Darkly Wed (Darkly Devoted Series, Book 3)

Chapter 9 - Legacy

Chapter 9

GABRIEL BALAN stood at his window and watched as a fleet of cars pulled up to the Cairn castle. It appeared the boy was settling in well to his role as the Sarastri King. From one of the vehicles in the middle of the entourage, the blond boy emerged. He didn't wait for a servant to come to assist him and immediately turned to reach back inside for Melody's hand. She appeared in a short black dress with a high regal collar.

The King's Guard and the boy's own crop of guards appeared from the rest of the cars and stood at attention. The Thorne boy absently walked past them, his attention wholly occupied by the woman on his arm. To Gabriel, they still looked like two mischievous children. They were walking heads leaning close together, whispering into each other's ears and giggling in a way that made Gabriel worried about losing his daughter's loyalty.

Gabriel stepped into the next room where the nursemaid was playing with his grandson by the fireplace. Orion was already starting to take his first steps. The little boy was smiling as he stumbled along holding onto the maid's skirt. Gabriel was impressed every day by the boy's development and prowess. It was notable that after the night Gabriel found Melody in Aemon, the boy seldom displayed any of his considerable powers. Perhaps, in forging the blade, the boy's life was now forever linked to Nüwal, and his life force now fueled the blade. That also meant Orion would always be the one true wielder of that blade.

That child, with the powers of all six families, he would always be a target. Gabriel had considered hiding the boy as he had hidden Melody, but he had a feeling this switch would be much more challenging to perform. Even though Orion was only a little more than six months of age, the boy had an uncanny intuition of who his caretakers were. The only one the boy seemed exceptionally fond of was that servant of his father's. After Melody gave birth to the boy, the midwife swaddled the boy and handed him to Winick thinking he was the father.

Gabriel remembered walking into Melody's room with Winick sitting in the rocking chair with the infant. Orion had cried when Gabriel reached for him. He had decided to allow the servant to hold onto the child. Melody had stared at her son in the servant's arms, her lips paper-white, and smiled. "Even if he never comes back, Glenn, at least, Orion has you," she had whispered before drifting off to sleep. Gabriel knew it was only a matter of time before Blake came for his son. The boy was too valuable, his future too bright for anyone to resist. Even if Blake could never forgive Melody for how her family slighted him, he would still come for his son.

That was why Gabriel had purchased a nursemaid for the boy who had a child of her own. He found the woman in the slums of a city along the French Riviera. The woman had an infant of her own, not her own child but one that she was nursing. The baby also had green eyes and dark hair, not quite as startling as Orion's but their features were similar enough, that they could pass as each other to the untrained eye. The only difference was that the slave child had a reddish birthmark on his lower back in the shape of a petal.

Gabriel closed the door to the nursery and started to descend the stairs down to the main hall. The banquet hall had been set up with a great feast. He found Mighell and several of his foreign bodyguards and hanger-ons already sitting at the table making good use of the ale. Gabriel did not begrudge Mighell his numerous mistresses, after all, Gabriel himself had several in the past; it was the way Mighell constantly flaunted his sexual conquests to his companions that was irritating.

At least Melody never complained about that aspect of her engagement. She bore Mighell's obscenity with calmness and composure. Perhaps, she was prepared to be a daughter of the Great Families after all. Gabriel was ready to admit that Mighell was not the ideal son-in-law but over the past weeks, although he was uncertain whether Blake Thorne was any better. Blake was capricious, vindictive, and fought all his battles in the shadows. Gabriel wanted a boy for Melody who was more like himself - powerful, dominating, and ready to boldly die on the battlefield.