Forged in Stone - Alyssa Rose Ivy Page 0,59
I wanted to hear, but it is information I need.”
“I was going to tell you.”
“Oh yeah? Get lost on the way to Bellgard?” I detested games, and unfortunately Talon liked to play them.
“You know we have to be careful.”
“Of course you do, but careful means keeping the Essence and Gerard in the know. That was part of the deal of you living here.” I knew considering I had been part of the negotiation process.
“Your father destroyed our home.” He scowled. “The least they could do was give us a new place to live.”
“I know, and no one cares that you live in this icy, frigid place, but if you want to keep it you have to keep us aware.”
“Are you the representative for Bellgard now? No offense, but I never took the Essence and her Gerard for being stupid.” He smirked. Talon was skating a thin line.
“That had better not mean what I think it does.”
“You are his son.”
“And I nearly died saving the Essence.” And I would have done it again ten times over. My role as a Guardian and my affection for Charlotte went far beyond any familial bond I ever felt to my father.
“Still, we would not be so quick to welcome back the son of darkness.”
“The son of darkness? Is that how you see me?” The name stung.
“Blake is a Cipher. He is darkness. You are his son. Is there a better name?” Talon used the term I had wanted to forget. My father had welded himself to darkness in a way that few ever had and hopefully ever would.
“You said it in present tense, but he is dead.”
“Dead in the physical way, but a Cipher cannot die.”
“How would you know?” Part of me had always questioned it, but it had been eight years. He was gone.
“My people keep meticulous records. We have stories. Those stories are things your people should learn.”
“The Essence knows all.” Even if she sometimes did not realize it.
“She knows most, but not all. She became the Essence too quick. She lacked formal training and could not acclimate appropriately.”
“That was not her fault.” My defensive side took over.
“No, it was the fault of your father.” He gave me a steely gaze.
“Yes, I am well aware. Care to turn the knife some more?” I was losing patience.
“I am merely giving you a warning. We all know his men cannot be acting on their own accord.”
“Someone must have stepped up. They are following someone.” I pulled my coat tighter around me.
“Or something.” He smirked, wisely holding his tongue about how cold I was.
“My father is dead.” My hands balled into fists. I was done with this conversation. “He no longer exists.”
“Evil cannot be destroyed that easily. Quit being so naive.”
“Is that how you view us? Too naïve?”
“Not all of you.” He looked off into the distance.
“What are you implying?”
“I am not implying anything, but you are not the first man from Bellgard to come through this way.”
“Who else?” This was news to me, and I assumed it was also to Charlotte and Liam. They would have mentioned if they had sent anyone else.
“Stan and Emma. Her appearance took us by surprise. We never expected Emma to return here.”
Returning to Icentris could not have been easy on Emma. “Why were they here?” I knew the vacation story was strange.
“Stan had some concerns. It is why I know about the new gate. He asked us to keep a closer watch.”
“Why are you just telling me this now? We could have avoided the circles of this conversation.”
“Because I was not sure I was supposed to.”
“You are supposed to tell me everything. I am on the Guard.” I stepped toward him. “I have the authority to act for Energo.”
“Yes, the Guard. I usually trust the Source, but sometimes I have my doubts.”
The Source was what selected us. The Source determined everything. “Where are Emma and Stan now? They have not made it back Energo.”
“They were continuing on to Alak.”
“To Alak? But Kevin was just there.” Alak was the political meeting spot for all of the nations united with Energo.
“You asked me where they went, and I am telling you.”
“Where is this gate?”
“No one knows.”
“Then how do you even know it exists?” I was close to losing my temper.
“I am not revealing all my sources, but by the large number of men I have seen, I would expect it is somewhere near here.”
A large number of men? We needed to respond quickly, but the problem was how. First I