Page 97 of Lies That Bleed
I glanced down the hallway as Valor peeked her sleepy head out of the triplets’ room.
“Can we talk in your office?” I asked him.
He pulled the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. The moment we slipped inside, Zuri included, I launched into a ramble.
“I’m sorry I’ve kept this from you but I’ve been too scared to tell you and now it’s a matter of life or death. There is going to be an attack on the training center campus tonight, like any minute, and we have to?—”
“Stop,” he said, eyes wild. “Take a deep breath.”
I did as he asked and he took off his robe, revealing black military fatigues. Then he walked over to the cabinet in his office that held his armor.He began to suit up, which let me know he was taking this seriously.
“How do you know? What intel do you have?” he asked.
It never occurred to me that I could just say I had gotten some intel, but at this point I wouldn’t even know where to begin with that. What intel and where did I get it at a graduation party?
“I can see the future,” I blurted out, and my father froze halfway into putting on his chest armor.
The glare he gave me sent chills down my spine. “What?”
I would rather die than have to live this lie out right now, but there was no other way. I was hoping he would be too busy focusing on the fact that an attack was imminent than interrogate me. But I forgot about Zuri. She pranced around me in a circle, sniffing at my legs as if my lie was like a pungent odor.
“I… had a vision tonight, just now. I assume it’s a latent gift acquired from my creature. I saw the campus being attacked. Tonight.”
Zuri shared a look with my father and he slowly clicked his chest armor on, peering at me in a calculated way that made my skin crawl. “You have foresight and you kept this from me?” There was a growl in his tone but it was also laced with hurt.
I swallowed hard. “I’m… telling you now.”
He sighed, pulling his blade from the cabinet and slid it into its scabbard at his waist. “Stay home andprotect your sisters,” was all he said as the fire portal began to open in his office.
He believed me, and he was going to help.
“I want to help. Liana is just outside. I could?—”
His head snapped in my direction. “Stay at home! That’s an order. You and your sisters are the most important thing in this world to me.”
He’d never said anything like that in all the nineteen years that I’d known him, and it shut the retort in my mouth.
“Yes, sir,” I said, as emotion clogged my throat. Sometimes I thought my father regretted having children and the emotional burden they were. Other times, I thought he just didn’t know how to handle emotional burdens and he was so stern because he cared so much and didn’t know what to do with that.
The campus’ courtyard became visible just beyond him, and I watched as he strode through the ring of fire and into it. A group of soldiers ran over to him and he began to bark orders. Just before the portal shut, Zuri peered back to glare at me, and I knew in that moment that my father had sensed my lie, but also maybe some truth because he’d gone on my word and rallied the troops. He believed in most of what I said and was going to help because I’d asked, and that meant the world to me.
I spun to go check on my sisters, then saw Elaine standing in the open office doorwayin her robe.
“I normally don’t eavesdrop, but I heard your voice and wanted to make sure you were okay and…”
Crap.
“What did you hear?” I asked, my heart hammering in my chest. Lying to my father was one thing, but to Elaine? I couldn’t.
“Enough,” she said with a frown. “Aisling, how big will the attack be?”
I had no idea, because I was a freaking liar and I’d never seen the vision.
“Enough to lose lives.” Hadn’t Kohen said something like that?
“Will it spill over into the city?” She peered back down the hallway at my sisters’ room. “Should we flee with the girls?”
I didn’t know if it would spill over. In fact, I didn’t know anything, and if it did come close to our house…
