Bound (Dark Reflections Volume 1)

Chapter 19

Alec Graves
Graves Estate
Sanctuary, Utah

I called James as soon as I was out of earshot of Kaleb's office.

"I'm not going to be able to meet up with the three of you in the garden like I'd originally planned."

"Okay, is there anything that you need us to be doing right now?"

I debated my answer and then told him a partial truth.

"Brandon and Vincent are going to be in town later tonight. Obviously if things get tense for whatever reason we can't face Brandon down, but it might be a good idea for you guys to get some rest in between now and then so that you're fresh for whatever the night might bring."

"Okay, will do."

I put my phone back in my pocket and started towards my mother's rooms. It was past time to find out just exactly how much she knew.

I opened the door to her solarium and walked inside without knocking.

"Hello, Alec. I wondered when you would be by."

"You've been lying to me."

She held a hand up in my direction and looked over at Rachel. "Rachel, can you please give us a few minutes?"

Rachel looked back and forth between the two of us and then shook her head. "I want to stay. I'm tired of being left in the dark. Something is going on and I need to know what it is."

Mother looked at me. "Please, Alec. She doesn't need to be in on this conversation. Please, not like this."

A part of me wanted to refuse her, to tell Rachel right here and now exactly what our mother had been involved in, but there was a chance that she was right. Rachel didn't need to find out what Kaleb was planning by way of a shouting match.

Feeling as though I'd just rationalized my way into selling off another piece of my soul, I gave Rachel my best smile.

"If you'll go wait in your room I promise that I'll come find you as soon as I'm done with Mother and I'll tell you everything I know and everything I find out from Mother."

Rachel looked up at me and the eyes that met mine were far too old for her fifteen-year-old face.

"You promise?"

Mother gasped and I didn't need to look in her direction to know that she was desperately shaking her head at me, but I nodded.

"Yes, Rachel, I promise. There have been too many secrets around here for far too long."

Rachel took a deep breath and then stood and left the solarium. I watched her go until the door swung shut behind her and then turned back towards my mother.

"Thank you, Alec. To find out in that way would have destroyed her."

"I don't think that she's as weak as you think she is, but that's a different conversation entirely. I repeat my earlier statement. You've been lying to me."

She shook her head. "It's true that I've kept things from you, but I've never lied to you."

"A lie by omission is still a lie, Mother. You knew what Brandon and Vincent were up to down on the border and you never bothered to tell me. I could have easily been killed because of that hole in my education."

"I didn't know for sure, Alec. Jack, Donovan, none of us had been able to confirm the rumors and we were pretty sure that they were originating from Jaclyn Annikov. She's hardly the most dependable source given all of the axes she has to grind with the Coun'hij and your father."