“Have a good night,” he called out. Zephyr growled, sending a burst of air into the door to slam it shut. Outside, Stevens laughed loudly like an asshole, and Aiden ripped the door shades closed to hide him from view.
“I hate that guy,” Aiden said, breaking the mood.
“Same,” Skye sighed, then looked at the ticket over Rafe’s arm. “Do I really have to get tested again?”
“I can’t dispute the ticket without a lot of public scrutiny,” Rafe explained gently.
“He’s saying you’re not worth the trouble,” Zephyr interjected, and I almost fucking laughed.
Skye gave her brother a bored look while Rafe’s jaw dropped slightly.
“Youareworth it, love, but I don’t want you in danger. Especially not since my father–”
“Since his father was going to kidnap you or something,” Zephyr finished.
“Would you shut up?” Skye ground out. Zephyr held up his hands in surrender. Aiden snickered.
Rafe looked to me. “We’ll have to see Shafer.”
I nodded in agreement. He’d lied for her once, why wouldn’t he do it again?
“Um, problem,” Zephyr waved his hands at us. “Where the hell is Shafer? Does anyone else think that’s fucking weird he’s gone?”
Rafe cleared his throat. “Shafer is here. In the islands.”
“I beg your fuckingpardon?” Skye’s jaw dropped. “Why?”
Rafe ran his tattooed hand through his dark hair. “I moved him here. After I visited him asking questions about you.”
I muttered a curse as I tipped my head back to look at the ceiling. Zephyr’s response was immediate. He moved between Skye and Rafe just barely as he stared down the Prince.
“You didwhat?”
“Zephyr,” Rafe drawled. “I’ve been quite open about the fact that I stalked your sister pretty hard. I went to Shafer to get answers about her affinities. But don’t worry, he didn’t actually tell me anything.”
Rafe practically pouted, he was still pissed about that one. But Shafer’s attitude had just been demonstrated again by Stevens – the Gulf was a different world. They didn’t follow the same rules and laws like the rest of the continent. Whether or not they deferred to the Crown was a toss-up, and more often than not there wasn’t just a lack of deference, but outright disrespect.
“How did you get through him, by the way?” I asked. “He wouldn’t tell us anything but he clearly knew what you are.”
“What sheis, is an affinate just like you,” Zephyr growled. “She is not anit.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said, exasperated. I swear, Zephyr was determined to make everything I said or did into an insult toward his sister.
Skye ignored Zephyr’s outburst, and my question, looking to Rafe. “He lied. I don’t know how or why, but he very clearly knew of myaffinities. He must have some connection to the massacre, he seemed hung up on that when I told him how my parents died.”
Rafe nodded. “His wife and son were killed in the massacre. He doesn’t talk about it much.”
Skye covered her mouth with her hand, looking to Aiden for comfort, which he gave her freely.
Having watched the two of them together this past week was eye-opening. It gave me a direct insight into how Aiden was when he wasn’t sitting in a counseling session giving me canned responses to give his mother.
He really had cleaned up his act.
“Can we see him?” Skye asked. “There’s no way we can have another Sensor test me.”
“I agree,” Rafe said. “We’ll pay him a visit and see if he’s up to more visitors.” He shot me a look, and I really,reallyhoped that didn’t mean we were going to beat up an old man.
“But if Wyatt messed with his memory, he’s not going to remember anything. Is he?” Aiden asked, looking back and forth between us.
