Chapter 202

#Chapter 202 – Burton’s Secret Rafe frowns at me.

“Boys,” Rafe says, not looking at them. “Go play in the living room.”

Ian opens his mouth – full of pancakes – to protest, but Rafe interrupts.

“Take your food,” he says, his voice low and dismissive, “try eating them off the floor like a puppy. No forks, not hands.” The boys, sufficiently distracted and eager for this weird new experience, grab their plates and head off.

I watch them go and then return my eyes to Rafe, who leans forward onto the table.

“There’s more to this,” he says, looking between Victor and I and tapping the table with his index finger, “more than you two are letting on. And I want to know what it is.”

“Honestly,” I say, looking up at Victor for confirmation. He nods along with me. “Honestly, Rafe,” I say, looking at him with wide eyes, “we really don’t know.”

I hear someone clear their throat behind me and I turn, surprised to see Burton standing there, his kitchen tasks abandoned. Victor and Rafe follow in suit, likewise looking at the butler. “Luckily,” Burton says, “I do know what is going on.”

He neatly folds his hands behind his back. “But,” he continues, shaking his head gravely. “You’re not going to like it.”

The three of us just stare at Burton, our mouths open. Silence reigns at the table.

It’s broken, of course, by the twins.

“Mom!” Ian shouts from the living room, laughing. “Mom, stop him! He’s trying to steal my whipped cream!”

My eyes flit to the living room, where Alvin is crawling towards Ian growling, looking more like a bear cub than a puppy. Archie jumps along beside him, eyeing the pancakes eagerly.

Suddenly, I can’t stand the absurdity of the moment.

My chest still aches, a little, from my coughing fit, but I ignore it as I start to laugh. A little giggle at first, and then a full throated thing.

After a moment, Victor joins in with me, shaking his head, as he puts his head in his hand, laughing his low chuckle.

“What is this life,” he murmurs, disbelieving.

“What?” Rafe says, not getting it, looking between us. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” I say, wiping a little tear of mirth from my eye. “It’s just so –“ I’m interrupted, then, with another peal of my own laughter. “It’s just so ridiculous – Victor almost dies last night, and today my sons are in the living room stealing whipped cream, and our butler is the only one who really knows what’s going on –“

Victor throws back his head at that and I join along with him.

We’re the only ones laughing – and honestly, I know that it’s not really funny – but we’re just so exhausted and the past few days and weeks have been so much –

When I come back to myself, I see that Rafe is leaning back in his chair, smiling, seeing the absurdity of it as well. Even Burton has a smile on his serious face, watching us.

“It is good to see you smile, Madame, Monsieur,” he says, looking us over.

“Please, Burton,” Victor says, sighing at the end of his mirth and gesturing towards the twins’ empty chairs. “Please, sit down with us, let us know what’s going on. Because honestly, we’re so confused.”

I nod, resting my elbow on the table and putting my chin in my palm.

In reality, now that I have a moment to consider it, my coughing fit really was frightening. I went to bed last night the picture of health, and today I’m coughing up blood? I’m tired, of course, but I had thought it was just because I didn’t get any sleep. But…is it more than that? Is this ache within me…is something else going on?

Burton does sit, then, folding his hands neatly on the table and looking at us.

“I must beg your forgiveness,” he says, “to begin with.”

Victor and I frown at him, but Rafe just studies him with somber eyes. What on earth has Burton done except be wonderful to us?

“For,” Burton continues, “I have been lying to you since the moment that we met.”

I admit, I’m shocked by this – my eyes go wide when I hear his words. Victor, likewise, goes still beside me.

Burton nods, hanging his head. “I am not who I say I am.”

Victor’s frown deepens. “But,” he says, turning his hand palm up on the table. “I…did background checks. Everything you told us about your identity – it checked out.”

Burton just shrugs a little, still not meeting our eyes. “The people for whom I work…they are powerful.

They were able to ensure that the basic information that I gave you would pass all of your tests.”

“God damnit,” Victor murmurs, looking seriously at his brother. “We’ve got to get our reconnaissance teams up to par – we’ve really been slipping –“

“Later,” Rafe murmurs, holding up a hand towards Victor and keeping his gaze fixed on Burton. “Then who are you?”

“Before that,” Burton says, looking us each in the eye in turn. “I must tell you that I never worked to harm you – every moment in your service has been an absolute honor, and one in which I’ve worked to truly better your lives –“

“It’s all right, Burton,” Victor says quietly, and the butler looks at him with gratitude written on his face.

“We believe you – never, not once, have you done anything but good things for us, for our children. I suspect,” Victor looks at me, then, taking my hand, “that you’ve known…something. About Evelyn and I. Long before we ever did.”

Burton nods at this and I c**k my head, curious to hear more. It’s true that at the wedding, when we first met him, that he was extremely kind to me – that he even brought Victor to me, the night before, giving him a chance to…

Well, to do what he should have done, which is leave Amelia for me right then. But Victor and I had been the foolish ones.

Had Burton really known, so far ahead?

“Please,” Victor says, encouraging. “Tell us more.”

Burton takes a deep breath, and then he begins. “I was born,” he says, “to a sacred order of wolves.

We are very secretive about our knowledge, which we are all sworn to protect and defend. It is our birthright and our honor to carry it from one generation to the next. To ensure that it survives, to ensure that it serves our people as best it can.”

I blink my shock, my mouth falling open a bit. Of all things that I expected our mild-mannered butler to say…

Well. It certainly wasn’t that.

“There are many details and mysteries to our knowledge and our methods,” Burton says, “but one of our jobs is to keep an eye on the packs of the world. To look, in particular, for those who are…specially blessed, for a lack of a better term.”

Victor, Rafe, and I listen, rapt. Burton turns to look at the boys in the living room, happily letting Archie lick syrup and pancake scraps from their plates.

“Your children came to our attention first,” Burton says quietly. “The moment they were born, we knew.

There was…again, for a lack of better words, a stirring in the stars.”

I sit back in my seat a little at this, shocked and a little weirded out. I mean, I know that I think my kids are great but…a stirring in the stars? What the hell did that mean? I look at Victor and see the same expression on his face.

“But,” Burton continues. “As time passed, and we looked more closely, we began to notice the two of you as well.”

Burton folds his hands and leans forward on the table, looking between Victor and me. “Am I correct in saying that the two of you had, last night, what might be considered a merging of souls? A kind of exchange, of the spiritual material within you?”

I see Rafe’s face twist in confusion and disbelief at this, but he’s alone in that.

Yup, I think, looking up at Victor. That’s a pretty accurate description of what happened, wouldn’t you say?

He looks down at me and smirks. I’ve got no better words for it.

“Wait,” Rafe says, his eyes landing on us. “Are you two…are you two mind linking? Right now?”

Victor just looks at his brother, smiling. He doesn’t confirm or deny.

“Yes,” Burton says, nodding and still looking at us, a little smile on his lips as well. “That can be a side effect.”

Rafe’s mouth falls open in shock and disbelief.

“What the hell,” Rafe growls, “is going on in this house!?”