Blood of the Watcher (The Dark Ability Book 4) by D.K. Holmberg Page B

come here.”
    He waited for something more, but it didn’t come. He stopped at the door and looked back at her over his shoulder. “Who was exiled?” he asked.
    She blinked.
    “Of your parents. Who was exiled?”
    She swallowed. “Both.”
    Both. That hadn’t been the answer he expected, but then, he hadn’t known what he should have expected. Not that his grandparents were Forgotten. Not that he shared something more with Brusus than he realized.
    He waited, hoping she might offer more but she didn’t. She turned her back to him, and Rsiran knew that he wouldn’t get anything more from her.
    He stood for a moment, debating what else he could say. His grandparents were Forgotten? Didn’t that change things for him?
    He thought of Haern’s warning that they would all have to pick a side. If he had to choose, shouldn’t he side with his family? Knowing his mother was born to exiles, and knowing his father had followed his orders to serve the Forgotten, it would seem they’d chosen their side long ago.
    But could he choose to side with the very people who’d been tracking him down? Attacking his friends? In that way, they were no different from Venass.
    Or were they?
    He cast one more glance to his mother before turning away. When he reached the door and pulled it open, he saw Jessa standing in the shadows just outside, waiting for him. A deep blue flower was tucked into her charm today, and she glared at him, punching him as soon as he stepped from the home.
    “I’m sorry,” he said softly.
    “You run here, after everything they did to you, and don’t bother to tell me?” Her voice was higher than normal, and she punched him again to emphasize her irritation. “Is that the kind of relationship that we have now?”
    As he closed the door behind him, he saw his mother watching him. “I’m sorry,” he said again.
    “You don’t have to be alone, Rsiran,” Jessa said. “Haven’t I shown you that?”
    “I could always use a little more explanation.” He reached for her hand, and she let him take it, though punched him a third time as they started down the street.
    “I’m not sure that you deserve that,” she grumbled.
    “You found me fine.”
    “Well, Brusus told me you were here, and so—”
    “You knew where she was, too, didn’t you?”
    Jessa bit her lower lip.
    “It’s okay. I don’t think I was ready to see her before today.”
    “And now?” she asked. She tipped her head toward the flower in the charm and took a deep breath. It was times like this, when walking through these parts of Lower Town, that Rsiran wished he had something similar. At least then he wouldn’t have to smell the stink.
    “Now I know that we have more in common than I realized.”
    Jessa frowned. “What does that mean?”
    “Only that my mother’s parents were exiled.” He smiled at her. “Makes me a child of the Forgotten as well.”
    “Oh, Great Watcher,” she said, stiffening next to him.
    “What?”
    “Do you think they want to claim you because there is some sort of connection?” she asked. “They knew about my parents, and you saw how they treated me.”
    “Not a connection,” Rsiran said. “But it helps me decide something that Haern told me I’d have to.”
    “And what is that?”
    “He told me that we would have to pick a side.”
    Jessa pulled away from him and looked over. “And you want to side with the Forgotten?”
    “I…” He didn’t know. That was the problem. But knowing what he did about his family, and Jessa’s, even Brusus’s, he wasn’t sure that he knew the answer anymore. “I don’t know,” he said finally.
    “And your sister?”
    He wasn’t sure how Jessa would respond to what he would tell her next. She didn’t think that his family deserved his attention, not after what they had done to him, but then Alyse didn’t deserve to be abducted because of something their father had committed to. And it was Rsiran’s fault that their father was no longer in