Moral Compass

Chapter Twenty-Two

Fallon was a vision in the moonlight.

As she guided the boat through soft Runealmean waters, his eyes never left her. Not once. Not even for a second.

He'd been thinking about what she said. About how she was ashamed to like him. And honestly, as much as he hated to admit it, he understood where she was coming from.

Seth had issues. Deeply rooted issues stemming back to his days as a boy. And yeah, perhaps those issues had stopped him from properly growing up. But damn it! If she'd had any idea exactly how deeply that childhood had fucked him up, maybe she'd understand a little.

Maybe, just maybe.

And maybe he ought to test out that theory.

They had all this time to kill before they docked on land. It wasn't like they had anything better to talk about. Besides, now he thought about it, he wanted the Amazon to understand. So he cleared his throat.

"Fallon?"

"Hmm?"

"How much do you know about King Sylvester?"

She frowned, briefly glancing away from the sea. "The dead King of Veneficus?"

"That's the one."

"I met him a few times. Bit of a dick." A very apt description. "I know he fathered more kids than Annaliese. His reign was one of torment and bloodshed."

He nodded slowly. "Did he ever make it to your list?"

There was no way Seth had landed a spot on it and not Sylvester. Sylvester was infinitely more evil than Seth could even imagine.

"He was on it. It took me longer to deal with my list three hundred years ago. Less experience and all. But Annaliese killed him before I got the chance. Why do you ask?"

Because I want you to understand me.

If she was going to be ashamed of her feelings for him, he at least wanted her to understand why he was the way he was.

Because I'm fucked up beyond all comprehension.

"Just wondering how much you know of my background." His leg bounced against the floor, the boat rocking gently from side to side. "What do you know of Evie's parents?"

"Not a lot. I can guess they exploited her gifts. I know that was why she left to live with mortals for thirty years. She wanted to find the love her parents had never given her."

The love Fallon hardly believed in.

"I saw my first body at five." Her eyes were upon him again. He wondered what was going through her head. What she made of that. What she thought of him telling her. "My parents and me- we had our own quarters in Castle Solum." The same quarters he'd since transformed but couldn't quite pull himself away from. "My parents, they were at a meeting. I'd been left alone. A man broke into my room. An enemy of the crown wanted for mass genocide of witch younglings. It was supposed to be my first job. Sylvester was going to send me out to track him. Five years old. Didn't understand a thing."

He remembered it so clearly. The confusion of being told he had a job to do. The responsibility placed on his shoulders as a child. But his Mother- the woman who was supposed to nurture him- had tallied his worth down to the glory he'd bring them through pleasing that man.

"The criminal tracked me, to my bedroom. He was gonna put me out- get rid of all chances he'd be found. Sylvester knew he'd come looking. He'd spread the word about me. My first body, five years old, my King was waiting in the shadows to kill him."