He felt it too; Cas’s power. And the wall Kleos professed he had.
I crossed my arms in front of my chest, eyes narrowed.
Kleos wasn’t nearly as suspicious as she should have been. “You had a hell of a fall,” she said. “Your memories will likely come back in time.”
“Thank you, healer. What do they call you?”
“Oh, where are my manners?” Ever the consummate socialite, my friend smiled and introduced herself, her husband, and me. “And I suppose we’ll call you Cas for now, if you like it.”
“You’ve very welcome to stay at The Royal Manor with us for now,” Lucian told him. “We certainly have the room, and it would be the safest option in case that wall of yours acts up.”
Lucian was more careful than Kleos. Still, they were both welcoming him with open arms and I didn’t like that one bit.
How could a bloodygodlose his memory? He arrived the day after Zeus attacked the city, and blasted right past our wards. I—not to mention, everyone else in the Guard—had about a million questions and his amnesia was far too convenient.
I would have bet a hundred golds he claimed not to remember anything because he didn’t want to answer any of them.
Whatever Cas was hiding, I would find out.
4
CAS
My mind took in every inch of the room, searching for answers, analyzing, calculating.
The bed was so small my feet dangled off the end when I awoke. The machines, frantically beeping as soon as they could no longer find anyone to scan, emanated faint magic—nothing harmful. Also nothing useful. I noted that they didn’t seem designed to check on a person’s vitals, so much as their level of energy. They’d been trying to gauge my power, assessing me as a threat.
The faint voices I could remember confirmed as much.
You want to treat a bloody god like a lab rat?
Her voice was distinctive because she’d spoken to me more than the rest, and because I’d actually heard it just now.
Lab rat. While unfamiliar with the term, the concept spoke for itself.
I’d meant to sleep much longer, of that I was certain, but those words, and the commotion around me, demanded that I awoke ahead of schedule.
Sadly, I couldn’t recall why I’d intended to stay in a coma.
The corners of my mouth twitched as I glanced back at the sneering little doll wearing all her doubts on her face.
She didn’t believe a word I’d said, that much was clear. Too bad for her, I hadn’t lied. I genuinely couldn’t remember my name at the moment. I wasn’t sure how I’d gotten to this place either. My head was full of images, sounds, and feelings I couldn’t make sense of—too many of them, all at once, without a thread to follow.I could recognize recent memories, such as her voice babbling away about her mundane daily life, but the rest was a confusing jumble.
The prevalent emotion screaming in my head was rage. Pure, unadulterated fury. It took some effort, but I tamped it down, resisting the urge to give in. I had no clue who I was so furious at, or why.
The doll’s friends seemed nice enough, but I sensed that they, unlike the gaggle of healers who ran at the first opportunity, wouldn’t respond favorably to aggression.I was more than happy with the idea of letting it all out once I figured out who I wanted to pummel into oblivion. In the meantime, I needed to control myself.
I agreed with the redheaded healer’s assessment. My memories would return—or rather, they’d eventually align. The jumble was slowly taking shape. Already I recognized a few faces. Mother, brother. And a sister who looked nothing like the first. Two fathers, too.
Gods, this was a huge mess.
While my mind recovered, I decided accepting the hospitality of these strangers was the best way forward. As a bonus, it seemed to irritate the pretty little pink doll glaring daggers at me from the back of our small procession.
As the couple led us inside what happened to be a circular tube, I turned to the doll. Silver, her friend had called her, and it fit those eyes and the silver strands in her pink hair to a T. Thecouple of scratches I caused when I inadvertently blasted her necklace had bled silver also. They were already closed up, her smooth skin unmarred.
“So, did you ever manage to capture that thief you complained about?”
She never finished her stories, just saying whatever crossed her mind.
