I tried to tell myself Drake had deserved it – that in fact, what I said was accurate – but it was hard to deny the truth niggling away at my heart. I’d wanted to hurt him…hurt him real bad; and I’d gone straight for the jugular, for maximum impact.
Deep down, I knew calling him a monster was petty and unfair.
Yes, he was an A-class jerk. And yes – he’d beaten me up real good when we’d fought. But that didn’t mean he deserved to be labelled as a monster – a class I really only reserved for people who were as black-hearted as those who’d kept me and my mother locked up for centuries.
“What’s with the bleak face?” Knox asked, startling me from my sullen thoughts, as he jogged up to me from behind and suddenly appeared by my side.
I jumped inside my skin in surprise, and looked up to see his bright inquisitive eyes staring back at me. For a moment, I forgot about Drake and my conflicting emotions as I got lost in those luminous orbs. Shining a honey-gold tawny color, rimmed by a deep black, they were captivating yet inviting, so much so that I didn’t think I could ever get bored admiring them.
His eyes emitted a warmth and kindness, acting like a soothing balm for the erratic emotions racing through my heart.
As I continued staring, I noted Knox’s handsome face was perfectly symmetrical – like an upside down egg, tapering smoothly at the chin, and his straight, upturned nose was just the perfect length between his large, expressive eyes, and soft, full mouth.
Knox waved a hand in front of me. “A penny for your thoughts?”
I quickly averted my gaze, embarrassed, and hoping he wouldn’t realize what I’d been thinking about. I really needed to stop spending my time checking these guys out. Afterall, I wasn’t here to make friends – and I sure as hell wasn’t here to find a mate.
“I was just noting how similar yet different you, Drake, Liam, and Damien look,” I said, covering up, not really expecting Knox to comment back. But then Knox gave me a response that took me completely by surprise.
“Oh – that’s because we’re all brothers. But we all have different mothers.”
I stopped abruptly. “What?” I asked in shock, my jaw going slack, as my brain froze, refusing to compute.
Knox looked across at my round, wide eyes and open mouth. “Yeah. Didn’t you know?”
“No…I would’ve never thought…” I stammered.
“I thought Ethan might have mentioned it. But I guess not.” He shrugged. He gestured for me to keep walking.
Lost in my thoughts over this whale of a revelation, I was momentarily silent as we continued to stroll along the cobblestoned driveway towards the edge of the trees bordering the carpark.
“It’s no big deal. We all grew up together anyway. Our family was just bigger than most.”
I let what he was saying sink in. “Did ummm…your father remarry four times…?” I tried to ask, wondering if Knox would think I was prying too much into their personal lives.
Knox grinned, giving me a slanted look. “You mean, you’re wondering if he was a serial philanderer. Right?”
I flushed, because he’d hit the nail right on the head – and I felt like I was probably being extremely rude by asking.
“It’s okay,” he laughed. “I’m not offended. My family has some old, eccentric traditions. One of them is that the men still keep concubines.”
“Are you for real?” I blurted out, without meaning to. Filter Jasmine…Filter! Use your bloody filter…!
“Sorry, I didn’t mean for it to come off like that,” I quickly apologized. I was still stunned, and trying to digest this new information.
“Yeah, it’s hard for most people to wrap their heads around. Don’t worry, your reaction isn’t anything I haven’t seen before.”
“How do all your mothers…get along?” I asked tentatively, unable to leash in my curiosity.
“Hmmm…good question…” Knox squinted his eyes, carefully thinking about how best to answer. “…Cautiously, I guess?”
“It’s a very complicated system,” he added seeing my bewildered expression. “Too long to go into right now. Besides, let’s get back to your story. What’s going on with you and Drake? Why’d you run out of the auction room earlier?”
“Oh that…” I said, and fell silent. Knox prodded me with a nudge of his elbow. “Come on, I shared already. Now it’s your turn.”
“Hmmm…” I replied non-committedly, and he pulled a comical face and I couldn’t hold back my laugh.
“That’s better,” Knox said, patting me on the back. “So, are you going to tell me now, Little Lionheart?”
I grimaced, but in the end I complied. “I called Drake something I shouldn’t have.”
“Really…? What did you call him? Cause I’ve heard other people label him plenty of things before, and I’m wondering if what you said was anything new.”
I blushed scarlet. I knew Knox was teasing me but I couldn’t help but feel somewhat guilty. I cleared my throat. “I called him a…a…monster,” I admitted awkwardly.
“Hmmm…I see.” Knox stopped at one of the wooden posts planted into the grassy ground. Waist high, it was one of many dotting the boundary of the carpark. He leaned against it, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I guess we all say things we don’t mean once in a while,” he said softly.
I paused beside him, and looked down at the ground, scuffing the top of my boot against the grass. “Yeah…it’s just,” I paused, squinting my eyes, trying to find the right words, “…he can be a real jackass sometimes.”
Knox threw back his head, and laughed. Then looking back at me, he broke into a grin, showing off his pearly whites. “That’s Drake for you. You’ll have to forgive my brother. He hasn’t had the easiest of times growing up, so he’s always tough on himself and others. I mean, he’s not a bad guy. He’s just really bad with words. You just have to be patient. Eventually, he grows on you. And vice versa.”
I cringe. “Unfortunately I am not the most patient of people…” I remarked.
“That’s probably why the both of you are like oil and fire,” he said, giving me a cheeky smile.
“Probably…” I muttered, thinking I should probably give Drake a chance and try to be nicer to him. His family seemed pretty messed up from what Knox was saying, so it wasn’t a wonder he was as prickly as a porcupine.
Knox was still looking at me and I squinted back at him, nodding my head slowly. “I’ll try, I guess…” I finally said, agreeing. Knox flashed me a brilliant smile, and hopped off the pole. “Great! Now, that’s sorted…tell me, why’d you run out of the auction room?”
I groaned. I thought Knox had forgotten about that.
I decided since I’d already revealed the bit about Drake, I might as well tell him about this aswell. As I doubted he was going to let this subject go without an answer.
“It’s because of the selkie pelt. I wasn’t expecting to see it here…” I paused, pursing my lips, wondering how to best explain how I was feeling. I decided to go with the most direct route. “It doesn’t belong here – or at any auction house…something like that shouldn’t be treated just like some commodity to be sold to the highest bidder.”
Knox nodded, his eyes becoming serious. “I agree with your sentiments, but something tells me there’s more to this than that…I mean, you pretty much ran out of the room, like you’d seen some ghost. Your face was all pale and you looked horrified.”
I hesitated, wondering if I should tell Knox the whole truth. Frowning, I thought better of it, but at the last moment changed my mind again when I saw how Knox was looking at me. It was a kind, gentle expression – one I hadn’t encountered for a very long time. The last time I remembered someone looking at me like that…
I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. I just didn’t understand it – I barely knew the guy, so it made no sense. But then, why was he looking at me in that way…it was so damn…affectionate…
The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop
them, and before I knew it, I was already half-way through explaining to Knox about how the selkie pelt’s magical voice had spoken to me, how it was lonely and depressed and crying out for its owner and true master, and how I was enraged it’d been stolen from them, and even more furious there was little I could do to fix it.
Huffing, I gulped in some deep breathes, finally finished with my rambling. I’d left out the part about how the situation reminded me of how my mother had been enslaved, but otherwise I’d told him everything else.
“Breathe, Little Lionheart. Breathe,” Knox said, rubbing my shoulders to warm them. I hadn’t even realize I was trembling or that goosebumps were completely covering my arm.
“Look, I don’t know what bad things have happened to you in the past, but…” He stopped, looking over my head, and quickly dropped his hands from where they had been holding firmly onto my shoulders.
Before I could ask him what he was looking at, he took a step forward, pushing me behind him at the same time, in a protective sort of manner.
“What’s wrong – ” I began to ask, then I heard Liam’s voice.
“So, this is where you’ve been, Knox. We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
I came to full attention, alerted by the sounds of multiple footsteps, which told me the rest of the other guys were also here. I quickly wiped my face with the back of my hands to get rid of any dried tears, and smoothed down my messy hair.
Meanwhile, Damien spoke up to counter Liam’s claim. “Bullshit. Drake and I have been looking for you everywhere. Liam’s just been lounging around in the members area, sipping martinis.”
“Was it really necessary for you to tell him that?” Liam responded darkly, as I composed myself, then stepped out from behind Knox, just in time to see Liam scowling and shooting Damien a dirty look.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Drake standing next to Damien, but I was careful to avoid his gaze, still feeling awkward about what happened earlier. Even so, I could feel his hot gaze on me, searing the side of my face.
“I don’t like it when people pretend to be concerned about others when they’re not,” Damien replied frankly.
Liam rubbed the side of his jaw, slightly abashed. “Well…we all know Knox is a big boy. He wasn’t in any real sort of trouble. See, look at him,” he said and waved his hand at Knox meaningfully. “He’s perfectly fine. And hanging out with his new friend aswell, I see.” Liam arched an eyebrow derisively, spotting me.
“We were getting bored inside, so we decided to wait outside near the car,” Knox said smoothly. “Isn’t that right?” he asked, peering down at me.
I forced out a fake smile, going along with Knox’s lie. “Yes, of course. Are you guys done?” I said, changing the subject, hoping to distract them so they wouldn’t ask any more questions about what Knox and I had been doing or discussing. “Do you have the scroll?”
Damien and Drake both turned their heads to look over at Liam, whose lips pulled out into a wide grin.
“Yes we do,” he beamed, as he pulled out something from behind his back. I held in a breath as I watched him bring the object to his front.
From beside me, Knox let out a small sound of surprise, and I trained my eyes on Liam’s hand just as he held out a small black, innocuous looking, rectangular box.
And I could hardly believe such a simple looking box was about to change my life, forever.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Jasmine
“Do you have it?” Ethan asked, stopping his pacing of the room as soon as we walked through the door. We were back in the study, and this time I had more of an opportunity to look around.
Large floor to ceiling, white, timber framed windows faced me on the side directly opposite the door. The heavy muted beige curtains were still drawn up, to the side, giving me a full view of the sprawling estate in front of the house.
Stacks of books sat in bookshelves lining the left wall, and there were maps and charts pinned in the centre of the long, red oak table, and on various boards stuck in different places on the walls.
An antique-looking globe of the world sat on a wooden plinth near the door, and I spun it only to find that it wasn’t a map of the Earth – well, at least not in the way it was today. There were strange landmasses I didn’t recognize, and black and gray meridian lines criss-crossing through each other in a pattern that didn’t make any sense to me.
“Jasmine?” I looked up, hearing someone’s voice calling out my name. Ethan gestured to me to come over to the table where he and the other four guys were huddled over an unfurled piece of aged, yellow paper.
They were trying to keep their voices low, but I could tell they were having a heated discussion.
Drake’s voice rose above the chatter, “…this can’t be right…” But I was unable to hear the rest of what he said as he murmured the rest.
From afar, I could see they’d put metal paper weights, in the shape of castles, on top of the scroll to hold it down, and there were chess pieces scattered to the side. The whole scene reminded me of a war room.
I walked over to them, and glanced down.
“What the hell…” I murmured, swearing as I lowered my head to inspect the scroll closer, brows drawn down in confusion. The yellow parchment was blank.
“Exactly!” Liam exclaimed, grumbling with annoyance. “What is this shit? There’s nothing on it!”
“Calm down Liam,” Damien chided beside him, letting out an impatient breath. “Veron wouldn’t have notified us about it if he wasn’t sure this was the real deal. I’m sure there’s more to it than what meets the eye…” he said, trying to reason with him.
“Jasmine, could you take a proper look and see if there’s any magic infused in it? Maybe the words are hidden…and we need to figure out a way to reveal them.”
I nodded at Ethan. He had a fair point.
Pushing the paper weights off the scroll and away to the side with my hands, I picked it up and raised it above me towards the light. I squinted at it, looking for traces of magic writing.
Nothing.
Bringing it to my nose, I sniffed it, and found that it smelt old and musty, like it’d been stowed away in some dark, hidden corner, untouched for ages. But still, there was nothing magical in the scent.
Frowning, I turned the parchment over in my hand wondering if I’d missed something…but truthfully, it just looked like an ordinary piece of paper…just old...
“I can’t sense anything,” I said, about to hand it back over when I accidentally sliced my skin on the edge. “Owww…!” I hissed as I saw I’d given myself a papercut.
“Fuck. I got some blood on it,” I said, and just as the words finished leaving my mouth, I felt the parchment warming and start to vibrate.
“Holy mother of serpents...” I swore, eyes widening. “I think it’s alive.”
Ethan came over to stand right up next to me, and leaned in. “What do you mean?” he demanded. “Can you sense the magic?”
“Hell, yeah. Here, you feel it.” I handed Ethan the scroll and he took it in his hand. Immediately, his brows shot up. “It’s warm…” he breathed excitedly. He turned around to grin at the other guys. “I think this may be legit.”
They all quickly walked over to see for themselves. “Here, hold it,” Ethan said.
Each of them took turns, passing it to one another, surprise and excitement reflecting on all their faces.
“But it’s still blank…” Knox said, turning the paper around at different angles above his head. “How do we get it to work?”
We all fell silent.
“I have an idea…” Drake began slowly. All heads turned to stare at him.
“You – really…?” Liam scoffed, hardly believing his ears.
Drake shot him a stony look that would’ve made most people quake in their boots; except Liam appeared unaffected – then continued to explain what he’d come up with. “We could ask Lupin. He would probably know how to figure out how to activate the scrol
l properly and unlock its magic. He’s good with cracking magical artifacts.”
Knox snorted. “There’s only one problem…,” he said, letting the scroll fall to his side with his hands and looking over at Drake. “You’re forgetting…he hates us.”
“He hates some of us,” Damien corrected, inserting himself in, then eyeing Drake. “For some reason…he likes Drake.”
“Whose Lupin?” I asked, feeling completely lost with this turn in the conversation. “Is he a friend or foe?”
Ethan pursed his lips. “A bit of column A, a bit of column B…and a bit of column C,” he answered dryly, as my brows puckered in confusion. “He’s family,” Ethan explained. “His our great grand-uncle…from our father’s side.”
Understanding dawned on me. “Wait…what?! By ‘our father’ you mean – ” I cut myself off abruptly, giving Ethan a sharp look, even as I struggled to piece together the genealogical relationships implied by his words. I knew Knox, Liam, Damien and Drake were siblings, but…
“Yes, we’re all brothers…Liam, Knox, Drake, Damien and I. We all have the same father.”
Stumbling back a little, I my eyes roved over each of their faces in shock. “B-but you said you weren’t a dragon…” I spluttered, confused.
“I’m not.” Here he grimaced ever so slightly. “I was born a phoenix.”
“A firebird?” I exclaimed, almost shouting. This new revelation was too much…a phoenix was a creature of myth and legend…they didn’t really exist, did they…? I stumbled over to one of the armchairs, needing to sit down. No one made to follow me.
As I took in deep, rattling breaths, I rubbed my face with the palms of my hands, and then raking my fingers shakily through my hair, I tried to sort out my feelings.
“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier…?” I demanded in a loud whisper, my voice hitching at the end of my question, as I glared at Ethan. This wasn’t some minor information. Finding this out was like having a live bomb dropped into a still lake, then watching as it detonates.
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