Page 122 of Hellbound

Tori stepped forward. “No way, I want to hear this.”

“They’re as stuck as I am. They deserve answers too,” Marian growled.

Vale lowered himself into the high-backed leather chair.

Marian stepped forward and braced her hands on his desk, searching his face.

“Arthur Falk,” Vale said slowly, “knew exactly what was at stake when he died that day.”

Marian straightened, the knots between her brows loosening. “Falk knew the truth?”

“He did.”

“You told him?”

“No. He discovered it all on his own. The moons gave it away,” Vale answered, his words downright reverent. “He paid attention to the heavens in death. In time, he saw what others didn’t. The moons had phases, they waxed and waned. He returned and asked me what sort of Hell would orbit a star. I told him. He believed me and committed himself to my cause. I can only assume the ixyura consumed him before he could retrieve it.”

Marian’s heart stuttered in her chest.

Vale didn’t know.

“He did find the knife. Bjernsen was with him and threw Falk to the Remnant when he couldn’t steal it from him. Verinne paid him to screw over Falk.”

Tori stepped forward. “It’s the truth.”

To her shock, because Vale knew everything and the questions sometimes just seemed like formality, his features twisted in a fleeting look of surprise—barely curbed by what had to be tremendous self-control. He pressed his fingers to his temple.

Marian finally saw the shadows beneath his eyes.

“I have no sight beyond the veil. I can feel, but not see, and only if I deliver a diver unto death.”

Understanding settled over Marian. She exhaled slowly through her nose. “That’s why you wanted to kill me yourself that night. Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”

“For many reasons. One of which was to prevent the past from repeating. I also made a promise to Arthur to protect his identity and hide his memory from the world. For his family.”

There it is.

“His family,” Marian echoed with a quiver. “His family.”

She dug the ID out of her pocket and tossed it on the desk between them. Vale’s gaze snapped to the little white card.

Tori leaned forward. “Marian, who is that?”

Marian’s mouth set in a hard line as Vale’s eyes bored into her skull.

“I’m not sure,” she said loudly. “ ‘Bennett Meyer.’ Weird, isn’t it? Both of your marked are Meyers.”

Ever so slowly, Vale leaned back and sighed as though he had been holding it for centuries. His eyes fluttered shut.

“I knew ‘Falk’ was a false name. We made a bargain that I would never know his true one in exchange for his loyalty. I kept my word.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re the daughter.”

“Daughter,” Marian repeated, aghast. “This man is my father?”

Vale’s hand fell to his lap as he opened eyes so weary Marian might have mistaken him for a real human. “I didn’t know. Truly.”

Marian was drowning again. Lost at sea in the middle of that stuffy office, being suffocated by the smell of her own sweat and ancient leather-bound books. She stared at the photo on that little card and wracked her brain for a single memory to explain how this man could be her father.

But he wasn’t there. Even if he’d been alive for her early childhood, he was busy exploring Hell and trying to destroy the Argent for Vale. She’d have remembered him otherwise. He’d lived long enough to be part of her life. He just chose not to.