Page 8 of Raze
His eyes widen, then heat and narrow. “That’s a fucking lie. Vera would never—”
“You don’t knowanythingabout your sister,” I snap at him. “Nothing. Did you know she and Gordon were fucking?” His shock is enough of an answer. “That’s what I thought.”
Aiden’s looking at me like he’s scrutinizing my expression and every word. He’s searching for a sign of a lie to debunk my entire story.
Kellan is slack-jawed. He, at least, believes me with no further proof needed. Jack hasn’t moved since I started talking. He’s listening intently and taking in everything I’m saying.
“Why would she want to kill Dane?” Aiden prompts, his velvety tone coaxing even though I know he’s picking apart everything I’m saying.
“They’ve found a way to use Dane’s blood to access his gift. I didn’t know what they were doing with it before, but this morning at the warehouse, Joe had handcuffs that blocked my gift. It felt just like Dane using his gift on me.
“Kidnapping him is now their top priority so they can make more of those. Hehasto stay away from Vera at all costs. I’ve already seen that she’s willing to sacrifice him for GE’s cause. Who knows what other lengths she’d be willing to go to now that she’s been alone with them for this long.”
Everyone turns to Dane. His fists are shaking in his lap as he glares down at them.
Aiden breaks the silence. “Whether you believe her or not, you have to admit that it’s not safe to go to her right now. We’ve known they’ve been after you, but not why. Now, we do.”
“So what?” Dane growls. “They have mysister.”
“And you want us to, what, exactly? Rescue someone who doesn’t want to be rescued?” Aiden tilts his head to the side as he challenges Dane. “We have to hurry in finding those islands to take Gifted Enterprise down. That’s our best chance at getting her back.”
“Getting her back is theonlypriority now!” Dane shouts, standing and rattling the chains.
“There is no getting herback,” I murmur, more to myself than to anyone in particular but everyone hears it anyway. Realizing I now have their attention, I continue, “You may physically get her here, but that doesn’t mean she’ll be the Vera you remember. That Vera, she’s gone.” If she even existed. How long had she been with Gordon before I found them? How soon after she and Dane were taken from their homes had she fallen for their propaganda?
We’d all fallen for it at first. It was why we’d stayed without a fight. Until Kellan had enough and tried to leave. That’s when we all learned that being there was never our choice. It didn’t matter that we had good meals, nice teachers, and people who pretended to care about us and what we were doing there.
Prisoners in a golden cage are still only that.
Slaves to their agenda.
Young enough to be groomed into their soldiers.
Dane flips the coffee table with a roar of rage. It flies toward me and Jackson, but Jack flicks his fingers, and it turns to crash against the wall and television instead. Aiden steps out of the way before it hits with a loudcrackand then falls apart. “I won’t accept that! I know she’s alive now. I can’t just pretend that she’s gone and can’t be saved if I know she’s out there.”
“Speaking of being alive still…” Jackson’s calm voice slips in. Dane shoots him a glare for trying to change the subject, but Jack just smiles sardonically at him. “I have another…person who should be dead but is now wandering around.” He pauses, waiting for that to sink in before he gives us all another reason to fear GE. “If they have someone who can bring people back from the dead, or heal them even after dying, then we have bigger problems to worry about.”
“Who?” Kellan asks. He’s now purposefully spread his legs out in front of him where the coffee table used to be like he’s enjoying the new legroom.
“Thorne.”
Aiden doesn’t react, but Kellan and even Dane stiffens at the name drop.
“Who the hell is that?” I ask.
“A literal thorn in our sides,” Kellan quips.
“An oldfriendof Jack’s,” Dane snipes, and Jackson’s dark smile only intensifies at him.
Aiden sighs and kicks a stray piece of wood away from him. “Someone with connections to GE that we thought we’d killed two years ago.”
“And…him being alive is a really bad thing?”
Kellan laughs, like this is all ridiculous to him and that we’re not all talking about the many threats we’re up against now. “You think Jack got really good since you last saw him, right? Well, this guy taught him all of that. He’s a master of wind and air and he can stop you from breathing or slice you to pieces based on his mood.”
Well, shit. Add that to Vera and Gordon and we’re looking at a powerful evil team of people who are out to get us.
Wonderful.
