CAGED (#3, of Crows and Thorns)

Chapter 116

Sirro erupted in vicious anger, storming forward. His power ricocheted outward, rattling the office in a violent quake, gusting up against my skin. Every inch of him bristled. His voice boomed, loud and cruel, and brooked no argument as he stabbed a finger toward me. "THE WYCHTHORNS DID BETRAY YOU! DON'T YOU DARE THINK OTHERWISE!"

Slapping a hand on my shoulder, he squeezed so hard the tendons and muscles ached. He leveled a hard glare at me. "Never, ever, forget that the Wychthorns betrayed you. They might not have gotten to my kind first, but they still exposed your mother. And much worse, Byron and his wife condemned you all to death. Every single Crowther would have been slaughtered that night. Your entire family. All of them. Every aunt and uncle. Brother and sister. Cousin and grandparent. All your loyal servants... Brutally butchered... Your entire House annihilated for harboring an other. That is what the Wychthorns were willing to do. That is the depths of their deceit."

Sirro's gaze softened. Though he spoke quieter he was just as authoritative. "I would have had to investigate your mother due to the word coming from Byron himself. But, yes, there was someone else that got to my brethren that same night." His hand fell away to his hip and his furious gaze shifted to the cauldron sputtering goopy liquid into the fire. It was a good long moment before he puffed out a breath, his taut shoulders slumping as the anger drained away. He began to speak, and the defeat diminishing the usual rich timbre of his tone caught me off guard. "I'd been at the Wychthorns investigating Nelle. I'd had pressure placed on me to do so since she wasn't out in public as much as it was presumed she should be." He gave a low hiss, aggravation crossing his features. "Many of the Houses will use any excuse to usurp Byron's authority."

"And you found nothing different about her?"

His amber eyes sliced to mine and for a split second, I swore they glittered with cunning. "Nothing at all." A heartbeat later, he resumed. "After Bryon implied Tabitha was other, I discovered someone else had betrayed her to one of my brethren. It was too late for me to intercede. She'd already been claimed by Lyressa." He loosened a frustrated sigh through his nose, shaking his head slightly. His jaw clenched as he swung a dark gaze back to the fire. "And now I don't know who betrayed Tabitha. Nor who Yezekael sold the information to. It had to have been sold to Lyressa or someone else, someone that bade Lyressa to go around me and claim your mother herself... Though, I'm leaning toward the latter." He swiveled back around to face me fully. I held myself rigid as he searched my face with intent eyes gone bronze and somber. He spoke bluntly. "I don't think you, your sister, or anyone else present was meant to survive that night."

I blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Your mother invoked Draxxon's Covenant.

I remembered vaguely what my mother had yelled at the red-headed Horned God that night.

I beg you for mercy. For Draxxon's Covenant. I'll do anything you ask. Spare my son. Spare my family!

"I thought it was a reminder of Draxxon and Hamon's sacrifice."