Page 75 of The Immortal’s Mark

I tilt my head back. My mother’s face twists. “I never told him.”

“Creator, save me. Are you serious, Jennifer?” The man scrubs a hand down his face and stands. “How could you marry him without telling him?”

“Don’t lecture me, Alexander. I left that life a long time ago. Telling John the truth would open wounds I worked years to close. We’re happy. He makes me happy.”

The man, Alexander, lets out a breath and drops his crisp blue eyes to me again. His troubled expression clears, and he smiles. “Do you like jokes, Darcie?”

I press my cheek into my mother's skirt but nod.

“Which flowers talk the most?”

My face scrunches together as I think.

“I don’t know,” I whisper.

“Tulips,” he says with a chuckle. “Because they have two lips.”

It takes me a second to understand.

Then I giggle.

“Flowers don’t have lips,” I tell him shyly.

“You’re right.” He rocks back on his heels and gives me a wink.

Then he says to Mom, “I will help with the mask, but I sincerely hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Thank you, Alex.” She steps forward and throws her arms around him.

I release her skirt and shift back, watching Alexander’s eyes close with a heavy sigh as he returns her embrace. “You’re welcome, Jenny. Always.”

The memory dissolves.

My fingers clutch the blanket on my legs as tightly as I’d clutched my mother’s skirts.

The others are talking. About what, I don’t know.

My eyes fly to Alex. He marks my attention immediately, and his already pale face drains of color.

“Darcie?” he asks.

“Why?” The word scrapes my throat. “Why would you do it?”

The rest of the room quiets. All eyes press into me, but my focus rests on the vampire I thought I could trust.

His eyes soften. “Because Jennifer is my friend, and she asked.”

“Didn’t you care about the innocent child whose mind you were messing with?”

“Of course, I did. But Jennifer is your mother, she had every right⁠—”

“No.” My tone hardens, and my hands shake. “She had no right to mess with my memories. And neither did you.”

Silence falls.

Des’s gaze burns the side of my face, but I don’t take my eyes off the vampire who is so willing to keep my mother’s secrets at my expense.

And to think, I considered him a friend.