Descendants Academy: Young Adult Urban Fantasy, Belle Malory [motivational novels for students .txt] 📗

you and your sister live, but they never forbade Petra from cursing you. It was the only revenge she could extract on Daniel at that point, so she wasn’t going to let the opportunity go to waste.”

“She sounds like a lovely woman.” I looked over at Grandpa. “Remind me to ask Dad what he saw in her.”

“Blind teenage lust.” Grandpa shrugged, frowning. “Had your father known she was a Hollow, he would’ve never had anything to do with her.”

I turned back to Xander, anxious for him to continue. “So how did my mother help you escape?”

“The Hollows have no reason to distrust Selena. She’s bound to them through magic. When she pledged herself, she swore an oath to never escape, as well as to provide details about her foresight, and she has faithfully obeyed for over a decade. She’s no longer a prisoner in the typical sense, not like I was. She commands authority in the Hollowed Council, and the others respect her.” He stared at the floor, shaking his head. “I still remember the day she came to my cell. She told me two paths were laid out before me. I could either stay and become a powerful Hollow, or I could return to Mythos. She asked which I preferred, and of course, I answered to return. So she agreed to help me escape, with conditions.”

“Conditions?” I chewed on my lower lip. “What did she ask you to do?”

“Upon my return, I would transfer to House Ares and focus on becoming the strongest gladiator of all time.”

That seemed like an odd request. “Why?”

He shrugged. “She wouldn’t tell me. She simply said it must be done.”

“What else?”

He raised his gaze again, looking nervous. “What do you mean?”

“You said conditions. Plural.”

“The rest isn’t important.” He didn’t choose his words carefully enough. The vines began to twist and tighten, and he struggled against them, groaning. “I meant to say, I don’t wish to discuss the other conditions!”

The vines stopped.

I curled my hand into a fist. “Xander, so help me, if you try to get out of answering, I’ll tear off your arm myself.”

His eyes grew wide, surprised by my reaction. After a few seconds, he caved. “Fine. She asked, if you ever came to Arcadia, I would protect you.” He swallowed uncomfortably, his voice lowering. “And that I would never fall in love with you.”

21

“What?”

I was so stunned, I could barely speak.

Grandpa actually had the audacity to laugh—and it was pissing me off that he was laughing. “Good ol’ Sel,” he said between chuckles. “Always liked that girl.”

“Wh-why?” I said, once I finally found my voice. “Why would she ask you something like that?”

Xander looked as lost for words as I was. “I don’t know. She sees the future, so she must have her reasons.”

“She said me, specifically? Did she include Riley in on that condition?”

He shook his head. “Just you.”

“But-but…” This was so confusing. My mom literally asked Xander not to fall in love with me? I had so many questions.

First of all, did she see it happen?

Second, why was she trying to prevent it?

Third, really?—Me and Mr. Let’s Only Speak In Private?!

I mean the guy was gorgeous, like on an insane level. He even stirred up little butterflies just by turning those deep blues on me, but I couldn’t see it going that far.

When I finally found my voice again, I asked the biggest question on my mind. “Let’s say, theoretically, of course, it was a possibility.” I noticed the way Xander and I couldn’t seem to look at each other. “How does she ah…expect you to stop your feelings?”

He held up his left hand to reveal a tiny silver cross on the inside of his ring finger. “It’s called the Silver Oath. It binds me to my promises.”

She magically bound him.

“The net.” He helped me when no one else would, then he asked Ione to help me too. “It was part of your promise.”

Xander looked away, clearing his throat. “I would like to think I would’ve done it anyway, but yes.”

Good grief. So even his half attempt at being nice wasn’t really him, just part of the arrangement he made with my mom.

I stood up. This was too much to deal with. Too many revelations, too many emotions…the anger and the Ares blood was taking over, because when I looked down, my hands were full of fire.

“Whoa.” Xander’s eyes flared.

“Calm yourself, Sheridan,” Grandpa said, his voice gentle.

I shook my hands, and the fire disappeared. After a deep breath, I looked up. “We need to get my mother out of the Underworld,” I said to Grandpa. “And we need to break this curse.”

He nodded. “Agreed.”

“Are you two serious?” Xander gripped the arm of the chair, trying to get up, but the ollodipher dug into his flesh. “Get this thing off me!”

Grandpa reached out and tore the leaf from Xander. Immediately, the vines recoiled, leaving angry red welts across his skin. He rubbed his arm, glancing between the two of us. “You can’t go there.”

“Obviously, I’m not letting my teenage granddaughter walk into a place full of demons, monsters, and Hollows,” Grandpa said, frowning. “But she’s the girl’s mother. We have to figure out a way to free her. First, I’ll need to do some research about this pledge she made. We can’t make any moves before I find out more about that.”

“What about Petra’s curse?” Xander said.

Grandpa sighed. “Daniel and I have tried to prevent that goddamned curse from manifesting since they arrived on his doorstep. He hoped living in Davidson might change things, but it hasn’t. For now, all we can do is keep them separated.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I couldn’t help still feeling butthurt over the fact that he and Dad left me out of the loop.

“Who wants to tell their grandchild they’re cursed?” Grandpa said, his bushy brows drawn together pensively. “Your dad and I didn’t expect you to find out this way. All we wanted was to keep you safe and protected, even from