Housebound with the Blackridge Heirs novel Chapter 93

Chapter 93

Chapter 93

Maya

This shit was creepy. And beautiful. Which somehow made it worse.

The chamber felt like stepping inside the ribs of some ancient beast.

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For a second, I forgot to be afraid. It was like standing in the center of a story I had only ever read about, and now I was the one being written.

Then I saw him.

One of the ten robed figures on the dais moved his head, just slightly, and the light caught his face. Strong jaw and dark eyes. That same permanent air of disappointment, like the world had never quite lived up to his standards.

Philip.

Caden’s father.

My stomach dropped so fast I felt physically dizzy.

Of course. Of course he was here. Of course the man who chained his own son to duty and threatened his mate bond sat on the council of the First Packland. Of course the man who wanted to kill me and then I mysteriously was taken by the Council was here.

I knew it. I freaking knew it.

Heat shot up my spine as a different kind of fear slid into my veins.

The realization that the person who tried so hard to convince Caden I was a problem worth erasing, had been standing in rooms like this the whole time, deciding the fate of people like me.

Beside me, Tylon went very

still.

His hand on my waist tightened for a second, then turned to stone. I followed his line of sight, heart already stumbling, and saw another face in the row of council members. Two chairs down from Philip, slightly older, broader shoulders, salt scattered through dark hair, eyes hard and familiar in a way that made something in my chest twist.

Tylon’s father.

I sucked in a sharp breath and glanced up at Tylon. The look on his face told me everything. He had absolutely no idea. No warning. No quiet conversation. No “son, I sit on the council that has been playing god with your life since you were born.”

And judging by the way Tylon’s father’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly when he finally noticed his son, he had not been warned either that Tylon would be here.

Pieces slid into place in my mind like someone had just tipped over a puzzle that was already assembled. How Matthias Blackridge had been able to free me from Sanctrum. How the council “changed their minds” after insisting I was a threat. How doors that should have been sealed had suddenly opened.

It was not just influence. Not just money.

It was authority.

A man seated in the center of the dais stood, drawing my attention away. He looked older than all of them, not just in the lines around his eyes, but in the way he carried himself, like the room belonged to him and everyone else was a guest borrowing his air.

18:46 Tue, Dec 23 MJM.

Chapter 93

He reached up and removed his hood. The other nine followed his lead, dropping their own robes back so their faces were fully visible.

The man in the center smiled. It did not reach his eyes.

“Maya,” he said, voice smooth and level. “Tylon.” He inclined his head in a small nod of acknowledgment that felt more like acknowledgment of his own power than of our presence. “Welcome to the Inner Hall of the First Packland Council. I am Silas Crane. I lead this council.”

Tylon did not answer. I felt him beside me, all sharp angles and tightly leashed fury.

So I did.

“Why am I here?” I asked. My voice didn’t shake, which surprised me.

Silas’s smile sharpened by a fraction.

“Direct… Good. I appreciate that.” He folded his hands in front of him, rings glinting in the cold light. “Firstly, an apology is in order. Your former… visit… to our lower facility was, let us say, mishandled.”

Mishandled.

I heard the click of the shock collar. I felt the volts tearing through my spine. I remembered the smell of burned skin, the taste of metal in my mouth, the way my body seized in front of people who were supposed to be “evaluating” me.

My teeth clenched.

“I was tortured,” I said quietly.

Silas tilted his head, then smiled like he was indulging a child. “It was never our intention to cause you undue suffering, Maya.”

“Undue,” I repeated flatly.

“We had reason to believe,” he continued smoothly, “that your presence in First Packland was tied to a very old history. A bloodline, to be precise. We have records that pointed to your family.”

“I do not have a family,” I said before I could stop myself. “Not a biological one I know, anyway.”

Silas’s eyes glinted, and this time his smile was almost genuine. “Ahh. But you did. Everyone is born of someone, Maya of the Áine Eclipse.”

The name hit me like someone had thrown a stone into my

chest.

Áine Eclipse.

The words rang in my skull, unfamiliar yet heavy, like they had been waiting in a locked room inside me for years and had finally heard their own echo.

“You know who my biological parents are?” I asked, the question ripping out before I could cage it. “Or were?”

One of the other council members, a man with dark copper hair and sharp cheekbones, leaned forward slightly.

“We knew of you before your enrollment at Blackridge,” he said. “It is not a coincidence that you ended up here, Maya of the Áine Eclipse.”

There it was again. That name.

My skin prickled. “Why do you keep calling me that?”

18:46 Tue, Dec 23

Chapter 93

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