Daughter of Anat (7 page)

Chapter Eight

...
for nothing will annoy them more.

A short stop at my court for Szar to grab equipment he needed landed me running in to see my father.  I wanted to ask him about an old detail that might lead me in the right direction and it left me with more questions than answers.  I ditched Szar at his room and headed straight for where father might be.  I asked him about Cord and his right to marry into my family and why that would have been his choice.  He said he discussed with all three boys the matter of being prepared for me and never really intended for it to be an all out marriage proposal but more a way to meet an end.  He said he had to be sure that all three made my acquaintance within a certain time and gained my trust so that what was happening now would play out.  He’d been told by my mother that a human boy would be abandoned and would need to be watched over, for he would bear the mark like me. The only thing I got of the conversation was that two of them were business deals for the court and the third was Cord Ryan. 

While it was mind-blowing to examine all of this knowledge that predetermines t
he future I stake on choosing, he was saying that I had a small choice in the matters at hand concerning my love interests.  Yet I was expected to “hang” will all four.  Didn’t anyone else see that as a little crazy weird?

Yes, I would need muscle to accompli
sh the feat at hand.  Yes, I believe that, but the preposterous plans of the mothers was starting to sound disproportionately out of whack with what any normal group of “take over” superheroes ever had to do in a fictional life.

Father ended the three-
minute conversation with a fatherly discussion on choosing Thorn, my Cas, as the definite suitor and moving on.  I was flabbergasted at his forward thinking with me being so young and his desperation for me to be with someone wherewithal to keep me safe with everything in his power.  That, I decided was his rock bottom selling point.  Who could keep me the safest in his eyes? I had a thought. 

“You followed through with Cas because you thought he could keep me safe.  You let him take me that night.”  It wasn
’t a question, but he knew I’d want an answer.

“Yes, Lord Cross was the better option for keeping you safe.  His control and expertise is better equipped.”

I didn’t like him making my love life sound like a slice of paperwork.   It gave me a paper cut just thinking about it.  “Why Cord then, and why not?”

“I
’d made a trade with Ryan’s father long ago.  I had to make sure you were taken care of.  I had no way of knowing that the Vampire would be as taken with you as he was.  But I had to have a back up.”

“But you knew he and I heard each other at birth.”

He twitched his face around, “Yes, but that was a minor detail, not a deal breaker.”

He saw me as a business deal.  I angered easily and popped off, “Well
, father.  You don’t have to worry anymore about me.  I have plenty under control now.”

He still wouldn
’t explain how to contain the Valkyrie power I possessed as a female from the bloodline.  I would just have to ask someone else.  And I knew who.

He looked my face over once and again.  “Yes, I see you
r control and your lack thereof daughter, as you are here to question me about clues to your Vampire.  I can help you or you can continue to stand here and judge me for doing what I thought was the right thing to do for my daughter.  I will not apologize for being prepared.”

He was right.  I was wrong.  No matter how warped his outcomes were, his intentions were to have the best for me.  Guess I was the pot calling the kettle black in a way.

“Your right, father.  Thank you for trying to pave the way.  I wish sometimes you had the power to change it and make it all go away, but that wouldn’t be destiny would it?”

My father nodded a sad no and I hugged him.  “Lee only just called.  I know he is in the house where he said.  I have Granite in sight, but won
’t be able to hold him long once Thorn is secured.  My people left five minutes before you came.   Go get him, but be careful of what you find.”

“What do you mean?”

“Torture isn’t always nice, Anastacia. I know this is what is supposed to happen, but it isn’t good by any means.”  The man was tortured himself with the pains of knowing the future.  I never really felt close to him, but couldn’t help but be in awe of a man who sacrificed his entire life for a handful of events. 

I
’d lost fifteen minutes now and with that, left my brother behind.  He knew where I was headed.

The old tutor I spent so many hours and days with was right where he always would be. 
In the library.  His bristly hair was sticking up and over his glasses as he stooped over his books.  His mussed up shirt told me he’d been that way for hours.  Without a young person to teach, he was doing what he loved best. Reading.

He supplied the information I needed. 
Strictly confirmation though.  It was all true and I was even more potent then the lesser girls of my court due to my actual birth mother.  She, being a goddess, made it so when she “created” me.  Very loving mother, let me tell you.  How do the Valkyrie mothers tell their daughters something like this?  I didn’t have one of those.  A real mother. 

I stopped at the training warehouse to get supplies knowing it was the time of day Cord had been getting there daily to practice.  He
’d been avoiding me lately and I didn’t know why or care.  Mostly.  But I needed his help.  I texted him and told him what happened. That Granite was a traitor who was after his faction and went straight to the source who could help him get it.  Borgon.

The code for the voice box was changed again and Cord started muttering anything he could think of to get it to open.  It was fun to watch him out of sorts.  When Cord spoke in Spanish and said, “The dog is in heat”, I almost tossed my cookies. 

“What did you say that for?”  I asked Cord hysterically.  Being alone with him was horrible.  I had a feeling he felt just as strong at finding him and just wanted him safe.  Something in common was unusual for us.

“Do you know what you said?”

“No Princess Know-it-All.  I’m guessing he messed with me again.  What does it say?” 

“You just said the dog is in heat,” I held back the snicker.

“Hell, I knew Cas was screwing with my head.  Friend or not, this means war.”

I shook my head left and right and headed in to get the weapons and ammo needed.  The small amount of humor eased my aching head enough to gain a little focus.  I needed that.  I
’d lost twenty-three minutes now.

I shouldn
’t have done what I did next, but unease was setting in with knowing Cas was not safe. 

And I knew he
’d help me.

Alone with Cord while looking for Cas was disquieting and crazy in all kinds of wrong.
  How I ended up with him in this sordid quest was worse than fake cheese on nachos.  An injustice. 

“I
’m sorry it was so hard for you to ask for my help in finding Cross.  I don’t want to see him harmed either.”

He doesn
’t?

“Did you wonder yet what the envelope holds?”  He changed the subject either to ignore what he might say and regret or to help me keep from thinking about Cas as we scrambled to pack our weapons on. 

So much for quiet time in thought.  And mysteries.  “I know what belongs in it.  The only curiosity is how it plays into this whole mess.”

Cord pushed both hands in his pockets waiting for me to finish with my knives.  Perhaps he was nervous.  Perhaps some truth was coming.  Doubtful.

We drove along in an unmarked black car tinted so dark no one would know if we were little green aliens or anything human or not.  I didn’t even know the make of the car was to tell someone I’ve been kidnapped by a Were boy who had ulterior motives other than helping me find my very heart that was stolen away from me.  How romantically driven I was.  How far from myself I’d become.

We drove on for a few more minutes before I finally asked, “What does it say?”

I heard the soft folds a long ago lose of crisp paper open for me from his shirt pocket.  The single piece of paper so familiar to me was suddenly a grail.  It was the only one I hadn’t seen.

Dear Son of a Human,

             
The Valkyrie court has and will keep watch over you.  At the appointed time, lord of the manor will see to it that you are properly prepared for your destiny as the Scorpion.  Know that your original lineage stems from great rulers and will allow you to harness the power you will need to lead the most ruthless of the factions. Guard it well. 

             
              With Thanks.

             
                            Anat.

There was nothing about the Were faction or how he got to where he was now.  What if all of it was a guess?  Had my father orchestrated his own understanding of the prophecies or were they really just playing out the way the gods wanted?  Were the letters just clues for us to be helped in believing their sincerity of unchangeable fate? 

“
So it’s true.  Everything they told me about you.  And you still try to help me.”

Cord
’s hand strangled the steering wheel.  That was my answer.

“It
’s okay you know,” I wasn’t sure why I was defending him, “I know what they tried to do.  Make you marry me.  I don’t blame you.”

His dark, brooding eyes found mine now.  Had I screwed up saying the truth?

“I never intended to force you into anything.”  His face lingered too long and then turned back to the traffic.  “I wanted you to choose.  You chose.”

Very super clear on that!  “Do you mean that
—

Nope! 
Can of worms.  I stopped myself from saying it.  He would have done it.  Married me.  The solidarity of that single fact made my back shiver from the understanding of true fate.  He’d...we’d changed it.  Fate didn’t own me. 

Maybe...just maybe the gods had us bamboozled into a corner making us think we had only one clear path.  What i
f we made our own paths, regardless?

I wanted Cord to feel strong again.  Where this came from must have been deep down in my psyche, but it made me feel better.  Like he was someone who could be cared about.  Cord didn
’t deserve loneliness just like none of us did.

“I would have done what my father asked if it meant something for the greater good.  I just don
’t think an arranged marriage where the two people do not love each other is for the greater good of me or to anyone.  Besides, knowing what we know now, I question if my father really had the intentions he did.”

Cord pondered this with his head tilted down a little, watching the front window of the car with his upturned eyes.

“Might be, but I have a feeling your father had us all in a net we couldn’t escape.  And it always came back to you.”

“What happened to your parents?  How did you end up with the Ryan
’s?”  I’d known the family for well, all my life.  But I’d never known Cord.  Weird. 

“Maybe you shouldn
’t ask that question.”

“Why not?”   Sure, I was way curious now.  I checked my watch.  Thirty minutes had passed.  We knew what we
’d do at arrival, so there was no discussing it.

“Because you might change your perspective on your boyfriend.”

His way of saying boyfriend was a little bitter though his mouth curved upward as if in a devious, well thought plan to make me angrier. 

“Tell me anyway.  It
’s not like our lives have ever been in anyway normal.  What possible secrets could devastate us past what we already have perversely learned?”

He eyed my way with the lift of one eyebrow and a shoulder to match, but dropped both with the reminder of whate
ver bad news he had forming in his brain.  “This could.” 

Cord was refusing to tell me.  It must be that bad.

He sighed and said remorsefully, “Thorn’s court killed my parents.  He was sent on his first mission with his father to take them out.”

Who wouldn
’t gasp a little at that?  It was shocking, but not so much in my world.  “Does Cas know?”

His look was so ridiculously funny, I looked away from the smarmy smile I had no reason to given the news.  His face was scrunched up, making the tiny spikes of his hair move up with his brows.  I
’d never noticed the movement of his hair before.

“I was a ward of your father
’s estate after that until Ryan took me in.  I took it to rid myself of the Valkyrie court only to find out in the same way Thorn and Calum and Szar did that it was always planned anyway.  Ryan took me in because he knew I’d be bitten and raised me to the killer I am.”  He sounded in pain.

“It wasn
’t your fault.”