Moving Forward

The Truth Isn't Always Pretty

Sven's POV

"What James may not have told you is that I am a member of the Academy's High Council." I informed Victor and Luke.

"I thought the Elders were in charge." Luke frowned.

"The Elders handle members and assignments. Judge minor trials when needed and assess new members. The Directors oversee the Elders, adoptions, teachers and implementing new plans for the operation of the Academy." I explain. A bit surprised that they don't know this already. "The High Council is made up from the members of the Founding Families. Our ancestors saw it as an investment in our country and our future. We help the kids who need it the most, giving them opportunities usually denied them." I nodded towards Luke and directed my next words to him. "Your uncle contacted us when he learned about your brother. Asking us to check on him and bring him to the states if he was in trouble."

"Wait." Luke exchanged a look with Victor. "We were told that Mr. Blackbourne discovered that I had a brother and that he convinced the Academy to bring him to the states to join our team. That the Academy refused when North rebuffed their overtures to come without Silas. That Blackbourne had to force them to bring them both over."

"First, let me say that NO ONE forces the High Council to do anything. Especially not a punk ass kid who is proving to be more trouble than he is worth." I held my temper. " We did not refuse your uncle's request, it just took time for us to accomplish it. Your uncle wanted full custody of your brother and your father didn't have the legal right to issue it to him. We had to locate his mother first and get her to sign the papers. We had no problem bringing Silas and his family over, but that too took time to arrange. Nothing is accomplished instantly, especially when it involves foreign countries." I rubbed the back of my neck, telling myself to calm down. This wasn't the first time that some dumb ass took credit for something my father had done and wouldn't be the last. I froze. Wait a minute, I had proof. I reached for my photo album and turned the pages until I found the ones of us in Greece. I slid the album across my desk for them both to see. There were two pages of pictures of Chel and me in different areas of Greece with North Taylor and Silas Korba. The last photograph was of all of us on the plane. Including the Korba family and North Taylor. Both boys studied the pictures and spoke quietly among themselves. I allowed it, using the time to relax my stiff muscles.

I was usually a very calm person. The one thing that could turn me into a beserker, Chel's description, not mine, was to mess with my family. I made a lot of mistakes as a kid. Even though I knew it was wrong, I dated an eighteen year old girl and got her pregnant. I was to young to be a father and I didn't want to be a husband. My father made me understand the true gravity of the situation. With Claire being eighteen and me being thirteen, Claire could go to prison for Statutory Rape. That the baby hadn't asked to be created and didn't deserve to be punished for our mistakes. Our parents and I agreed that there would be no abortion, that it would be murder. I didn't want Claire to go to jail, she didn't deserve it. We were both kids and we did something stupid. We had to fix it. That meant marriage.

When she was five months pregnant, Claire was in a bad car wreck. She was declared brain dead once she arrived at the hospital. I could have chosen to let our child die with her, but I couldn't do that. Both of our families agreed with me, so she was put on life support. The baby was uninjured and we wanted to give it a chance to survive. Four months later, I had a beautiful daughter. Her birth was the harbinger of Karma preparing to strike a punishing blow, one I deserved. My father and grandfather had stood by me from the start and continued to stand by me. Yes, I made a mistake, a very big one, but they never turned their backs on me. It was the same with Claire's parents, they stood by her and continued to show that they loved us.