My friend suffered from a photographic memory. He remembered everything he saw, for better or worse.
The way he went unnaturally still at Shafer’s declaration told me that Rafe had seen something at some point in time that proved Shafer right.
The implications of that could mean an end to the monarchy. The Kingwasn’tfully connected? That was a requirement in the oldcode, which was why Rafe’s mother still tolerated Alejandro even though she wanted him dead. The monarch had to be a fully connected Key.
Good God, this was turning out to be an awful fucking trip.
“How would you know that?” Rafe asked quietly.
“Affinities evolve,” I murmured, my mind still racing. “Has your affinity evolved to sense more than just affinities, Vince?”
Shafer glared at me, as if Rafe was the only one allowed to use his first name. But he didn’t reply. He clenched his jaw, looking away sharply to dismiss me.
Where are you going with that?Rafe asked sharply.
I have a hunch,I replied.
You and your hunches,Rafe huffed.
“My Key wants to speak with you,” I said, drawing Shafer’s attention back to me. “She wants to know why you lied for her.”
“Interesting,” Shafer said, narrowing his eyes. “From where I’m sitting, you don’t have a Key.”
“Well, that’s alarming.” Rafe said calmly.
Alarming was right. My eerie hunch seemed correct.
Shafer could sense connections within a Chain. He knew Skye and I had essentially rejected each other.
Rafe could sense my growing panic, and in a very rude move, he stood up and dusted off his thighs. “Let’s go, Wyatt. We’re not getting any real information out of him.”
I stood on shaky legs, and Shafer didn’t make a sound as we made our way around the coffee table to head for the door. It was another deliberately rude move from Rafe, who could have simply shadow-walked us out from where we sat.
“Wait!” Shafer cried just as we reached the door.
Rafe wiggled his eyebrows at me before turning around. “What?”
“I want to talk to her,” Shafer said. “Aria. Bring her here, and I’ll give you some answers.”
My jaw almost dropped.
The fucking nerve of this old man.
But Rafe only rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then decided to say the most unhinged fucking thing imaginable.
“Alright, deal. But if you don’t speak up, she’ll squeeze you like a pimple. And I already know no one will come looking for you.”
“You asshole,I amnotsqueezing anyone like a pimple!” Skye hissed.
“It’s a joke, darling, try to keep up.” Rafe said breezily.
Zephyr looked likehewas the one going to squeeze someone like a pimple. That someone being Rafe.
We’d come back to the apartment to fetch Skye and Aiden, who were both still in bed at three o’clock in the afternoon and pissed to be woken up. Aiden was particularly pouty, which told me we’d probably interrupted someX-rated activity.
Rafe stumbled into the wall as Skye pushed him with her affinity, but he only beamed at her in response. Skye was a little dangerous to be riling up, but that was his problem, not mine. She crossed her arms, then looked at me, her silver eyes flicking over me assessingly before looking away. My heart pounded slightly at just that little glance of awareness.
Rafe rubbed at his shoulder, and Aiden’s gaze zeroed in on it immediately.
