Page 14 of Unbroken (Rath & Rune #4)

Ves ground his teeth together. Of course it was Grandfather—what else had he possibly expected?

Irene started toward them, focused on Ambrose, her hands balled into fists. Ves caught her shoulder, then slipped past when she turned to ask what he was doing. Putting himself between her and Grandfather, just in case.

Grandfather smiled genially as Sebastian shut the door behind them. Apparently realizing he’d lost his audience, Ambrose looked around, brows furrowed. He peered blearily at them, then brightened. “Oh—Irene! What are you doing here?” A flap of the hand. “Never mind—come meet my friend, Ira.”

“Ora,” Grandfather corrected, but with a chuckle calibrated to suggest it was all some sort of joke between friends.

Irene’s brown face darkened further with anger. “Cousin Ambrose,” she began, but Ves cut in.

“This is Ora Rune, my grandfather,” he told her, since she’d never laid eyes on him before. “And Noct’s, of course.”

Ambrose frowned, clearly befuddled. “But you’re the Dark Young. So that’s not possible.” He turned to Grandfather, appealing for help from the more sober.

“You must be Irene,” Grandfather said, ignoring Ambrose in favor of beaming at her. “It’s so very good to meet you, my dear. Please, call me Ora. Or Grandfather, if you’d prefer—but perhaps that’s too soon?”

“I…” Irene seemed put on the back foot by his warmth.

“You should have met Irene’s grandfather,” Ambrose said, drunkenly attempting to seize onto a topic he could follow. “A Gurkha. The things that man could do with a witch-hunter’s kukri! Why, one time—”

“Enough.” Sebastian’s voice cut through Ambrose’s blather like the crack of a whip. “This charade is at an end. Mr. Endicott, you’re coming with us. Mr. Rune, you may go hang for all I care.”

“What?” Ambrose scowled at Sebastian. “Listen here—”

“How rude this younger generation is,” Ora said, leaning across the small table to put a friendly hand to Ambrose’s shoulder. “No respect for old soldiers such as ourselves, eh?”

Ves trembled, though from rage or some other emotion, even he wasn’t sure. “How many of your kin did you lose to the Fideles cult, Ambrose? How many died at your old estate, or in the battles thereafter? Yet here you sit, drinking all unawares with one of the enemy.”

“Your mother and I weren’t even in Widdershins at the time of the battle,” Grandfather pointed out.

“Only because Noct and I ran away!”

“This man isn’t what he seems, cousin,” Irene said to Ambrose, who still seemed confused. “Don’t you remember what Rupert asked, at the dinner when you met Nocturn and Vesper? Ora Rune helped raise them to first destroy humankind, then rule over those who remained, slaves in a broken world.”

Her words seemed to penetrate the alcoholic haze gripping Ambrose. “No. No, that can’t be right.” He turned to Grandfather. “You-you were a monster hunter, like me. That’s what you said.”

“It’s the truth. In that I killed anything that stood between me and my goals.” The words were directed at Ambrose, but his gaze went to Ves. “Like you, I would do anything for those of my blood. Supra alia familia, isn’t that the Endicott motto?”

A mix of anger and pain clogged Ves’s throat. Because Grandfather believed every word. In his view, he’d sacrificed everything for his grandsons, and they’d thrown it all back in his face.

“But you didn’t…” Ambrose trailed off.

Grandfather turned back to Ambrose, a swift change overtaking his face.

The affability slid away, his smile showing the cruel edge that had doubtless been lurking within all along.

“Whatever you once were, my friend, all you are now is a drunken fool.

I did exactly as the Endicotts did—slaughtered my way into the possession of every arcane tome, every scrap of knowledge and sorcery I could find.

Then I raised my daughter to be an even greater sorcerer than myself.

“But unlike your clan, I didn’t spurn the gifts of those you call ‘monsters’—the ones of this world or of the Outside.

I met with the Man in the Woods, I danced around the Black Stone in Stregoicavar, and I howled alongside ghūls in the tunnels beneath Cairo.

And when Lenore proposed to bear two Dark Young to aid in sweeping away this world and ushering in a new one, I gladly helped birth her offspring.

” His eyes cut to Ves again. “My precious grandsons.”

“I…” Ambrose began, but couldn’t seem to think how to continue. He looked utterly devasted by the betrayal. Ves knew exactly how he felt.

Grandfather rose to his feet, then bowed to Irene.

“Please, my dear, don’t take any of this to mean I disapprove of your happy union.

We may have been on opposing sides before, but I’ve always held the greatest respect for the Endicotts.

” He glanced briefly at Ambrose. “Most of them, anyway. I certainly hope life in America hasn’t softened all of your minds. ”

He left the room, not bothering to close the door behind him. The constriction around Ves’s lungs seemed to ease; he could breathe freely again.

Irene sighed. “Come on, Cousin Ambrose. We’re driving you home.”

“You…you won’t tell Rupert about this, will you?” He swallowed hard.

“You know I will.”

“Hattie is going to kill me!”

She turned her back on him. “She might. I suggest you beg Rupert for mercy, because Hattie doesn’t have any.”

* * *

“I could use the power of the Book of Breath to compel him,” Sebastian suggested to Rupert. “I know he’s a sorcerer, but given how drunk he was, I can’t imagine his willpower would hold.”

After returning Ambrose to the Endicott estate, Irene had left Sebastian and Ves in the small room where they’d talked to Rupert the night of the birthday party.

Dinner preparations were apparently interrupted, as a harried-looking maid brought them each a plate of curried chicken and rice, apologized for the lack of formality, and departed with alacrity.

About an hour later, a footman came and fetched them to the basement room they now stood in.

Tall candelabra shed flickering light on the scene. The family crest hung on each wall, but otherwise the stones were barren. The only furniture was a single throne-like chair of heavy wood, in which Rupert sat. Irene stood beside his chair, her lips pressed tightly together.

At Sebastian’s suggestion, Rupert turned to him. His dark face was neutral, hiding his thoughts.

“I’m certain that won’t be necessary,” he said in a voice that brooked no argument. “If I change my mind, I will let you know.”

Ves stood with his arms wrapped around himself, clearly miserable. Any encounter with his dreadful mother and grandfather upset him, and rightly so. Sebastian wanted to embrace him, but this didn’t seem the time or place.

The door opened, and Hattie came inside, followed by Ambrose. He seemed to have sobered up a bit, or at least was walking straight. Two men Sebastian vaguely recalled from previous visits flanked him, their expressions grim.

“Got some coffee in him,” Hattie said. She wore a dagger at each hip, and her right hand rested lightly on one. “Cleaned him up a bit, too, so he doesn’t reek like a distillery.”

“Thank you, Hattie,” Rupert said. She came to stand by his chair, on the other side from Irene. The two guards took up position to either side of the door, leaving Ambrose standing alone.

No doubt clinging to the shreds of his pride, Ambrose straightened his shoulders and said, “Seeker, please, I—”

Rupert held up a hand, and he fell silent. “Ambrose Endicott. You’ve been sharing information about the family with our enemies.”

“I swear to you, I didn’t know.” Ambrose looked around, eyes squinted blearily—it would take more than coffee to sober him up completely. “The whole family should be here, shouldn’t they?”

“This isn’t a trial.” Rupert’s full lips turned down, as if at something unpleasant. “That will come later. You can make your case before the family then. For now, you will answer my questions and hold nothing back.”

Ambrose’s shoulders sagged. “As you wish.”

“How did you meet Ora Rune?”

“I…I started to leave the estate about a month ago. To meet new people, you know.”

Hattie snorted. “You mean so you could get drunk without any of us pestering you to lay off the bottle.”

“Well…yes and no. I don’t see a lot of new faces, living on the estate.

” He looked to Irene. “I don’t have an outside job like some.

And I don’t want to travel—I need to stay close.

In case…in case anything goes wrong.” He swallowed.

“As it did before. If I’d been there when it started, maybe I could have… could have done something.”

Irene’s expression softened. “He’s never been right since Balefire fell, Seeker. You know that.”

Rupert sighed. “I do. It affected every one of us, deeply. But it cannot excuse this betrayal.”

“I didn’t betray anyone!” Fire flashed in Ambrose’s eyes, and for the first time Sebastian glimpsed the man he must have been in his prime. “Or if I did, it’s no less than you or Cousin Irene.”

Irene’s nostrils flared. “What do you—”

“He’s their grandfather, isn’t he?” Ambrose gestured at Ves, and Sebastian stiffened. “Him and his brother. I remember one of you saying that at the pub.”

“That’s different!” Irene exploded.

“Is it?” Ambrose’s hands clenched. “Maybe I am just a drunken fool now, as Ira said.”

“Ora,” Sebastian said.

“But at least I remember what we used to be.”

Hattie’s remaining eye narrowed. “Ambrose,” she said with a note of warning in her voice.

“No! You wanted answers—well, here they are!” Ambrose swayed slightly as he spoke, but his anger was clear.

“This family once had a place in the world—no, a purpose! We protected humanity from monsters. There was a clear line, with us and the rest of humankind on one side, and creatures like that on the other.”

He looked straight at Ves, as though any of them could have mistaken what he meant. Sebastian took a step forward, fury boiling in his gut and his scars tugging. He could wound Ambrose without so much as a word, break his bones, make him pay for his cruel words—

“Be still,” Rupert ordered, and Sebastian paused. Rupert’s eyes remained locked on Ambrose, and cold anger made his stern face even sterner. “The world has changed, Ambrose. We have changed.”

“Don’t I know it.” Bitterness coated Ambrose’s words.

“Balefire is gone, and most of my generation with it. We still seek knowledge, but we’ve been defanged and declawed.

The principles I believed in, that I risked my life for again and again, have been left by the wayside like rubbish thrown from a cart. ”

He slid into moroseness with the ease of the intoxicated. “I’m as much a fossil as those in the museum. But I’ve stuck with the family, even though none of you appreciate me anymore.”

“That isn’t true,” Irene protested.

Ambrose snorted, but didn’t reply directly. “So what if I found another old monster-hunter like myself? What does any of it matter, if we’re embracing abominations and inviting their blood into our family, and-and…”

He trailed off. Sebastian became aware his nails were digging into the flesh of his palms and forced them to relax. How dare he call Ves and Noct abominations? Ora was the real monster.

Rupert sighed. “Have you read Darwin’s theories, Ambrose?

If creatures fail to change along with the world around them, then fossils are all that remain.

Adapt or die—that was the choice we faced.

Personally, I believe our mistake was not changing our ways sooner, instead of waiting until our family stood on the brink of destruction.

” Ambrose stirred, but Rupert lifted a quelling hand.

“I am not here to argue the matter with you, Cousin.”

“What do you want to do with him?” Hattie asked.

Rupert sat back in his chair. “Take him back to his room and let him sleep. Ambrose, when you’re awake and fully sober, you will give a full accounting of everything you said to Ora Rune. Leave nothing out, even if you’re not certain you’re recalling it correctly. Do you understand?”

Ambrose nodded, defeated. “Yes, Seeker. And my trial?”

“Will be arranged.” Rupert glanced at Hattie, who nodded and walked to Ambrose’s side.

“Come on, you,” she said, taking his arm. “Let’s get you to bed.”

Once they were gone, along with the two guards, Rupert took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “Damn it,” he said quietly.

Ves stared at the floor. “I’m sorry.”

“You aren’t responsible for Ambrose. Or your grandfather, sad to say.” Rupert put his glasses back on.

Sebastian looked to the door through which Ambrose had disappeared. “What’s going to happen to him?”

Rupert straightened, returning to the stern man he’d been when they arrived. “That is family business.”

“I’ll show you out,” Irene said. As the door shut behind them, Sebastian caught a glimpse of Rupert slumping in his chair, looking as though he’d aged a decade in the last hour.