Chapter 238

Charles

A knot of tension tightened in my stomach as I made my way towards Esme's office. The unsettling conversation with Grace hung heavy in the air, her fragmented memories and newfound calmness leaving me with more questions than answers.

Pushing open the door, I found Esme deep in conversation with Eason. He was sprawled out on the worn leather couch, a pint of ice cream hovering above him. There was a trash bag full of pints of ice cream beside him and a small stack. Despite the casual appearance, the grim expression etched on Esme's face told me the conversation wasn't lighthearted. I couldn't understand a thing they were saying. Witch-speak, as it was commonly known, wasn't something I'd ever been able to speak.

They both turned towards me, surprise flickering across Esme's face before it faded.

"How is she?"

"Hard to say..." I closed the door behind me and took a seat. "She doesn't remember a thing. What's going on here?"

Eason, with a nonchalance that grated on my nerves, simply shrugged and scooped another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. Before I could voice my frustration, Esme intervened. There was a tautness in her voice, a barely concealed anger, as she spoke.

"We were discussing Grace," she said, her gaze fixed on me. "Specifically, ... the changes to expect and what exactly Eason felt compelled to do..."

My heart hammered in my chest.

"Eason isn't... exactly being forthcoming." She glanced at him. "I can't tell if it's a can't or a won't."

"Right," I said, trying to sound calm despite the turmoil within. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. What do you know so far? Her challenge circles changed with it..."

Eason, who had been observing our exchange with an amusement that bordered on arrogance, finally decided to grace us with his response. But it was in witch-speak. The words flowed melodically around me like they were coming from the universe, and it gave me the beginnings of a headache. My magic was reacting to it. Esme looked a little tired, too, but it was clear that she understood. And she didn't seem put off by his attitude, which left me feeling a bit like an asshole. Was this a part of magicae mentis? Being a healer, a natural one, was a big fucking deal in the witch world, in the magical world at large... Maybe his magic had the right to be a bit unbothered.

Esme sighed a deep breath that spoke volumes of her frustration.

"He says," she began, translating Eason's words, "that what is done is done. The change cannot be undone, nor altered." Her voice softened slightly as she continued. "He also says… that it's for the best."

My anger flared. "For the best?" I echoed, my voice laced with disbelief. "What exactly does that mean?"

Esme's gaze met mine, her expression unreadable. "There are things you don't understand, Charles," she said, her voice low and serious. She glanced at Eason again. "I'm starting to wonder if maybe Eason knows more than I do at this point..."

"Can you explain it to me?" I ask, frustration and fear warring within me. "Explain what he did, why he did it, and what this change means for Grace. The kids? She feels..."

Like an almost different person.

Esme's lips pressed into a thin line. She cast a worried glance at Eason, who remained silent, eating his ice cream as if nothing was wrong. The unspoken communication between them only served to deepen my unease.

"There will be time for explanations," Esme finally said, her voice firm. "But for now, I think we should focus on..." She shook her head. Her shoulders slumped. "Honestly, I don't know anymore."

She sniffled. "If I had known that it would turn out this way..."

Eason spoke again, and she sniffled a little more, replying to him with broken sobs.

My heart felt like it was in a vice.

Esme looked up, holding my gaze for a long moment, her expression a mixture of sympathy and frustration.

"Maybe... it would be best just to start from the beginning..." she said finally, her voice low. "About the Stormclaw bloodline... "

A jolt of dread shot through me. Any time blood magic was involved, there were bound to be issues, and that's exactly what it seemed like it was. Why else would she mention the Stormclaw bloodline?

"Go on."

"The Stormclaws," she began, her voice laced with a hint of trepidation, "they carry a curse, or a blessing depending on your view of it. It had certainly been... placed as one. It's ancient, dating back to a time when werewolves were still contagious and at war with the Lycans."

"Any time a curse could also be a blessing, it's trouble."

"You have to understand that the time was different. It was a matter of protection. no one could have ever known that we would end up here." She shook her head. "Werewolves weren't just turning humans, but anyone else, and to be contaminated was a quick way to end up dead, especially among Lycans."

My brows furrowed in confusion. "Not just quarantine?"

"Of course," she said. "They weren't that barbaric. It's just... isn't it better to just prevent catching the flu than trying to quarantine someone with it?"

I nodded. "Go on."

"The curse that affects the mingling of their bloodline with werewolves," Esme explained.

The pieces started to click into place. I looked at Eason and clenched my jaw.

"What does it do?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

"It throws the lycan side into a state of hyper-aggression. It's meant to make it so potent, so furious that the werewolf side would die out from all the energy that would be required to sustain that."

"A sort of cure for it."

She nodded. "That was the intention, but the truth is that over the years, the blessing became a curse because the werewolf strain, of a sort, changed so much. The defense mechanism now manifests in several ways, but the most pressing concern is outward aggression, which usually leads to a swift and brutal death. Before that didn't happen, they would just burn it out, but the werewolf strain of now is far more... entrenched, magically speaking."

My heart hammered in my chest. This explained Grace's near-uncontrollable rage earlier. I looked at Eason again.

"Eason's death..."

She nodded. "It's the only way these days unless the werewolf blood is diluted enough. That and severing one or the other side..." She tilted her head. "Eason pulled through a lycan. I have my suspicions about why exactly, including this," she gestured to him. "But Grace... Grace didn't have the same chance. A Stormclaw's first child is always going to take the most dominant traits from their parents: female, alpha, lycan."

"Not magic."

She shook her head. "My daughter didn't inherit magic in any real workable way, much like Grace." She looked over at Eason. "It wasn't until Eason was born that I realized that she'd become a carrier for the gift."

"Healing?"

She smiled. "I am descended from one... I always thought it would be a daughter since it's the maternal line, but we've had male healers in the family plenty of times. I'm related to one farther back." She shrugged. "All of that to be talked about... later."

"What do we do?" I asked. "About Grace?"

"That's the thing..." Esme's expression remained grim. "I told you severing was the only way...."

I swallowed. "At least... it's not death."

My stomach plummeted. Eason's warning made more sense now. I clenched my jaw. He'd taken her Lycan side.

"Why?" I growled.

"Because she wouldn't be able to control it," Esme said.

I looked at Eason. "How could you possibly know that? She hadn't had the chance to learn!"

Eason's gaze drifted up to mine. He didn't speak and went back to eating, dismissing me. I wanted to growled, but Esme spoke up.

"Don't blame, Eason," Esme said. "I... " She shuddered. "If Eason hadn't died the way he had, it could have been the exact same way. His magic would have gone with it, but Grace..." She looked up. "Being a lycan is more than a metaphysical thing. It's a physical and mental burden. For that to have worked, she would have had to... probably go into ritual, and that would have been shot in the dark because it would have been a taxing experience, and Grace doesn't have the magical reserves for it."

I winced, remembering my lessons on ritual magic. "It could have taken... years."

"If it didn't kill her the first time," Esme said. "Blood magic is tricky like that. To have something engrained in you..." She shook her head and sniffled. "Grace was caught in between. Her instincts have been fighting since their father died in both of them. Meeting Devin and marrying him--it was a slippery slope. Eason's death basically was a ritual, timed well with his age... Grace had already gone through so much physically. As much as I hate it, there really wasn't much choice."

Her jaw trembled. "I'd been working on a way to break the curse permanently for years. Aside from suppressing it, I hadn't gotten anywhere... That's why she lasted as long as she did."

My eyes bulged. "You mean..."

"Twenty-one," she said solemnly. "Twenty-one years from placement of the suppression. Eason was born in the Clans. The ritual was easily done, but Grace had come early. She was born here. The borders were closed, it was... just bad timing all around."

Frustration gnawed at me. "And now?"

She shook her head.

"Have you placed the suppression on Cecil and Richard?"

She blinked. "I... haven't had the chance to look them over... They're three-quarters, and I know so little about Devin's family."

"Do it," Charles said. "As quickly as possible. Ask for whatever you need. Devin's family is as purely Lycan as it gets. There is no hope for either of them to have a surprising reserve of magical power other than being three-quarters Lycan."

She nodded. "I'll do it tonight. Cecil first. Then, Richard."

"It seems like... Grace still has a great need for her longevity drug."

And I... had some truths to reconcile. Before I could slip into the downward spiral of knowing Grace would never sit on the throne beside me, Eason stirred on the couch, and he spoke. I rubbed at the point of tension between my brows and tried to calm my magic.

Esme's eyes widened in surprise. She leaned closer to him, her brow furrowed in concentration, and I hoped it was good news.