The kitchen, it turns out, is similar in size to the main room, and Lyle is busy at the sink, looking out of the window, busying her hands with peeling vegetables. Her eyes are red and puffy, noticeable even from this distance. She doesn’t acknowledge any of us as we file in and take a seat at the wooden table.
The air is thick with anticipation, like waiting for the next chapter in a story. Only this is Ever’s life, and I don’t like the idea of more secrets.
We wait, Kalan happy to take his time.
“I left Kirrasia twenty years ago. After the Battle of Decree.”
“The battle of what?” Calix asks.
Kalan grins, but Lyle freezes at the mention of it. “Yeah, I doubt the Orders will have willingly shared or taught what happened back then. That’s for another day.”
“No, we need to know,” I remind him.
“I thought you wanted to know about Ever and her brother.” Kalan tilts his head at me, and I know my answer.
“Ever and her brother.”
He nods. “Fenix, her brother, hasn’t had the same upbringing as Ever. He’s also never been back to Kirrasia, just like Ever. But he has been taken in, for want of another word, by those who see Kirrasia differently, who don’t agree with its traditions.”
“Fine. Okay. So where is he and why has he got Ever?” I rush.
“And how do you know all of this?” Lyle’s voice echoes over us. I guess he didn’t fill her in on everything then.
“I have made sure that both Ever and Fenix remain safe.”
“Safe?” I question, my jaw aching with restraint.
“She wasn’t safe in Kirrasia.” Calix backs me up and earns another cutting look from Kalan.
“She had been kept in the dark and needed us to help her understand what was happening to her. I spent hours helping her to even feel her power. And that’s even before she was declared a Fifth. You know that’s what she is, right?” Kyra accuses him, and for once, he doesn’t seem to bite back, his eyes softening at the truth of what happened.
Kalan shuffles in his seat and clasps his hands in front of him on the table. “Fenix knows his power and has been trained and shaped into a weapon. Force and power. That’s all he knows.”
“Yeah. Got that. Thanks for the heads up,” Calix mumbles. His bruises are no longer visible, but I know they left more of a mark than he’ll ever admit. It’s the first time Calix has ever been bested, so how could they not?
“Ever hasn’t. She’s only just starting to understand her power. And nobody was there to help her.” The frustration I feel for everything Ever was put through rears back to life, threatening to spill over and into violence. “Where. Is. He?” I grit each word out rather than pull my knife and let the edge run over his throat.
“Nehandun.”
Fuck.
“And you know this how?” Calix takes over the questions, which I’m relieved about because my head is already running with what I know of Nehandun. And why her brother might be there.
“Both Ever and Fenix are aware of me. I have been in their lives for longer than anyone.” It’s Kalan’s turn to put a defensive bite into his words.
A sharp crack rings in the air, in the close-quarters kitchen, followed by Lyle storming out, whatever she was doing now broken and forgotten. Anger and betrayal follow her like they are her shadow, threatening to pull her into the dark.
We all look at Kalan—his words, the reason for her despair, not because of the details, but because of his proclamation regarding Ever, when we all heard Lyle earlier. She sees herself as her mother. Yet, she’s not been able to protect her—was ripped away from her—and also lied to.
If I were feeling gracious, I’d wonder if she didn’t deserve what she’s going through, but she put Ever through her own torture of secrets and veiled truths.
“Whoexactly are you?” Kyra breaks the silence. “You talk about them both and clearly haven’t been honest with either.Why? And why have you let Fenix grow up away from his sister?” Kyra’s questions are reserved and intelligent, given they’re about the man who killed her brother.
“I am a Natural. A Shepherd, if any of you even know what they are. I have my own loyalties, and that is for Ever to share, once I’ve explained it to her.”
“So, you’re going to help us get her back?”
“Is that your plan? Get her back?” He laughs, pushing himself back from the table and turning towards the sink. “You’re assuming she’ll want to come back. That she’ll leave her brother to return.”
