The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 4 by Bella Forrest (best e book reader android TXT) 📗

“Just making an observation.”

“We were doing a perfectly good job, I’ll have you know, but I will admit—and I am not prone to doing so—we made a slight error in judgment. We thought we were safe, and we weren’t,” she explained, her tone regretful. “There were other mages who sought to capture and use the last Spellbreaker for their own purposes, driven by personal vengeance and hatred.”

Alex thought of the hooded figure with the twisted mouth he had seen in the trees, and wondered if the Head had been behind the plan that saw his father evaporated into a black mist. Perhaps Elias had been working as a double agent the whole time, with Siren Mave believing him to be on her side, when in reality he had been working to kill Alexei.

“It forced our hand when we saw that someone had started to trail your father—someone working for an underground organization of mages, disgruntled with the king and his rule. It was Elias’s job to watch your father, that day in the park. I told him to summon me if anything happened, but he didn’t—I think he was trying to prove his worth. I hadn’t been the most supportive of mentors, and I think it got to him—again, that is my fault. Enjoy these admissions of failure, as I will not be repeating them,” she remarked. “Ultimately, he failed, but I promise you he was trying to save your father.”

Alex shook his head vehemently. “You expect me to believe that?”

“You should—it’s the truth. Elias tried to attack your father’s assailant, but the attack was too strong, and it ended up killing your father too. Think of it as magical shrapnel, which unfortunately took your father’s life. Had it been normal magic, your father would have lived, but the magic we use is different… It is stronger, more volatile, more unpredictable, especially when wielded by novice hands,” she said sadly. “It was a tragic accident, and we admit our responsibility.”

“I don’t see Elias admitting to it,” said Alex sharply, gesturing around at the otherwise empty turret. “It makes no difference, really—my mother was left without her partner, believing he had just up and left without a word.”

She fingered the beads of a bracelet. “About that… We didn’t know about you.”

“It seems you didn’t know a lot of things.” Alex flashed her a look of resentment.

For the first time, Siren Mave looked genuinely apologetic. “I’m sorry we left your mother alone. We didn’t realize she was pregnant—she wasn’t showing, and she hadn’t told anyone other than your father, so we figured that was it… no more Spellbreakers. It didn’t occur to us to try to explain to her what had happened to him. It was a can of worms we didn’t want to open. We don’t believe he knew what he was, and your mother certainly didn’t know anything about the magical world. So we went back to the royals with our tails between our legs, believing our jobs to be over. We had nothing to protect, nobody to guard. It was a real blow… We had been searching for him for years and years, trying to follow snippets of information about Leander Wyvern’s non-magical mistress and their progeny, following leads, usually ending up at dead ends. He was the end of the road,” she sighed.

“So I am a descendant of Leander Wyvern?” Alex asked. He had hoped and believed he might be.

“You are.” She nodded, a look of relief on her face.

“What happened when you went back, after what Elias had done?” he pressed. He felt no less angry at Elias, but he was willing to hear the whole story before he made any further judgment.

She smiled wryly. “As punishment for losing the last hope of balance in the magical world—quite the crime, I’m sure you’ll agree—I was made to do menial labor around the havens. Elias being Elias, he decided to make himself scarce, using his shadowy form to his advantage, shirking off his share of the punishment, disappearing into thin air. I wasn’t pleased, I can assure you,” she grumbled. “I presumed he’d gone for good until I saw him again recently, speaking with you. I think he’s trying to make amends for what he did—trying not to make the same mistake again.”

Alex wasn’t sure which part enraged him more—that she was defending Elias, trying to make what he had done seem less awful than it was, or that she had known all of this and had chosen to say nothing, for so long. He said as much, venom dripping from his words.

“Why didn’t you say anything to me, after all this time? Do you have any idea the heartache and pain you could have saved, if you had both just been honest? Are you that inhuman?” he snapped, his eyes burning. “Not once have you lifted a finger to help me! Isn’t that your job?” He gripped his fists into a tight ball, trying to push away the sparks of his aura that burned at the edges of his skin.

“That’s not entirely true, is it?” Siren Mave replied, her voice calm.

“Fine, that creature has helped me, but you—you have done nothing.”

She shook her head sadly. “I have tried, Alex. Not every kind of aid is one you can see,” she said softly. “I have been there for you. I tried to get you out.”

He frowned. “What?”

“I tried to get you out,” she repeated. “It took me a while to realize what you were, initially, but once I understood, I did try to help. I bent the rules, and I tried to intervene… I am not supposed to use my magic to manipulate anyone, as it can be very dangerous, but that is exactly what I did, for you. I got in Aamir’s head and maneuvered him into letting you go.”

Alex looked at her in wide-eyed shock. “Why would you do that?” he gasped, realizing with a pang of sorrow that it had been Siren Mave’s offer and