Gypsy Origins (Page 9)

I soak it all in, unsure what half of it means. Those who have all the information don’t always know which parts are confusing to those of us who don’t.

With them, it’s always like collecting a trail of breadcrumbs, leaving me only to guess where they all lead. I hope I don’t get baked in some crazy bitch’s oven when I finally find the end of the trail.

“Four gypsy first-borns were all that was needed for Idun to complete her circle,” Vance adds, as he faces me. “She might have fallen for us in her own way, but really she fell for the power she had over us when she convinced us to sacrifice the most important things to us and our families. All to have an eternity of life with her.”

I can’t imagine having someone love me that much. Let alone four people love me that much. It’s a little sick and twisted, but also morbidly romantic.

Anna would so hate Idun.

“Your wolves,” I say softly to Emit, a realization setting in.

Poor Emit.

“Feel no pity for me, Violet,” the wolf says with a slight edge, as though he’s offended, despite the fact he openly expresses his own guilt.

“My family had one prized possession,” Vance says very quietly. “A silver timepiece my grandfather left our family before the first time my family home was raided.”

I say nothing to that.

“We’re not trying to justify anything,” Vance goes on dispassionately, his twitching beginning again on the timed sequence he has. “At least not to you.”

He does the twitching so subtly that you almost have to watch him to really notice it.

“Damien said you’ll fall to the curse next,” I say quietly to Vance.

He gives a shrug of his shoulder. “When I fall asleep. I’m not in any hurry to fall asleep,” he tells me.

“At least it doesn’t put all of you down at the same time. Someone could use that to their advantage then.”

“The fewer people who know about Portocale gypsies and our weak links to them, the better. But Emit’s told his omegas, and Arion has shared things with his closest betas, and I’m sure Damien once shared it too, back when he had people who knew who he was,” Vance states with no emotion.

“We all can go down at the same time,” Emit tells me, earning an exasperated look from Vance.

Hearing this story is better than riding in silence.

“We’d found the love of our collective lives headless on the floor, along with her entire family,” Vance says like he’s ensuring I know this, notably deflecting from what Emit just said. “And the distinct scent Portocale gypsies had in their blood was everywhere,” he adds.

“You keep rushing to the blood and death part,” Emit says in an annoyed tone to Vance.

“It’s the important part and she seems too relaxed about it,” Vance argues, as he darts his gaze back to the window, holds, and restarts his twitching.

“Edmond Portocale had fallen in love with Idun,” Emit goes on, acting like I need more backstory before they get to the meat of this ancient story.

“Of course he did. That woman could make any man fall in love,” Vance states like it’s an obvious factor.

I shouldn’t be jealous of a diabolical, evil monster woman.

“How?” I ask, just as Emit starts to speak again.

“How what?” Emit asks me.

“How could she make any man fall in love? Just curious, since my experience with men leads me down the exact opposite path,” I explain.

Emit cuts a glare to Vance, and Vance bristles, before he looks out the window once again.

“I meant in general and not just the two latest rejections, but thanks for making it weird,” I say to the two of them, watching as they look anywhere but at me. “How did Idun make all these men fall in love?”

“By being the perfect woman,” Vance says like he’s repeating it.

“She went hunting with Vance,” Emit adds. “She was an excellent marksman—had trained herself to be in order to start her ruse with Vance. She was all his favorite things.”

“She was a nature-communing, wilderness-loving adventurer with Emit, even though in truth, she hated nature,” Vance fills me in.

“So basically she lied to all of you, and you fell in love with the version of her that never really existed, and then it got toxic because it was all built on a foundation of bullshit and deception,” I surmise.

Emit scrubs a hand over his jaw, and Vance looks away.

“Simplified down to the barest of roots, yes. I guess you could see it that way. But trust me when I say you still love the person, even if it is all a lie. To say anything else is a cheapened escape hatch one uses to avoid the indignity of the tangled mess that was most certainly Idun Neopry,” Vance says in a quieter tone.

“Then I’m assuming she did more than hunt and go exploring in nature to win you guys over then,” I point out.

Vance says nothing.

“Back then, being everything a man wanted in bed was a sure way to win his heart real damn quickly,” Emit adds, getting more comfortable, like this ride is far from over.

Well, that part sucks to hear. That part is the department I’m clearly lacking in.

“To be fair, you guys were less experienced back then. Surely I’m not that bad. But I certainly lack the experience you’ve all gathered in your non-spring-break years,” I say a little bit defensively.

“Why are we back to spring break?” Emit asks as I dig around in my bag.

“Because the omegas packed me three bikinis and some more questionable clothing. I think I only have one pair of jeans,” I groan.

His lips struggle to restrain a grin, but when I look over at Vance, he’s stopped twitching and looks very tense—like he’s not a happy man right now.

“I explained myself,” the Van Helsing says to me with a cool and distant tone.

“You gave me an excuse. Not really an explanation,” I tell him before returning my attention to Emit. “So Idun made you all fall helplessly in love and do really terrible things on the quest for immortality.”

“She never made us do anything,” Emit answers. “But she could manipulate any situation and any man. Including Edmond Portocale, who was engaged to a nicer, simpler Neopry gypsy.”

“Simpler,” Vance snorts. “She had barely a brain in her head and was a happy-to-be-alive sort of girl,” he goes on like that’s an offensive thing. “Such a gullible, pitiful woman.”

I’m starting to see why we didn’t work. Vance is a total asshole sometimes.

“And Idun was a diabolical mastermind who was so much easier to love,” I interject, smiling coldly at him, which prompts him to turn and glare at me.

“Idun challenged a man. She made him feel like he had something to prove, and made him step up to the next level. I’m not defending her, but I am explaining why the draw was there over some happy-go-lucky, semi-unattractive, hair-brained cousin of hers,” Vance explains.

“Edmond’s forsaken bride didn’t begrudge the new happy couple,” Emit cuts in, sounding a little more uncomfortable. “She cried, I’m sure, but she smiled the next day and brought them a gift to show she loved them both and wished them no ill fortune. Idun laughed in her face, and Edmond looked down on her like she was more pathetic than he’d realized.”

“That’s terrible,” I decide to point out.

“If this is already being found terrible, we should consider this a stopping point,” Vance says pointedly at Emit. “Because it only gets worse from here.”

Emit rolls his eyes as we continue to drive on the long, country road toward the snowcapped mountains in the distance.

It’s weird to see so much grass without heaps of snow covering it. The grass is dead around here, but still, it’s nice to see the ground for a change.

“It’s terrible because it sounds like Idun’s cousin was trying to make it easier on everyone in the family. You said this was a small community you’d built. She was stepping up and making peace, even though she was the wronged party. It’s terrible that you’re calling her hair-brained and mocking her just as they did back then,” I explain, staring at the side of Vance’s face.

He looks back at me, eyes narrowing.

“Remember when I said this was a different time.”

“You just insulted her like five minutes ago. That was now. In this time. She was wise enough to know there could be severe conflict and tried to stop it before there was. Show some respect.”

Emit’s lips twinge with the beginnings of a grin, even though there’s an odd sadness to cloud his eyes.

“What was her name?” I ask when it grows silent.

“Caroline,” they both say.

“You remembered Idun’s name. Just making sure you remember the woman she wronged too.”

“Caroline was just the start of the wronged parties,” Emit goes on.

“The mildest of the mild offenses that was,” Vance adds on a sneer.

“Until later,” Emit says to him, causing Vance to shoot a surprised look toward him.

“Where did that come from? Why would you even bring that up?” Vance asks incredulously. “That part isn’t on us in anyway. There was nothing we could legally do about in-house things.”