The Shadow Kingdom

Chapter 12ii

Sebastian is standing beside the limousine when I arrive downstairs. He opens the door for me, and Selena awaits me inside. She smiles in her extra-friendly way. If I didn't know who she was, it would remind me of Adrian. "Good morning, Scarlett!"

"You too, Selena." I say as I enter the car. She politely hands me a glass of champagne, which I hesitate to accept.

She rolls her eyes at me and takes a sip herself. "Satisfied?"

"Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but the truth is I just met you. I don't even know for sure if I am your sister. It will take time for us to build trust."

Selena tells Sebastian to start driving. She puts down the champagne glass and looks at me seriously for a change. "I know that the Shangs must have told you horror stories about our family. We have just as many horrible things to say about them. The only reason you feel uncomfortable around me right now is because they found you first. If my... our father had discovered you earlier, then things would be completely different right now."

I take a large sip of the champagne. God, I've consumed more alcohol in the last month than I have in my entire life prior. "First of all, how are you so sure that we are related? You speak as if you are already certain."

She smiles sweetly. "The resemblance between you and father is undeniable. Nathaniel and I both take after our mother, but you are the splitting image of our father. He really was in Pittsburgh nineteen years ago, and he is a notorious whoremonger. He is not perfect, but he is not evil."

"Not evil? Do you have any idea what he did to my birth mother? That woman is going to spend the rest of her life in a psychiatric hospital because of him!" I told Adrian I would keep up the façade in order to get as much information as possible, but this is ridiculous! The bullshit that this bitch is spewing makes my stomach turn.

"Are you absolutely certain that it was our father who committed those horrible acts? It's as you said; your mother was a prostitute. Chances are she was with many men. How do you know it couldn't have been another one of her clients who abused her?"

I analyze the logic in that statement. "So what, are you saying that William is a kind and gentle-hearted whoremonger who doesn't mind having sex with prostitutes but would never physically harm them?"

Selena's manner remains patient and calm. "As I said, my father is not perfect. But he would never physically abuse a woman, certainly not in the way that you described." Oh, this is pathetic. I expected to hear a piece of fiction so overly elaborate that it might just be believable. But this is just nonsense.

"Three men with guns came into my apartment and tried to kill my adoptive sister and me. It happened about a month after Adrian reported everything he found out about me to the overseers. And the men belonged to House Ashcroft."

"My father would never send a kill team after an innocent civilian, least of all his own daughter! How do you know they belonged to us? Did you recognize them? Did you examine the bodies? Or did Adrian Shang simply tell you that they belonged to us?" I turn that idea over in my head. True, I didn't actually examine any of their bodies. Diana called in a clean up crew to sanitize my apartment, so I couldn't do it now even if I wanted to.

"Who else would have motive to kill me? And why would Adrian lie to me?"

"Did you have any contact with any other spellbinders around the time of the event? Anyone who might have known that you were a witch?"

"Oh my god. Yes, there really was someone. A woman named Evelyn Santos. She owned an art gallery to which I sold a painting. I thought she was crazy at the time, but now, I know she was a witch. And she could tell that I was one as well."