Heart of Vengeance (Alice Worth #6) - Lisa Edmonds Page 0,25
wanted to demand, Tell me what, but that would just play more into Charles’s little game. Instead, I waited.
I didn’t have to wait long. Sean turned to face me. “When we first met, Vaughan told you a member of my pack, Mike Holleman, let it be known I intended to find a mage and turn her into a werewolf to be my mate.”
I nodded. “I remember. He spread that lie to try and get you killed.”
“It wasn’t entirely a lie.” A muscle moved his jaw. “I did say I wanted to turn a mage to be my mate.”
I felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach.
His expression was unreadable. “About ten years ago, not long after I became alpha, I heard of another alpha who’d turned a mage to be his mate and thought it wasn’t a bad idea. I would never have turned someone against their will, but I did want to explore the possibility of finding a mage to be my mate and turning her if she was willing. Jack and I discussed it numerous times—which is how Mike found out about it later. Jack or Delia let something slip in a conversation, and Mike decided to use it to his advantage.”
For so long, I’d believed there was nothing to the rumor about Sean’s intention to turn a mage. Charles must have uncovered the truth and held onto the information until he could use it.
“And when did you decide against turning a mage?” I asked finally. My voice didn’t sound like my own.
Sean kept his gaze locked on my face. “Jack and Delia talked me out of it years ago. You know how dead-set they were on my mate being a born shifter. Before too long, they had me convinced choosing anyone other than a shifter would be a colossal mistake, for me and the pack.” He flexed his bloodied hands. “After that, I didn’t think about it again. And I never thought of you as a powerful mage I wanted so my pack would be stronger, or that I wanted to turn you, especially after I knew you had no desire to become a shifter. For me, from the night we met, you’ve simply been Alice, the woman I want and love.” He exhaled. “And that is my truth.”
“All right.” My voice still sounded funny. I turned my chair toward Charles. “Now, you tell me the truth—all of it, or I walk out of here right now, and I won’t look back.”
As Sean revealed the grain of truth behind the rumor that had almost ended our relationship before it began, Charles had weighed his options. I recognized the expression he wore when he was calculating the best move to make. Vampires were fairly inscrutable, but there was a slight tightening of his eyes and a tiny crease between his eyebrows when he had to make a difficult decision. I supposed whether to tell the truth was a difficult and unfamiliar choice for someone like him. I figured it was a fifty-fifty chance the next words out of his mouth would be a lie.
“It is as the wolf says,” Charles said finally. He drew himself up to his full height. His aura of fragility vanished, and though he was still thin, I saw no hint of infirmity. The lingering sickness from the Tepes stone and depression after using the spelled cup to walk in the sun had been an act. He’d pretended to be weakened and almost suicidal to play on my sympathy.
It took every ounce of willpower I had to not get up and walk out right then.
“Go on,” I said. If my voice had sounded strained before, it was like a taut wire now.
“My campaign to ingratiate myself to you began very soon after we met.” Charles folded his hands behind his back, his gaze locked on mine. “As you may have surmised, my intentions were primarily focused on making you my lover and ally so I might utilize your power and ingenuity for my own ends, and to advance the interests of the Court. Because you proved so thoroughly immune to my overtures, I influenced you very subtly so you would not detect my manipulations.”
“At Valas’s request? Or was it your idea, and she approved the plan?”
A pause. “She approved my plan.”
Sean had been right about that too.
After a moment, Charles continued, “Our acquaintance soon turned to a business relationship, and then to the closest friendship I have enjoyed since I was human. My