Unhallowed (Rath and Rune #1) - Jordan L. Hawk Page 0,66

snuggled into him. “I don’t know a great deal about history. Well, not any of the traditional things one is expected to know. You can’t imagine how confused I was when someone first mentioned George Washington to me. When I asked who that was, he looked at me as though I were mad.”

“I’d never considered that,” Sebastian said. “I imagine there are many subjects left uncovered by cult education.”

“You could say so.” Ves turned his face into Sebastian’s hair, breathed deep. “As for my purpose…I was meant to usher in the end of the world.”

“Oh,” Sebastian said softly. “You were meant to come here in 1902? To Widdershins?”

“They never told me any details—no whens and wheres. But I was supposed to lead an army of cultists, rain destruction and death down on our enemies, and help bring a close to the age of humankind.”

Sebastian shook his head slowly. “I can’t imagine you doing that.”

Ves snorted. “Neither could I. Which was a bit of a problem, since that was my one and only reason for existing.”

“I can see where that would be an issue, yes.”

Ves ran his hand along Sebastian’s upper arm. “My mother named me Vesper—evening—because I was going to bring the day of humanity to a close. Of course, that meant she and my grandfather had very high expectations of me. I started ‘training’ by the time I was five years old. I marched, did every sort of physical workout. Practiced killing on straw dummies.” He swallowed. “I memorized long sections of text, learned whatever language was required to read the books on our shelf. Any education past that wasn’t of importance.”

“That sounds very limiting,” Sebastian said quietly.

“I suppose. At the time, I was just concentrating on survival.”

Sebastian lifted his head, brows drawn down. “What do you mean?”

“As you noticed, I’m fairly unsuited to destroying the world,” Ves said with a crooked smile that fooled neither of them. “But honestly, even if I had been, I don’t think I could have ever satisfied Mother’s exacting standards. The smallest failing or infraction earned a beating. I had to march around the yard for up to twelve hours straight, or stay awake for days at a time, because ‘you’ll have to do it when you’re leading an army to victory.’ And if I failed, I’d be punished. Harshly.”

“The scars on your back…”

“Yes.”

Sebastian kissed him tenderly. “I’m so sorry.”

No one had ever said that to him, about what he’d endured as a child. Tears welled in his eyes, and he blinked them back. “It wasn’t as bad as it might have been. I’m tough. Physically, I mean. She had to coat the whip in silver dust so it would actually hurt me. I’m also resistant to magic. It isn’t that spells can’t work on me, but not…directly. That is, if you throw kerosene on me and then set it on fire with a spell, I’ll be in trouble. If you try to cast the spell directly at me, not much will happen.”

“Useful.”

“Except it means I also can’t cast spells. Mother was very disappointed at that.” He sighed. “Honestly, my time with the books was the best time of the day. Grandfather was more of a scholar, and he was the one to teach me how to repair and rebind. I owe my career to him, I suppose.”

Sebastian’s hand trailed across his chest again, a comforting touch. “It sounds as though you were close.”

“In a way.” Vesper considered for a long moment, trying to untangle the briar patch of emotion. “He was more patient than Mother, although perhaps that’s only because I was actually good at what he had to teach me. My time with him was a reprieve of a sorts, though of course he never hesitated to remind me the reason we had the books in the first place.”

“Did he never try to rein in his daughter’s cruelty?”

If only. Ves shook his head. “He was ruthless in his own way. He’d relate tales of the blood he’d spilled to obtain the books as we worked on them. The lives he’d taken because it was convenient for him, because it served his own ambition. At the time, it didn’t seem so horrible, though. I loved him. I loved Mother, for that matter. But they were both true believers in the task their masters had set for them.”

“The destruction of humanity?”

“I know it sounds mad.” Ves stared at the ceiling. “But I think…I think life had ill-used them both in their separate ways.