Vengeance (The Captive #6)(94)

“It is good to see you,” she greeted brightly.

“You also,” he said as he embraced her before shaking Ashby’s hand.

“William, what is going on?” Aria asked after he introduced Tempest to them too.

“Nothing good,” he replied honestly.

He didn’t bother to pull out a chair; he’d never be able to sit still while he relayed what had happened in Badwin and the surrounding towns to them. All laughter and merriment faded away when he began speaking. No one moved an inch; he barely saw Max, Timber, and Daniel breathe as they listened to details they mostly already knew.

When he was finished, the room remained silent for a full minute before all eyes swung toward Braith. “You don’t know who this woman is?” Braith asked. He’d spoken quietly, his face remained impassive, but William could feel the increasing pulse of power and hostility in him.

“No, but she definitely has a lot of power, and that power is gaining her support. I’d bet my life on her having made it out of Badwin with a good number of her followers. She will move on to other towns while leaving more monsters in her wake.”

Tempest shuddered; her hands rubbed at her arms. He rested his hands on her shoulders in order to offer her some sense of comfort. “She’s powerful,” William continued. “And old. She felt as powerful as you,” William took a deep, unnecessary breath before continuing, “perhaps more so.”

Braith’s eyes didn’t flicker at his assessment. Aria paled visibly, she rested her hand over the top of her husband’s. “Are you sure?” she inquired.

“Yes.”

Braith’s gaze slid to Xavier standing in the shadows of the bar with his hands folded before him. “What do you make of this?”

The light played over Xavier as he stepped forward. “I don’t know what to make of it,” he replied honestly. “You are the oldest known vampire on record. I do not know who this woman is, but if she does have the power William is implying, she is either a lot older than you or possibly a relative.”

“She is extremely powerful,” William insisted.

Xavier’s sable eyes were assessing when they met his. “You are young; you could be mistaken.”

“I can feel what is coming off of Braith now. I know he’s keeping some of it leashed, but it’s still not what this woman radiated,” William told him. “I don’t know who she is, or pretend to understand any of your complicated lines and histories, but she was missed somehow, or she’s been in hiding for centuries.”

“My father had no other children,” Braith murmured.

“Are you sure of that?” William inquired. “I didn’t realize it at first, but after thinking it over, I realize her coloring is very similar to your father’s. Her hair was black and her eyes the color of grass. She was beautiful, in a cold way.” His gaze flicked back and forth between Braith and Jack’s dark coloring. Their eyes were gray, with some blue in Braith’s, but their hair, especially Braith’s, and their aristocratic features did bare a resemblance to the woman. He glanced at Melinda, but with her far fairer coloring, she didn’t look like the woman at all. “There was a bit of a resemblance with you two,” he said as he focused on Braith and Jack again.

“If he had fathered another child, they could be near Braith’s age, perhaps even a little older, but they would not have your mother’s powerful lineage too,” Xavier replied. “You have to remember you and Jack are a product of two of the strongest vampire lines.”

What about Melinda? William wondered.

He didn’t get a chance to ask the question before Aria started speaking, “But Genny never had a child.”

“There were women before her.” Braith squeezed Aria’s hand. “But none that would have conceived a child within the aristocratic line; he would have been forced to claim the child as his if there was one. If there is a bastard out there, they would still have power if they are around my age.”

“Who is Genny?” William inquired.

“I’ll explain later,” Aria promised.

Braith looked pointedly toward Xavier again. “Do you know anything about a possible child?”

“I will have to check the records, but I’ve never heard even a whisper of a bastard child and after reading your father’s journals, I would say he never heard a rumor of one either. You would be stronger than that child would be if there is one. You must also remember your father’s war left the vampires scattered. There is no way to know who survived and who didn’t. She could be close to your age but marked as dead.”

“There’s something else,” William said.

Braith turned back to him, “What is it?”

William looked to Tempest; it would be best if she said what she had to say before he told Braith what the queen had said to him. “Go on,” he urged her.

Tempest threw back her shoulders and folded her hands in front of her before speaking. “Before she lit the vampires on fire the night I fled, she declared herself to be the most powerful vampire alive. She told her soldiers that those who follow her would know power and superiority once more. They would know wealth and be number one again. She said she is the one true leader.”

Braith’s jaw clenched. “Did she now? Then this woman is a fool.”