bury an empty coffin.”
“I needed you to believe I was gone.”
Damien’s voice became colder.
“You had twenty years.”
“I did.”
“You watched me grow up believing you were dead.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me become the man you wanted me to become.”
Alexander’s expression remained calm.
“And you became exactly that.”
Damien took one step forward.
“I became everything you hated.”
For the first time, Alexander’s expression changed.
Only slightly.
“You became stronger than I expected.”
Victor stepped between them.
“Perhaps this isn’t the place for a family reunion.”
Seraphina turned toward him.
“Family reunion?”
She gestured toward the manuscript in Alexander’s hand.
“You stole that from my father’s study.”
Alexander looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Edward left something inside it that belongs to me.”
Seraphina’s eyes narrowed.
“My father didn’t steal from you.”
“No.”
Alexander glanced at the manuscript.
“He stole something much more valuable.”
“What?”
He looked directly into her eyes.
“The truth.”
Silence.
Seraphina stepped closer.
“Then give me the manuscript.”
Alexander smiled.
“You’ve become remarkably like your father.”
“Is that supposed to be an insult?”
“No.”
His gaze softened.
“It’s a warning.”
Damien moved toward Seraphina.
“Don’t listen to him.”
Alexander laughed quietly.
“Still protecting her.”
Damien’s expression hardened.
“I made a promise.”
“The Seventh Vow.”
“Yes.”
Alexander’s eyes flicked toward Seraphina.
“Do you know what your father made him promise?”
Seraphina answered.
“To protect me.”
Alexander shook his head.
“That’s only part of it.”
Damien’s face tightened.
“Don’t.”
Alexander continued.
“The Seventh Vow required Damien to protect you from the Covenant.”
He paused.
“And protect the Covenant from you.”
Seraphina felt the same cold sensation she’d experienced earlier.
“What does that mean?”
Alexander looked at her.
“It means your father knew exactly what you were capable of.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You will.”
He opened the manuscript.
Pages had been torn from several sections.
Seraphina immediately noticed.
“Where are the missing pages?”
Alexander smiled.
“Somewhere you’ll never find them.”
“Why?”
“Because they contain the identity of the first-born.”
Seraphina’s heart stopped.
She looked at Elena.
Alexander watched them both.
“You’ve already discovered the birth bracelets.”
Seraphina frowned.
“How do you know?”
“Because I put them there.”
Elena stepped forward.
“You?”
Alexander looked at her.
“Yes.”
“You knew where we were?”
“I’ve known where you’ve been since the day you were born.”
Elena’s face hardened.
“Then why didn’t you come for me?”
Alexander’s expression became unreadable.
“Because I wasn’t allowed to.”
“By whom?”
He looked at Victor.
Victor remained silent.
Seraphina suddenly understood.
“The Covenant.”
Alexander nodded.
“I made an agreement.”
“With them?”
“Yes.”
“What did you give them?”
Alexander looked at Seraphina.
“My son.”
Damien froze.
“What?”
“I gave them your loyalty.”
Damien stared at him.
“You had no right.”
“You were sixteen.”
“I was your son.”
“And that was precisely why you were useful.”
Seraphina looked at Damien.
His face had gone pale.
Alexander continued.
“The Covenant needed someone close to the Vale family. Someone Edward trusted.”
“And you chose me.”
“No.”
“I did.”
Damien’s voice cracked with anger.
“You manipulated me.”
“I trained you.”
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
The honesty was somehow worse than a denial.
Damien stepped forward.
“I spent twenty years believing I failed you.”
Alexander’s eyes narrowed.
“You did.”
Damien stopped.
Alexander looked at him coldly.
“You were supposed to bring Seraphina to the Covenant.”
Seraphina’s blood ran cold.
“What?”
Damien looked at her.
“No.”
Alexander smiled.
“You weren’t told that part?”
Seraphina stepped away from Damien.
“Is it true?”
Damien didn’t answer immediately.
That hesitation hurt more than anything he could have said.
“I was never going to give you to them.”
“But you were supposed to.”
“Yes.”
“Who stopped you?”
Damien looked at her.
“You.”
Seraphina frowned.
“What?”
“You don’t remember.”
His voice softened.
“When we were sixteen, you found out what the Covenant wanted.”
Seraphina stared.
“I was eight.”
“No.”
Damien shook his head.
“That was the memory they changed.”
Elena’s eyes widened.
“She’s remembering the wrong year.”
Damien nodded.
“Exactly.”
Seraphina felt dizzy.
“What happened when I was sixteen?”
Damien’s eyes remained fixed on hers.
“You found the manuscript.”
Her breath caught.
“My father’s manuscript?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“You read it.”
“What did it say?”
Damien looked at Alexander.
Then back at Seraphina.
“It told you who the Covenant really was.”
Seraphina stared at him.
“Then why don’t I remember?”
Alexander answered.
“Because I made sure you wouldn’t.”
Seraphina looked at him.
“You?”
Alexander nodded.
“You were becoming dangerous.”
Damien’s voice was filled with disgust.
“You erased her memories.”
“I protected the Covenant.”
“You destroyed her life.”
“I preserved it.”
Seraphina stepped forward.
“How?”
Alexander’s expression softened.
“You were going to expose everyone.”
“Good.”
“You were sixteen.”
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
He looked at her.
“Because you nearly got your sister killed.”
Elena went completely still.
“What?”
Alexander looked at her.
“You remember the night of the fire?”
Elena’s face went pale.
“Yes.”
“You remember who started it?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Alexander looked at Seraphina.
“Ask your sister.”
Seraphina turned toward Elena.
“Elena?”
Her sister looked terrified.
“I don’t remember.”
Alexander smiled.
“Of course you don’t.”
Then he dropped the manuscript onto the table.
“That’s why Edward hid it.”
Seraphina stared at the book.
“What’s inside?”
Alexander’s expression became serious.
“The truth about your mother.”
Seraphina’s breath caught.
“What truth?”
Alexander looked toward the tunnel entrance.
“She wasn’t murdered.”
Seraphina’s heart stopped.
“She wasn’t killed by the Covenant.”
Alexander looked directly into her eyes.
“She joined them.”
The words shattered the room.
Elena whispered,
“No.”
Alexander nodded.
“Isabelle Vale chose the Covenant.”
Seraphina shook her head.
“My mother would never.”
“She did.”
“Why?”
Alexander looked at the two sisters.
“To protect one of you.”
Seraphina’s eyes filled with tears.
“Which one?”
Alexander didn’t answer.
Instead, he looked at the manuscript.
Then at Damien.
Then finally at Seraphina.
“That’s what the Seventh Vow was designed to hide.”
A sudden explosion shook the building above them.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
The lights flickered.
Victor immediately drew his weapon.
“What was that?”
Alexander’s calm expression vanished.
For the first time, genuine concern crossed his face.
“They found us.”
“Who?”
Alexander looked toward the tunnel.
“The people even the Covenant fears.”
Another explosion sounded.
Closer.
Damien grabbed Seraphina’s hand.
“Move.”
She looked at Alexander.
“What about him?”
Damien hesitated.
Alexander picked up the manuscript.
“You don’t have time to decide whether you trust me.”
He looked at his son.
“You have time to decide whether you want to survive.”
The lights went out.
And from somewhere in the darkness came a voice.
A voice Seraphina had never heard before.
But somehow…
she recognized it.
“The seventh vow is broken.”
A gunshot echoed through the underground chamber.
Then everything went black.
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