twelve, no, I guess seventeen, lives worth of information in his lap.
“Easton Bowman was there. You’re sure?” he asks, and I sigh. “Don’t do that, Remy. It’s a lot, I’m processing. But Easton, he’s our grandfather’s right hand. That’s why I’m asking.”
“Oh, right, sorry,” I say. “Yeah, it was definitely him, but that doesn’t mean that grandfather knows about any of this. The likelihood of him working with the other factions is about a zero chance. He might be a royal bastard, but I don’t think he’s the one behind this.”
“If not him, then who?” I shake my head at his question.
“I wish I knew.” I shrug. “We’re working on it.”
“Can I help?” he asks, wide eyed.
“Do you think you can get over the Hunter BS way of thinking?” I counter, and he shifts awkwardly.
“I’d like to try,” he says earnestly. “If the others knew, sure, some of them would still say grandfather was right in what he did. But there are a lot of Hunters out there, especially on the other side of the world, who are more openminded that you might imagine. Not all guilds within the faction are as hardcore as ours.” He hangs his head, and looks like he feels little guilty.
“I thought they were just soft, trying to keep at peace with the other factions as much as they could. Lazy for only actively hunting the rogues, rather than the factions as a whole. Maybe there are some Elders who no longer feel what they did was right. Maybe that’s why their guilds are more… understanding than ours?”
“Maybe, do you know which Elders rule over which guild?” I ask, because I haven’t had enough chance to catch up on Hunter politics, and it’s not something I’ve remembered either.
“I do.”
“That could help, especially if we’re going to need help getting the Elders on board with everything.”
“You know our grandfather, hell even Dad and Bauer will never come around,” he says sadly.
“I do, and that’s their choice, but I’m not going to give up a life that I’ve been working towards for literally centuries, just because of them. I won’t force them.”
“Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me, Remy,” he says with a small smile. “It might take me a while to wrap my head around it all, and I’m going to have to work harder to avoid grandfather, because after what he did to you… Yeah, no. I’m not chill about that.”
“Thank you for being willing to listen. I missed you when you were gone before, I didn’t want to lose you all over again.”
“Ditto, little bit. Maybe after all of this is over, Fallon will give me a chance to explain too.”
“I don’t know what’s going on with you guys, but I’m sure she’ll come around.”
“I don’t know, after I didn’t try to help you, whatever she was angry about before, that got discarded, and anything that might have been between us was broken, officially blown to pieces.”
“Well, maybe showing her that you know you were wrong might help.” I’m not going to speak for Fallon, and her temper is not something I’d want to deal with. Usually when she holds a grudge, she doesn’t let go, but who knows?
“I can hope. Can I come back with you, to the manor? Try and get to know your guys?” he asks, and I shake my head.
“Not today, you should have seen the battle I had to get here, but soon. Trust needs to be built on both sides.”
“I get that. I know I was wrong, that I should’ve done something, anything. You didn’t deserve what they did to you, and now I know everything, I guess they thought you’d remembered, and wanted you eliminated in case you outed what they’d done, but still. I should’ve done something.”
“You’re doing something now, that counts,” I tell him with a smile.
“I’ll make it up to you Remy. I swear it.” He stands, and I follow suit as he heads towards the door. “I think Mom would be proud of you, despite what Dad thinks. She always did say love is love, regardless of the situation. It makes more sense now that I know, but I think she’d want me to support you, to be on your side.”
He hugs me, and I fight the tears that well up. He pulls back and his eyes are glassy too, and I laugh so I don’t cry.
“I’d like to think so.”
“Remy, where on earth are you heading to now? You’ve only