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Aurick catches my look of confusion. “Huh.” He leans forward in his seat. “Skylenna, when you attacked Dex… you had the form and execution of a trained assassin. There’s no way that happened by accident.”
I think back on it, remembering how the fury darkened the rim around my sight, how I acted out of impulse, nearly blacking out.
“It must have. I’ve never been trained.” Maybe it was the rage or the adrenaline. Maybe it was the many times I’ve witnessed Dessin in a fight.
He thinks about this, examining me as if trying to detect a line.
“I never wanted this,” Aurick says quietly. “You were supposed to be a team. My father never anticipated that he would be your weakness. He was sure it was Jack, then decided it was Scarlett.”
My spine aches. The memory of her hanging body flashes as I blink. I use one finger to lightly draw the strings of the puppet against the carpet.
“Why did it have to be twins?” I ask. But I’m growing tired and don’t plan on speaking to him again if I can help it. So I’ll need to get every question out now.
“I don’t know the exact science behind it. Something to do with the embryo splitting to make twins.” He shrugs, fidgeting with his hands. “My father did experiment only once on a boy that wasn’t a twin. It didn’t have the desired result.”
“Who was the boy?”
Aurick looks up at me, hesitating to answer honestly. “Niles Offborth.”
My blood runs cold.
“His father, Charles, was taken and filled with Mind Phantoms. He was actually the only human I know of that fought the substance. It didn’t matter how much torture he endured, he refused to hurt his son the way my father wanted him to.”
I gasp, digging my fingernails into the carpet. “But Niles remembers a trauma that involves his father…”
Aurick nods. “He resisted until they overdosed him. He died never giving in. And Niles was eventually taken, and with the MF, he was made to believe that trauma actually happened.”
“But it was a lie?” I’m going to be sick. Charles loved Niles. He would never have hurt him after all.
“It never happened. If only we all had a parent like Charles.”
My bottom lip quivers. Vlademur ruined so many lives. Tortured so many people. And he died without ever having to pay for his sins.
My sweet Niles ended up in the asylum for a fucking experiment. He believes his father betrayed him. Ruined him. And all along, Charles had the purest love there is.
My eyes flash darkly to Aurick. “When he heals from this, I’m going to tell him. I’m going to work to repair all of the damage your father has done to my brother.” It’s a promise. I will not let Niles go on believing something so horrible about a parent that died protecting their child.
“One day… I’m going to make you suffer,” I tell him with conviction. “For everything your family has done to mine. For everything your family has done to Niles. For everything they have done to Kane’s. I’ll make sure you pay for his sins, one way or another.”
I spend the next couple of days on the floor.
Chekiss and Ruth come in occasionally to feed DaiSzek or let him outside. But they know trying to feed me is a losing battle. I won’t let them touch me. I won’t answer their questions. I won’t open my eyes long enough to see the sadness and concern stirring on their faces.
I’ve lost so many people. I’ve been given so much heartbreaking information from Aurick. There isn’t room in my mind or my heart to digest it all. So, I stay curled on the floor. And I try not to think about him. About the way Kane would hold me close when I had a nightmare. About the way Dessin made love to me in the thirteenth room. Every memory is a sickle slicing through my chest.
And every time I fall asleep, the moment I wake up is devastating. I remember how he fell to his knees with those babies in his arms. And my pain grows in size, gnawing at my broken heart like a ravenous vulture.
I can’t go on like this.
Cold, dry fingers graze my shoulder. I know it’s either Chekiss or Ruth because DaiSzek doesn’t growl. But I can’t lift my head to look. My bones are brittle, my joints are aching, and the lack of nutrition in my system is making it hard to open my eyes.
“Come here, child. I need you to get up.” Chekiss is caressing my hair, folding his hand over mine.
“No,” I rasp.
Ruth kneels in front of the fireplace, tears drizzling down her soft pink cheeks.
“Please, Skylenna.” Her voice trembles. “They’re burying him today.”
