“Okay. But donotembarrass me. I do not need to see one of them naked.”
“Can’t let that one go, huh? I was eight.”
“In the boys’ locker room at the high school, demanding to see pubes.”
“It’s not like we had brothers. I needed to know.” We didn’t mention our biological father. Ever. He was kind of like thatHarry Pottervillain,He-who-shall-not-be-named.Our sperm donor had come from a rich family and demanded Mom get an abortion. She refused. He signed over rights to us and his family paid off my mom to ensure she never contacted him again. The only thing we’d inherited from him, or so we’d been told, was the oddly shaped birthmarks on our palms.
Welookedlike our mother. Thank god. I thought she was gorgeous.
Sperm donor’s loss. Wherever he was, I was sure he was miserable. And alone.
We’d learned all the juicy details from our grandmother before she died. Mom was furious when she found out we knew. I was glad we’d been told the truth. Knowing my father was a complete ass was better than knowing nothing at all. At least I’d stopped wanting to meet him.
To this day I had never heard our mother speak his name.
Shifting our linked hands to linked elbows instead, I gently escorted Stefani in the direction I wanted her to go. I desperately needed a distraction so images of Kovo, writhing and suffering as they killed him, would stop racing around inside me like vultures waiting to feast on my dying heart.
So dramatic.Soemotional.I might as well have thrown myself down on a stairway and gone for full drama like that Scarlett woman in the old movie grandmother had made us watch. More than once. Always causing trouble. Never thinking about consequences. Always emotional, stubborn, and playing the victim.
I had no idea why anyone liked that freaking movie. Seemed stupid to me. I’d never liked that woman. Only good part of that ancient movie was when Rhett had walked away and told her he didn’t give a damn.Thathad been classic.
I stopped in my tracks. “Something is wrong with me.” I was not a drama kind of girl. In fact, Stef was normally the one shouting and crying and having emotional meltdowns. Not me. Yet I’d been over-reacting to everything since we arrived on Atlan, like being here was changing my brain chemistry or something.
Vultures feasting on my dying heart? Really? Where the hell had that thought even come from? I was no freaking poet. I didn’t think like that. I just didn’t.
Stef came to a halt as well, since we were effectively tied together. “You’re just figuring this out now?”
“Funny. I’m serious. I think I have an alien brain parasite or something. Or this NPU we got before we came here is doing weird things to my mind.” NPU was short for Neural Processing Unit. It was the Coalition Fleet’s version of a universal translator. It was small, but I could still feel the bump in the bone just behind my ear where they’d implanted it in my skull.
Stefani looked me over. Our gazes locked. “You’re serious.”
“I know.”
“Shit.” She took over, practically dragging me along. “Hurry up.”
“Where are we going?”
“To find a doctor.”
We made it halfway across the reception area, saying hello, nodding and smiling and avoiding being drawn into conversations about Atlan politics, the Hive war, and any number of other topics we knew absolutely nothing about.
We were brought up short by a wall of muscle. I looked up to discover Doctor Helion blocking our path. “Did I hear one of you say you need to find a doctor?” His gaze moved over us quickly, assessing. “What is wrong?”
“Nothing.” Nothing I wanted him to know about.
“Something is wrong with Adrian.”
Never had I wanted to punch my twin so badly.
“What is going on? Adrian, honey, are you not feeling well?”
Oh, shit. Was that my mom? I turned to find we’d drawn a smallish crowd. Even Max had abandoned the big war council guy to come toward me all big and huffy and worried.
“I’m fine. Just a bit of a headache.” I was surprised to discover that was the truth. My head was pounding, literallypounding, like someone had set up a bass drum at the base of my skull and was playing a live concert with a heavy metal band.
“You’re turning green,” Stef informed me.
“Reflection off your dress.” The room spun and I clung to Stef’s arm so I wouldn’t fall. Except something worse was about to happen. “I’m going to be sick.”
