Chapter 5: Chapter FIVE

"She messed me up badly," explained his interlocutor, grimacing. "If Father hadn't scooped me up after stopping her from going after me, she sure would have killed me."

"Dad? I thought he supported her in her delusions, why would he save your life?"

"He doesn't really have a choice, Ethan. Yes, he supports her ideology of purity, but he is not as radical as her. Not to the point of killing his own son."

"Why didn't he stop her from killing you in the first place, then?" questioned the young vila doubtfully.

"This is Impervia we're talking about. Do you think she would have succeeded in manipulating old families and other races if she hadn't started by making sure she was in control of her husband? It's not complicated to blackmail your soul mate when you are ill-intentioned."

Ethan sighed, only able to agree with the stranger. His mother was more than capable of that, he had no doubt. The idea of ​​trying to harm or threaten Mia by using the bond seemed repugnant to him, but it was a strategy Impervia was capable of implementing if she deemed it necessary. She didn't even need to do it. If her children knew she was capable of acting so cruelly, his father was also aware of it.

"So Father knew you were still alive. I take it Vassili knew it too since you're on the same side," Ethan concluded bitterly.

One more reason to feed his hatred toward the vampire. A few days before, he lied to him about it, claiming that Adam was dead. He had even used his death to try to manipulate him emotionally. These revelations about his teacher gave him the impression that he had rubbed shoulders with and trusted a complete stranger for all these years.

"They couldn't tell you, Ethan. Father for obvious reasons, and Vassili... Honestly? We didn't trust you. You can't blame us, you were raised by Impervia, we didn't know what your opinions were on the ideas she put in your head calling it education."

"I don't share her alienated ideology," he cut off, almost annoyed that they might think he was supporting his mother.

"Vassili told me that you believed in it when you were younger. He noticed that you started to drift away from her, especially when you arrived at the Arena and were no longer under her direct influence, but we couldn't tell exactly where your loyalties lay, Ethan. Not to mention revealing it to you would have put you in needless danger. What difference would it make to you to know I was alive?"

He didn't answer, his brain racing. Actually, Adam was right about that. The knowledge would have changed nothing and would only have added additional anguish to his daily life. From a strategic point of view and in the eyes of the rebels, Ethan was just a young adult who lived quietly at the Arena and was only concerned with finding his soul mate. Humans were supposed to have been decimated and it was light years away from imagining that he would find himself having to oppose his mother so openly. He had always thought that he could just walk away from it the day he bonded with his soul mate and thus lived more or less in peace without suffering her toxic influence. He had never intended to reveal to his mother that he didn't share her demented ideology. Standing up to her alienated convictions had never seemed necessary to him.

"He could have told me when he found out my soul mate was human."

"You tried to go against your Vila's decision," he reminded him in a voice he tried to keep devoid of any trace of judgment.

"Because I knew full well what a mess we were going to be in! That doesn't mean I support Mother!"

"I believe you, Ethan, but you weren't ready to fight. Would you have helped us yesterday of your own free will if Vassili had told you everything?"

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"No," he replied after a few seconds of reflection, resigning himself to proving him right once again. "I wouldn't have stopped you from attacking the Arena, but I certainly wouldn't have taken part. I would have tried my best to keep Mia away from all this. It still applies today."

"So there was no point in revealing everything to you before today. I'm sorry Ethan, I know forcing you into a fight by threatening Mia really wasn't the best way to go. It was the only plan we had to make sure you would fight alongside us and come with us after we retreated, without risking jeopardizing the upstream operation."

"I will not forgive Vassili for having lied to me and manipulated me, even if your little Resistance thought it necessary."

"I'm not asking you to forgive him, and he's perfectly aware of that too. He has a lot of affection for you, Ethan. He saw you grow up, after all. The plan didn't appeal to him, but... it was necessary, yes."

"Not my problem."

An uncomfortable silence settled for a few seconds. Finally, Adam spoke again, a smile covering his lips.

"Don't you want to know why I publicly opposed Impervia?"

Ethan sighed, tired. The discussion had ended up smothering the flames of his rage which had dried up in favor of heavy mental exhaustion. Without noticing, his claws had retracted on their own and his eyes had cleared so that his blue irises reappeared. Adam's explanations made sense, and his familiar face made him accept that he wasn't lying. It only remained for him to know if he intended to turn them into pawns like the vampire or if he could trust him.

"Why?" he finally asked in a calmer tone.

"It's really ironic for our family now that you are linked to Mia..." he began in a laughing voice. "Irina, my soul mate, is human. I wasn't going to let Impervia kill us when she would finally find out. She still doesn't know, you know, that my Vila chose a human. Even opposing her, it was better that she never found out. If she had attacked Irina instead of me back then, we would both have been dead."

"That's… quite ironic indeed," Ethan chuckled sarcastically.

Adam smiled, pleased that the mood seemed to have simmered down.

"Well, now that you've calmed down and the big revelations are over..."

The big brother got up, slipping his hand into his linen pants to pull out a key that he amused himself by twirling between his fingers. He moved closer to the young Vila, a relieved pout covering his face.

"…Time to take those cuffs off," he finished, pushing the key into the two locks of the anti-magic bracelets immobilizing Ethan's wrists. "I still have a few things to tell you on the way..."

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