I take a sip of coffee and cringe. It’s even stronger than the stuff we have at home.
"Hey," I say.
"What?"
"I remembered something else. Just now, looking in the mirror." I meet his eyes in the reflection. "My last name. It's Chen. Jonah Chen."
His face does something complicated. Pride and sadness sit heavy in his gaze.
"Jonah Chen," he repeats.
"That's me.” I turn to face him. "I'm going to get the rest of it back. My mother's name. My whole history. Everything the Silent made you take from me.”
"I know you will."
"And when I do..." I step closer, cup his face in my hands. "When I remember everything, when I know exactly who I am and what they did to me, I'm still going to choose you. I need you to know that. Whatever I find, whatever I remember, it won't change this."
He swallows hard. His eyes are bright, and I realize with a start that he's close to tears.
"You can't promise that."
"I just did." I kiss him, soft and sure. "Now come on. Elliot's making eggs, and I'm starving."
I take his hand and lead him out of the bathroom, toward the smell of breakfast and the sound of voices and the fragile, impossible thing we're building together.
My name is Jonah Chen. My mother loved me. I'm falling in love with the man who destroyed me.
None of it makes sense.
All of it is true.
Chapter Thirteen: Jagger
Jinxarrivesatthecabin like a storm front moving through mountains.
I hear the car before I see it, engine growling up the narrow road, tires crunching on gravel and ice. By the time it pulls into the clearing, I'm already on the porch with my hand on my weapon. Old habits. Jinx would laugh at me for it, and he does, swinging out of the driver's seat with that manic grin that’s his trademark.
He's dressed in all black, which is unusual for him. Normally he favors chaos in his wardrobe the same way he favors it in everything else. But today he looks sharp. Focused. Ready for something.
"Jag." He spreads his arms wide. "Miss me?"
"You're early."
"I'm always early. Punctuality is a virtue." He bounds up the steps and pulls me into a hug before I can protest. Jinx has never respected personal space. Never respected much of anything, really. It's what makes him dangerous and also what makes him impossible to stay angry at. "You look like shit, by the way. Very gaunt. Very haunted. It's a good look on you."
"Thanks."
"Where's the asset I've been hearing so much about?" He releases me and peers past my shoulder into the cabin. "Jace says he's pretty. Is he pretty? I bet he's pretty. You wouldn't break protocol for someone ugly."
"His name is Jonah, Jinx. I’ve told you this already."
Jinx's eyebrows shoot up, disappearing into the wild tangle of his hair. "Oh, this is serious. This is very serious." He claps me on the shoulder, hard enough to sting. "Good for you, brother. It's about time you joined the rest of us in having emotions."
"I've always had emotions."
"You've had uhhh… outbursts that occasionally resembled emotions. Different thing." He pushes past me into the cabin, and I follow, already regretting calling him. But there's no one better in a fight, and what we're planning is definitely going to involve something deadly.
Jonah is in the living room with Jace and Elliot, documents spread across the coffee table, cups of coffee going cold. He looks up when Jinx enters, and I watch his expression cycle through surprise, assessment, and finally amusement.
