Caleb's blood ran cold.
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"You do."
"No."
"You do."
She suddenly turned.
"I know your brother trusted someone."
"Who?"
"He never told me."
Caleb stared.
Then he noticed something beneath her veil.
A thin scar ran from her temple down her cheek.
His expression softened.
"Is that why?"
"What?"
"The veil."
She touched the scar.
"Partly."
Caleb sat again.
"My wife had scars."
Elena looked at him.
"From what?"
"An accident."
"Was it?"
Caleb hesitated.
"No."
She waited.
"Men attacked our ranch."
"Why?"
"They wanted land."
Elena's eyes narrowed.
"Samuel Vane?"
Caleb nodded.
"Maybe."
She looked away.
"Then perhaps you and I have more in common than we thought."
That night, Caleb slept beside the door.
Elena slept near the fire.
Neither touched the other.
But sometime before dawn, Caleb woke.
Elena was standing outside.
She was staring at the mountains.
Her veil had fallen backward.
Moonlight touched her face.
Caleb saw the scar.
But he also saw something else.
A small silver pendant around her neck.
He recognized it.
His father had owned one exactly like it.
Caleb sat up.
"Elena."
She turned.
She quickly covered her face.
"What?"
"Where did you get that pendant?"
Her hands tightened around it.
"It belonged to my mother."
"What's her name?"
Elena hesitated.
Then whispered:
"Anna Mercer."
Caleb's world stopped.
Anna Mercer.
His father's sister.
His aunt.
A woman everyone believed had died thirty years earlier.
Caleb stared at Elena.
"Who are you?"
She slowly lowered the veil.
"My name isn't Elena."
"What is it?"
She looked directly at him.
"Elena Mercer."
The Blood Beneath the Veil
Caleb couldn't speak.
The name echoed in his mind.
Elena Mercer.
His family name.
His father's sister.
But that made no sense.
His aunt had disappeared decades ago.
His father had told him she was dead.
"You can't be."
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
"I know."
"Your mother was Anna?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"She was my mother."
"Where is she?"
"Dead."
"When?"
"Twenty years ago."
Caleb sat down.
He needed time.
Elena told him the story.
Anna Mercer had fallen in love with an Apache warrior named Running Wolf.
Caleb's grandfather had forbidden the relationship.
Anna left home.
She never returned.
Years later, she had a daughter.
Elena.
When Elena was eight, her mother was killed by men working for a mining company.
Running Wolf took Elena and raised her.
Caleb stared at the chief.
"You're my uncle."
Running Wolf nodded.
Caleb stood.
"You knew who I was."
"Yes."
"You knew I was Anna's nephew."
"Yes."
"And you forced me to marry my cousin?"
Running Wolf shook his head.
"No."
Caleb looked at Elena.
She stepped forward.
"I am not your cousin."
"What?"
"My mother was Anna Mercer."
"Then—"
"Your father was not Samuel Mercer."
Caleb froze.
"What?"
Running Wolf spoke.
"Your father was adopted."
Caleb stared.
"What are you saying?"
"Your grandfather adopted Samuel after his own son died."
Caleb's mind spun.
Everything he knew about his family was changing.
His name.
His blood.
His history.
Elena took his hand.
"Your father and my mother were not siblings."
Caleb looked at her.
"They were raised as siblings."
"Yes."
"But not related."
"No."
He exhaled.
The relief was complicated.
Then he noticed something else.
"Why didn't my father tell me?"
"Because he was ashamed."
"Of what?"
"Of loving Anna."
Caleb looked at Running Wolf.
The chief's face softened.
"Your father and Anna loved each other as children."
Caleb shook his head.
"My father never mentioned her."
"Because your grandfather threatened to kill Anna."
"And my father?"
"He was afraid."
Caleb walked outside.
The sky was beginning to brighten.