Everything they say would make sense to someone sane and rational, but to me it just sounds like blah, blah, blah. None of it is penetrating the panic. “But what about the orb? What are we going to do with that? Surely it isn’t safe now that the Syndicate suspects we have it.”
“Ah, yes, the orb.” William’s tone has me lifting my head and looking at him, my previous panic a small drop in the ocean of the panic his tone now causes me.
“What? What do you know?” I demand, and the three of them exchange another one of those all-knowing glances thatmakes me want to pull at my hair and scream. How can a glance speak so loudly yet say nothing?
“We now know the origin of the orb. Liliana told us everything, but again, it’s her story to tell,” John says solemnly.
This time I can’t hold in my annoyance, and I stick my tongue out and blow him a raspberry. The three of them chuckle again. Assholes.
“Fine, then what are we waiting for?” I ask, standing up. “Where’s Zeydan? Should he be here for this?” I ask as the grandpas follow my lead and stand with coffee mugs in hand.
“He’s sitting with her now. She was asleep when we left her, but we didn’t want her to wake alone.”
“She remembers him?” I ask as I follow them into their wing of the house.
“She does now,” John confirms as we reach the bedroom area. “Why don’t you pop in and fix the twins first? She needs as much rest as she can get.”
I scoff. “Are you sure about that? From what I understand, she’s been resting for the last twenty odd years.”
“She wasn’t in stasis that whole time,” William tells me, and I hear fear in his voice. “She’s only been in stasis for the last few years, and that was on and off. It was only recently that her captives finally broke her and she admitted where the orb was. She held out despite what they tortured or threatened her with, but they finally broke her once they brought in a new Syndicate member who had leverage she couldn’t stand against.” The fear is replaced with blazing hot fury. I wonder what finally broke her.
I go to ask, but William shakes his head. “It’s not important right now. We need to take one step at a time.”
With those mysterious words, he walks away, leading me toward the room the twins were stashed in.
I huff out another breath of annoyance and follow them, leaving my coffee behind. Damn men didn’t even let me finish it before they began demanding my attention. Luckily I filled up on my husbands last night.
I pass through other rooms, shivering at the cool contrast to the rest of the house. None of these rooms have their heating switched on. There is no point in heating rooms that aren’t being used, and we’ve been gathering in the middle of the mansion.
Some of the furniture is still covered with dust cloths, but I guess if they are staying, then they should probably do something about that.
William reaches the room next to the one my grandma is in. “Xavier and Link moved the twins here when Vivian first arrived yesterday. We left them here just in case she decides to return.”
“Not that we’re ever going to let her see Liliana,” Eric growls, and I blink at the aggression in his voice. Sure, none of them ever showed any signs of affection for her, but this is bordering on psychotic fury. I suspect there is more to this than what meets the eye, especially after Vivian scurried away like a rat yesterday.
“No, we definitely won’t be,” John agrees. “Why don’t you change your form before you go in? I’ll grab you a robe from one of the guest rooms.” He moves farther down the hallway to do just that, but I hold up my hand.
“No need,” I tell him. “I just need a couple of slits in this shirt.” I point to the one I’m wearing, tap into my warlock power, and use it to create what I want, then I let the change wash over me. I feel my Celestian wings push through my skin, the sharp burst of pain expected and bearable now, although I still flinch.
All three of them gape at me in amazement. “I thought you had to be in a specific form to use specific powers. Isn’t that what Oshan said? How did you just use your warlock powers?”
I shrug. “Turns out I’m a special snowflake. I can access powers without needing to be in that form.”
The three of them exchange another one of those glances that drives me fucking nuts.
“Maybe Lil was right,” John murmurs, but before I can ask about what, William flings open the door to the twins’ room and strides in, the other two hurrying after him. Cowards.
I head into the room, shooting death glares at my three grandpas who huddle against one wall. I make my way between the two hospital style beds that have my cousins lying in them. They are both hooked up to heart monitors and have electrodes on their temples monitoring their brain activity as well as IVs keeping them hydrated.
I frown down at them. Both are much paler than normal, which makes the cuts and bruises I couldn’t heal stand out even more. I have no idea what happened to them, but I have a gut feeling that Htaed wasn’t responsible for it all.
I let the power seep into my hands and hold them over Fiona, watching her cuts and bruises fade. She has some internal bruising on the brain too, which I manage to heal, reducing the swelling. Hopefully that is all that’s keeping her asleep. I then do the same for Phillip. He has the same kind of brain swelling, but I can’t find any external trauma that may have caused it. Neither of them had contusions or lumps on their head. It’s almost like they both suffered some kind of concussive force like an explosion, but there was no evidence of that in the barn.
The power recedes, and I brush a hand over Phillip’s forehead, pushing back a lock of hair that fell into his closed eyes.
His eyes flutter at my touch, and I yank my hand back, unable to escape the surprised yelp that leaves my mouth.
“Is everything okay?” John asks, stepping forward. Despite Phillip and Fiona being assholes to me, they are sweet with the grandpas and have a fairly good relationship with them. I thinkI just made them feel threatened, and I probably would have felt the same way if the situation was reversed.
