“Nyx,” I breathe. “She gets hurt. I believe it’s during our mission.”
Zephyr’s energy grows dark, his eyes deadly. “There’s more you’re not telling.”
Another nod from me. “She’s… taken from us.”
Zephyr leaps from his heavy chair with enough force to push it away from him, almost toppling it over. “No one will take her from me.” The growl in his voice is so severe, it’s reminiscent of an Alpha’s bark.
Erich and I lock gazes a moment before he stands, puts his hand on Zephyr’s arm. “We won’t let it happen,” he says. “We just need to watch her.”
“And kill anyone who comes near her,” Zephyr seethes, his light eyes beginning to swirl with the dark energy he wields.
“Hey,” Erich says, more gently than I’ve ever heard him. “Let’s take a walk.”
He guides Zephyr to the door, and I stand, but he looks at me from behind Zephyr’s back and shakes his head. There’s one thought in his mind, screaming at me.
“Nyx.”
It’s the library where I find Nyxeris, sitting in the newly renovated computer section, screen in front of her face alight with activity as her fingers type and click away.
All of the tech-controlling Cursed worked together for months to ensure that the network here was safe from tracking and monitoring. Now that all the information paths have finally been unlocked, more and more people are on their tablets or computers at all times, seeking information from the outside world.
When I am beside her station, I look down at her dark red head, glance at the screen. “What are you up to?”
Her body stills, and I hate that she hesitates to tell me.
But she does tell me.
“I’m looking up my family.”
Not the response I was expecting.
I take an empty chair from the station behind us, slide it beside her, and sit, waiting.
She sighs, her body shrinking. “I was nine when I found out I was Cursed. I was able to hide it for four years.” She turns her chocolate eyes on me. “Did I ever tell you that?”
She hadn’t, and I give a silent shake of my head to indicate as much.
She frowns. “I’m sorry I didn’t. I’ve never been good at trusting people.” Another sigh. “You know what did me in?”
Another negative head shake.
“A bad dream,” she grumbles. “I had a nightmare, probably because of all the stress of hiding. Shorted out the electricity for blocks. And even though the GBE would have figured out who the source was soon enough, my parents turned me over the next morning.” Her jaw sets, anger flaring in her eyes. “They saw the scorch marks in my room all around my bed, and that was that.”
I am angry for her, as the woman I love, but this story is one I’ve heard hundreds of times before from hundreds of others. It’s even similar to my own tale.
I deflect. “Have you found anything interesting in your search?”
She nods her head slowly. “Apparently, I have a little sister.”
My body jerks slightly at the news, but I shouldn’t be surprised. Being a part of the faculty for so many years, I have heard terrible things. Creating replacement children is actually on the least horrifying end of the spectrum.
“Also, my dad died in a car wreck a few years ago.”
“I’m sorry,” I say automatically.
“I’m not.” She looks at me, brows drawn. “Does that make me a bad person?”
I reach for her then, pull her into my lap and wrap my arms around her in a tight embrace.
