Page 58 of Written In Flesh

Madden’s shoulders tense, and his hand tightens on mine for a second. “We need to have a better handle on what’s really going on. She knows enough the way it is.”

Heath blows out air between his teeth, his eyes flicking around to each of us. “And we’re doing this without everyone?”

My body freezes when I realize what he’s saying. Lily and Killian. Neither of them is here. Both of them are reapers and part of the council that guards this space. Madden stares down his brother, gaze flicking only once to his best friend. “We covered this already. Lily can’t handle it, and I don’t trust Killian yet.”

This is new information to me, the first time I’m hearing anything is possibly amiss at the Gate. “Did something happen?”

Madden glances at me, catching my gaze. I can feel Heath and Aero’s eyes on me as well. “This is the only place we can talk without the council finding out. We’ve tested it numerous times.”

“Okay.” My voice trails off. “What do we have to talk about that they can’t know about?”

“The Nexa,” Heath interjects, keeping his voice low, his lips barely forming the word, but I hear it anyway, like a lightning strike. My gaze flies to him.

“You were asking me questions about her,” Madden reminds me, tugging my arm slightly to regain my attention. “You know more than you’re letting on, Skully. I can feel it. I was holding back my information too. Mostly because I needed to make sure we could trust you with it, and also because a lot of the information we have is hearsay.”

“But everyone in the paranormal world is talking about her? How can all of it be hearsay?”

“The council won’t confirm or deny,” Aero announces. “Without the council willing to say this is what happened, they can sweep it under the rug.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” My brow rises and I glance at all three of them. “What could they possibly gain from keeping that secret? Everyone heard the blast.”

“Power,” Heath says, shrugging his shoulders.

“Control,” Madden adds, his teeth gritted together. “Remember what I told you? If they won’t confirm it, then no one is looking for her. No one except those on the council could stand a chance of finding her and possibly possessing her.”

Shivers run down my back unexpectedly. A faint, phantom flicker of awareness and memory collide within me.

“There’s been chatter for hundreds of years about the Nexa. She was once part of the paranormal world but revered because she transcends to the spiritual world as well. It was rumored that she contains great magic, but she was feared because that magic could go either way. Good or Evil. It depended on the husk she inhabited and the bond she would create with that husk. Over the years, some have claimed they hold the Nexa, while others are sure she’s been spotted elsewhere, but there were never any solid leads. There was once someone in the paranormal community who claimed the Nexa had split itself into two even. The only way the Nexa can survive, though, is with a compatible husk. A specific host body.”

“What do you mean by specific host?”

Azriel leans into me, his fingers squeeze mine in a firm grip. “The husk has to be female, and she has to be of four paranormal bloods. Reaper, Witch, Angel,”

“Fae?” I guess, trying to remember everything I’d learned about the paranormal and supernatural since regaining the first flickers of my magic. “Vampire? Werewolf?”

Azriel shakes his head no, his eyes meet mine but flicker with uncertainty. “Demon.”

My conversation with Azriel comes back with terrifying clarity. All the little pieces I hadn’t thought about since that night. The night my magic returned.

I think you were a husk for the Nexa that year. I don’t know how it happened or how you shed it, but I think it’s somehow related to your memory loss and your injury.”

“Are you telling me that’s what it was or hypothesizing?”

“Guessing. But if I had to wager, I’d bet my life. You don’t know half your bloodline. Witch, yes, Reaper, yes. Loreli already acknowledged that your mom was missing half her genealogy, though, because her father is unknown. Whatever happened to you that day was strong enough to take your mind and your magic. The Nexa could do that.”

“Okay, so it happened, but now it’s gone, so why do you look terrified?”

“The Nexa can be Evil or Good. I’ve heard it depends on her husk. I’ve also heard the husk’s magic matters, but there is also a rumor that it largely depends on who hosts the mate bond compatible with the Nexa.”

“Her presence will beat like a drum on land, a tidal wave of the sea. All creators, and creatures of Haven, Heaven, and the Shade will witness her greatness,” I remember what Azriel told me. How he was almost certain that the Nexa was what happened to me.

“Where did you hear that?” Madden’s hand clasps on my elbow, and he spins me to face him. His brow is furrowed; his jaw line tense.

“A friend,” I tell him and move out of his hold. All three sets of eyes swing to me. My stomach twists painfully at the mixture of conflicted trust in their depths.

“A friend?” Madden takes a step closer to me again, forcing my head to tip back with his nearness. His metallic silver eyes bore into mine, like he wants nothing more than to crack my skull open and see all my secrets and thoughts.

“Yes, a friend.” I bite my bottom lip. “Back in California. He also said that the Nexa could be evil or good, it depended on the compatible husk.”