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Gunnar’s eyes narrow, weighing the truth of Nero’s words. “Why would your own brother want you dead?”
Nero gives him a weird look—one I can’t decode, one that makes something twist in my chest. It reminds me once again that Nero knows more than we could possibly understand…
…and I’m starting to think it’s something that could hurt Gunnar.
“Power doesn’t discriminate against blood,” Nero says, and there’s a hardened edge to his voice that speaks of betrayal.
“Power,” I echo, the word tasting bitter on my tongue. “You think that’s what this is about?”
Nero nods, his gaze flicking to me before settling back on Oberon. “Caius and I…our visions for Pacific City couldn’t be more different. I want freedom, pleasure, life lived to its fullest. He wants control, order, a leash around every neck.”
“Chains can be broken,” Oberon replies, his tone steady, but I see the resolve in his eyes, the fire that burns for a different kind of future.
“Exactly,” Nero says, leaning back. “Which is why I need people like you. People who aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo.”
“Why the shift?” Gunnar asks. “Things in the city…I mean, they’ve been bad for a while, but not like this. So what changed?”
Nero huffs out a bitter laugh. “That would be Caius’s wife—Lianna.”
I remember the woman who was with Caius; the cold, haughty omega at his side when he ordered his friends to kill me at Dreamland. “She was in the meeting that almost got me killed,” I murmur. “With an ex-ACB official—and a creepy guy in a hoodie.”
“That would be my sister-in-law,” Nero sighs, rubbing at his temple. “She’s been exploring some new age spiritual path. It’s spreading among the elite, and it has Caius’s attention. She might be the key to understanding his next move.”
“Religion,” Gunnar mutters, shaking his head. “Fuck…I’m gonna have to talk to Luka again.”
“We saw something about this on the train,” Oberon says. “Remember, Star? The ad for that new age-y wellness center with the tree logo.”
“Sounds about right,” Nero says. “But it’s so much more than that. In Lianna’s hands, it could be something else entirely.”
“Like what?”
“You wouldn’t believe me,” Nero chuckles.
“Try us,” Gunnar says. “We’ve seen more than you think.”
“Okay,” Nero sighs. “Fuckin’ Satanic shit. Sex rituals, candles, chanting, the works. I guess she’s gotten involved with this cult up north near the ruins of Portland, and now…”
Pain suddenly arcs through my head, and I lose track of the rest of his sentence. I hiss out a quiet breath and close my eyes, trying to shake it off.
And as it fades…a fragment of memory pierces through like a shard of glass.
Sex, rituals, candles, chanting.
Faces obscured by shadow, tattooed with the branches of a tree.
“You okay?”
I jerk my head up to find Gunnar squeezing my shoulder, his concern evident in his eyes. I take a deep breath, trying to steady myself.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I reply, my voice shaky. “Just a sudden headache.”
Nero’s gaze lingers on me for a moment longer before he continues speaking. “Anyway…they call themselves New Eden,” he says. “They believe the Great Mutation was some kind of miracle—meant to re-establish the ‘natural order.’ But it’s more than just rituals and mysticism. There’s something darker at play here.”
“Like what?” Gunnar says.
“A biological weapon,” Nero says. “I already figured it out…which brings us to why Caius wants to kill me. Because I have a sample. And Caius doesn’t want it getting into the wrong hands.”
“Whose hands?”
