Secret Heir (Dynasty #1)(108)
I stare back at Magnus for a long moment. The only sound in the dead silence is my own ragged breathing.
“You knew this was going to happen, even before you brought me here,” I say finally. “You knew and yet you still brought me here. You knew, but even when I asked, you wouldn’t tell me. You just kept the truth hidden from me out of some twisted belief that I wasn’t ready to know it.”
Magnus’s eyes widen, and his expression is aghast.
“No—of course, I didn’t know then. I told you that I only found out about this phenomenon when I obtained your birth certificate and even then, I couldn’t be certain as to the consequences. No one could. It has only just been determined what should be done.”
“But you suspected? You knew that there was always a possibility that it could come to this?” I ask flatly.
“Yes,” Magnus replies simply. He doesn’t say anything else. But he doesn’t need to.
Anger washes over me, white hot fury sweeping away any sense and reason, until it’s all I can see. It’s only when I feel the trust being swept away with that storm, that I realize it was ever there at all. The realization feels like a punch to the stomach. Had I been that lonely and desperate for family, that I had grown to trust this total stranger? Grown to care for him in a way that I hadn’t felt since my mom died? I feel sick at the very thought. I’ve let myself get dragged into this, let myself be lied to and manipulated, let myself be used as a pawn in this twisted web of power that these Dynasties seemed to be locked in.
“I’m so sorry, Jazmine, I didn’t mean for you to find out this way and I wish that this didn’t have to happen. But it does and I have every faith in you that when the time comes, you will have the courage to do what it takes.”
“No.” My voice sounds as cold as the ice creeping into my core. I trusted you and you’ve been lying to me all this time—hiding things from me which I sure as hell deserved to know from the very beginning. The part about Earth not being safe for me—is that a lie, too?”
“No, Jazmine. Of course, it isn’t.”
“So are you going to finally tell me why?” I demand.
“I can’t. It’s more than just a danger to your life, Jazmine. The need to protect this world from the knowledge of this threat is greater than your need to know about it,” he replies simply, which only adds fuel to the fire burning in my chest.
“Why should I even believe you? Why should I believe a single word that comes out of your mouth? Why the hell should I even trust you?”
Magnus’s calm seems to snap, and for a moment, I can almost feel the waves of anger rolling off.
“I’m your blood, Jazmine. Everything I’ve done so far has been for my son’s memory, your father, and for you, Jazmine. I’m the only one you can trust.” He says these last words distinctly, and he doesn’t have to say anything else, because my mind is already there.
My initial rage has been so all-consuming, that I hadn’t even considered all the other far reaching consequences of this universe-shattering revelation. Or perhaps that was the reason why I had chosen to focus my rage solely on Magnus, so that I don’t have to think about Raph.
But I’m helpless against the torrent of those thoughts swirling inside me now, the doubts screaming in my mind, the storm threatening to pull me under.
“I told you that you couldn’t trust him, Jazmine,” Magnus says, as he sees the storm raging in my eyes.
His words feel like a punch to my gut, but I don’t believe them. I can’t.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My voice is barely a ragged whisper in the darkness.
“Raphael has been raised from birth to take the throne. The desire for the crown ingrained in his very being—it’s who Jethro made him to be. It’s who he is. And Raphael knew this whole time that it might come to this. He must have known, because his father certainly knew—that one day, you could take from him what he’s been raised to want all his life, at all costs.”
Images of my first duel with Raph rush into my mind. The way he’d seemed so closed off when I questioned him as to why I’d ever need to know how to fight in a duel. We’d trained together almost every day since. My powers are as familiar to him as his own. He knows every move I make before I make it.
Maybe that was the point. Something in my mind whispers, but I can’t bring myself to hear it.
I’m shaking my head, backing away from the spot where I’d been standing frozen. I can’t listen to these words, I can’t hear them, I can’t think about what they mean. Every fiber in my being is telling me that they can’t possibly be true. Not when every time I close my eyes, I can only see the way that Raph looks at me when we’re lying together, as if I’m the only thing that matters in this entire universe. Not his throne, not his Dynasty, not his betrothal. But me.
The troubled look in Magnus’s eyes deepens as he regards me.
“Don’t lie to yourself, Jazmine. You’re stronger than that.”
His words feel like a stab to the chest, and all I can do is turn away from those truths threatening to swallow me whole, and run.
I hear Magnus calling after me, but I don’t stop. I keep running until the cool night air hits my burning lungs.
I’ve never driven on Eden, but I don’t even think twice as I get into one of the waiting cars in the palace courtyard and it isn’t any different from my limited experience of driving on Earth.