Secrets of the Guardian (Waldgrave Book 3) by A.L. Tyler Page A

never had the option of choosing to stay where she was, in the life that she had lived before finding out.   The end —Lena had never heard it put so succinctly. It was the end; the end of a way of living, and the start of something new. It was like dying and leaving yourself behind when something that big happened. She tried to gather herself enough to explain everything that had fleeted across her mind when Cheryl had spoken.
    “You don’t have to leave, Cheryl,” she began, “No one is going to make you leave or let him take you. And if you do decide to go, it’s not goodbye—I’ll come and visit you. Too much, even. Devin too, and Mrs. Ralston and Howard and Pete, and you can always come to see us. This is just an introduction.”
    “What if he doesn’t like me?” She whispered.  What if we hate each other?
    At least , Lena thought,  I’ve lived that nightmare…
    She hadn’t meant to think it where others could hear it, and didn’t think she had, but Cheryl was still watching her with interest. “I wasn’t what my mother and my grandfather wanted. I know I wasn’t. My mom still loved me, or God, how she tried to, anyway, but they didn’t want me the way I was. My grandfather was really disappointed—he told me, and mind you this was the first time I ever met him, that the only blessing I had to be thankful for was that I didn’t look anything like my dad. Believe that?”
    To no one’s surprise, Cheryl nodded. Master Daray had been a terrible man, and always harshly and purposely forthright with his criticisms.
    Devin came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel to get some clothes, and tried to seem as inconspicuous as possible when he noticed that Lena and Cheryl were having a serious talk. He took what he needed and headed back to the bathroom to change.
    Lena carefully wiped the tears from Cheryl’s face with her fingers and then dried her hand on the pillowcase. “Well, my point here isn’t to scare you, Cheryl. It’s that I survived the worst case scenario as far as this stuff goes, and I turned out all right. I mean, I’ve wound up in some bad situations, but I’m still here. You’ll never have to go through any of that because I won’t let it happen. And you know what? You’re father isn’t a bad guy—“
    “He tried to kill you once, I thought.” She said meekly, then quickly looked away.   That’s what they say about him. That he’s a murderer.
    Lena sighed; she hadn’t told anyone, even Cheryl, about the details of this particular incident in her past, and how poor Warren Astley had become entangled in the elaborate mess that the Corbetts and Darays had propagated. The scandal had resulted in the murder of her brother, father, and presumably her grandmother and others as well, not to mention the enormous amounts of political sway that had resulted from so little being known about the culprits and situations surrounding their deaths—a huge gain for Daray, who had rallied support around the idea that Thomas had been killed by an uncaught New Faith zealot.
    The Darays had been driven to extinction for creating so much trouble, and the Corbett household had come under fire and strict scrutiny for their suspected involvement in many of Daray’s schemes. Lena shuddered to think what would happen to the Astleys if anyone ever found out that Warren had not only known what was going on, but had effectively been helping. Even if Master Corbett had been threatening the life of Warren’s child, it wasn’t reason enough—the Silenti didn’t look favorably upon growing attached to anyone or anything; emotional attachment to a child one had never met bordered on ludicrous.
    Lena gazed down at the comforter and nervously pulled at a loose stitch in the fabric, trying not to reveal too much. All Cheryl knew was that he had been blackmailed into doing it—Lena wasn’t of the mind that it was wise to share more than that. “For you! He did it all for you. He’s still doing it all