Page 260 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

‘It was not misplaced.’

‘You were lying to me! You had an ulterior fucking motive for being there. He’s your nephew, your blood!’ Lachlan falls silent, looking away. Kade places a gentle hand on his arm, seeking to soothe however he can, but some wounds are immune to comfort. ‘You could have found a way to tell me. I’d have done anything to help.’

‘I shall tell you the truth of it now,’ Blaire says, her voice dropping into low regions of hesitance. ‘There are things you must know, however little you may wish to hear them.’

‘Don’t bother,’ he says roughly. ‘Tell Jules—Kade what he wants to know, give the boys the page and let that be that.’

‘Lachlan.’

‘I don’t want to hear your clever lies wrapping around a kernel of truth. I don’t care. You’re gonna tell me you swayed me or Voxxed me during that time, I don’t give a fuck. That you and your bitch sister were laughing at me behind my back? Not interested. That you and Danya—’

‘That is enough.’ It’s delivered sharply, cutting through Lachlan’s shaky vitriol like Lapsha. ‘You are spiralling. I don’t blame you, but time is the one luxury we do not have right now. So, take a deep breath and, for once in your life, listen with intent to hear.’

Jaw working, arms crossed, Lachlan nods. ‘Fine.’

‘Good. You may mark Céliane and me as traitors if you wish. We deserve that much for bringing you into this in the first place.’

‘Why did you bring me in?’

‘I am going to tell you,’ she says, nodding. ‘But this is what will hurt.’

‘Just do it, then.’

‘Many of your questions lead back to the same person: Jessamine,’ she says. ‘Mimi Penhalyx was the immediate obstacle in my mission to steal Julian away from the Varrow Estate. My position there took much planning and careful use of my power. I have a talent, you see, for being invisible. Not literally, of course. But in being underestimated, overlooked, forgotten. I used my Vox on Clara only minimally.

‘Alistair Penhalyx is no stranger to the power, far from it, and he is skilled at recognising someone under the influence. Therefore, it took fifteen months to insert myself into that place. Just as I had finally arrived, so did another. A baby girl named Jessamine Cassandra Penhalyx.

‘My place was on the outer rungs, of course. The staff were told that she was Penhalyx’s daughter by a surrogate. Julian was twelve at the time and extremely ill, close to death, I believe. His immune system was repeatedly attacking itself. Even a slight summer cold could put him in a hospital bed for months. When they brought the baby home, everything changed.’

‘They were giving him her bone marrow?’

‘Blood and plasma too, but sometimes I think just her presence was enough for him to find a reason to want to live. Only one person here knows what Julian Penhalyx went through and how deeply he suffered. I heard tales of hospitalisations lasting entire seasons, of medically induced comas and clinical horrors no child should ever have to endure. Jessamine’s presence in his life changed everything.

‘For the first time in his life, Julian was healthy and he wasn’t alone. He adored her beyond the telling of it. Clara once told me he slept on the floor beside her cot whenever he could, just to make sure she was breathing. I knew right away that if I had any chance of removing Julian from that world, I would have to take the baby too. Therein lay the difficulty, because nothing Céliane or I had prepared was sufficient for what came next.’

In the small space Blaire grants herself to take a breath, Lachlan speaks.

‘She wasn’t human, was she?’ he whispers. ‘Mimi.’

Blaire studies him. ‘When did you realise?’

‘The past few days,’ he answers tightly. ‘I was writing some of it down, for… well, mostly for myself, and I realised some things don’t make sense. Learning that Kade isn’t a Brightling led me to consider that if he wasn’t the Brightling in the Estate, someone had to be.’

‘You are correct, although it bears pointing out that anthrodivergents…’

‘I’m sorry, what?’

‘The collective term for our kind overall.’

‘I never heard that term.’

‘Governing bodies prefer the language they manufacture. As I was saying, anthrodivergents possess the ability to share their power to a lesser degree through bodily fluids. The base power will never change. A Sway will always be a Sway, but given the blood of another, say a Brightling, they can adaptively utilise minor elements of their abilities. Therefore, sometimes you were seeing Julian’s power, other times Jessamine’s, and other times your…’

‘Wait… I’m anthrodivergent?’ Kade cuts across, deliberately not looking over at Riley, ashamed of his slip. ‘That’s what I am?’

‘Yes, you and your brother.’ Blaire glances over at Riley, her expression mild. ‘Céliane told me years ago what you are.’

Riley asks, ‘What else did she tell you?’