Free Web NovelChapter 252: Chapter 252: She was my mother’s ally
"Morvaine," Eve repeated the name again like she needed to be sure.
"Yes," Damian said.
"That’s...." She stopped. Started again. "That’s the same bloodline as...."
"Yes," Silas said.
Same bloodline as the witch histories. Same bloodline that the Conclave had declared extinct twenty seven years ago. Same bloodline that apparently had at least one surviving member who had been hiding in plain sight long enough to write letters and watch over Eve for the past twenty years.
Eve put the letter down, Picked it up again to read the line a second time.
I was present the night Azrael and Lilith died. I could not stop what happened.
Damon watched her face, trying to read her emotions from her expression.
He wanted to say something but he didn’t, he decided to give her time to process everything she just read.
"She was there," Eve said.
"Yes," Damian said.
"She watched them die."
"That’s exactly what she’s saying."
Eve set the letter down carefully. Like it was something that needed to be handled with a care.
"She could be lying," Damon said.
Everyone looked at him.
He kept his voice even. "Morvaine is extinct. That’s on record. That’s what every record says. Even the packs have records of them, The Conclave have records dated forty years saying the bloodline ended." He paused. "Anyone who did enough research could use that name. Could construct this entire thing knowing it would make us feel the way we are feeling right now ."
"Damon....," Silas said. freёweɓnovel.com
"I’m not saying she is," Damon said. "I’m saying we don’t know. We have a letter with a name that is either the most significant thing that’s happened since Eve walked into this estate or a very sophisticated piece of manipulation." He looked at his brothers. "And we can’t tell which from paper."
Nobody argued that because it was still true.
Eve looked at him and then rubbed her hand on her face.
"You’re right," she said.
Damon turned to look at her.
"I know you’re right," she said. "I know we can’t verify this from a letter." She paused. "But she was my mother’s ally. She knew your father. She used a name that should be extinct." A pause. "Either she’s telling the truth or she’s the most dangerous person we’ve encountered since Malachai." Eve looked at the letter. "Either way we need to know which."
Damon looked at her.
"Aldenmere," he said. " That village is two hours north."
"Two hours north, that means we have plenty of time to be cautious " she said.
"We’d be on unfamiliar ground. Her choice of location. Her terms."
"She said you should come when you’re ready," Silas said. "Two weeks. She’s giving us time to prepare. To do our own research first if we want to."
"That’s either generous or confident," Damon said.
"Also both," Damian said.
Damon looked at his brother.
Damian was looking at the letter with the expression he used when he’d already made a decision and was waiting for the room to catch up.
"You want to go," Damon said.
"I want to find out," Damian said. "Those aren’t the same thing."
"But it is close enough."
Damon looked at the letter one more time.
"Fine," he said and turned to face Eve. "But we have go prepared. We will carry out a full research on Aldenmere before we move. We know the location, we know the exits, we know who else operates in that area." He looked at Damian. "And we go together. All of us. Nobody gets left behind. because if anything goes wrong, we need to make sure that you are protected."
"Agreed," Damian said.
"Silas."
"Agreed," Silas said.
Eve was already looking at him.
"I already said I’m not going anywhere without you," she said. "That hasn’t changed."
He looked at her.
The skepticism was still there. It wasn’t going anywhere yet. But underneath it....underneath the careful uncomfortable turning-it-over.....was the same thing it always was when it came to Eve.
He was in.
He was always in.
He just needed to say the hard things out loud first so nobody walked into anything blind.
"So we have two weeks," he said. "And i suggest we make good use of them."
"We’ll use them," Damian said.
***
He found Silas that evening.
In the library. Which was where Silas went when he was already three steps ahead of everyone else and needed space to think.
He was pulling out old records.....the kind that lived on the high shelves and hadn’t been touched in years. Pack histories, Conclave histories. Bloodline documentation.
Damon leaned in the doorway.
"Are you making research on the Morvaine witches?," he asked.
"Yes," Silas said. Not looking up.
"What do you already know."
Silas set a book on the table. Opened it. Turned it so Damon could see the page.
A single entry. Old print. A bloodline record from sixty years ago.
The Morvaine line. History. Known members. And at the bottom....a declaration of extinction. Signed by three Conclave members, pack leaders and notable leader of other supernatural beings. It dated twenty five years ago.
One year after Eve’s parents died.
Damon stared at it.
"They declared them extinct," he said. "One year after."
"Yes," Silas said.
"Malachai was already on the Conclave by then."
Silas looked at him and nodded.
Damon looked at the extinction declaration. At the date. At the multiple signatures underneath it.
If Vessa Morvaine was alive....had been alive this whole time, then someone had signed a document saying she wasn’t.
Someone had made her disappear on paper.
And they both knew exactly who had the kind of Conclave access to make that kind of thing happen.
"So apparently she’s not hiding from us," Damon said.
"No," Silas said.
"She’s been hiding from him."
"For twenty six years," Silas said. "Yes."
Damon went quiet for three minutes then he looked up at his brother.
"We leave in a week," he said. "Tell Damian."
