Page 90 of The Human’s Heart

Anithea flinched, then cringed. “No… she was just the first. Theroli had a… backup plan, I guess you can call it.”

“Who else? Who else is a part of this?” When she didn’t answer right away, Basil slammed his fist down on the table, making everyone jump. “Who the fuck else, Anithea?”

She glanced at Zaos, and I tensed up because I knew… I just knew exactly what name she was going to say.

“You know her as Beatrix Grail. Her real name is Beatrix Egawa.”

Chapter 29

Zaos

The moment she said her name, my heart froze, and then I felt an actual ache in my chest, as if I’d been punched there.

Hugo reached over and began rubbing my back as he pushed his love and affection through our link.

It helped. It soothed my soul having my viramore with me, knowing how much he cared, feeling his sweet affection.

But it still hurt knowing the person I’d thought was becoming my best friend was actually only my friend because she wanted to harm my family.

It hurt a lot.

Anithea grimaced and quietly said, “I’m sorry. If it makes you feel any better, she tried to quit too. She said you were too nice to be a part of some evil thing that happened to us and that she didn’t want to hurt you, but Theroli refused to listen. He warned her that if she didn’t comply, she would end up exactly like Phia. So… so she kept going. But she’s also been putting things off and telling Theroli that it wasn’t time yet, feeding him small lies here and there. She doesn’t want to hurt you or your family.”

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment. Maybe she didn’t want to hurt us, but she’d already hurt me. If she was truly on our side, then why hadn’t she said something? We could’ve helped her and anyone else in her family if she would’ve opened up.

If she would’ve come to me like a best friend should.

Dammit!

Before I could ask anything specific, Anithea quietly said, “That’s what she was arguing with Theroli about at the bar that night. He… he was ready to make a move, and she kept saying no. She tried pulling out again, but then Hugo came over, and Theroli, he attacked Hu—well, you know what happened.”

Before I could stop myself, a loud growl came out of me, and my black magic flew from my body, encasing both Hugo and me inside a shield. I growled out, “Theroli’s the one who tried killing Hugo?”

She hesitated. “Yes.”

My magic thrashed out, but the shield around the nymph woman was solid and wouldn’t let my attack through. Hugo grabbed onto me, pulling me from my seat as Uncle Bas and Uncle Hiro used magic and force to push us out of the interview room.

When the door was slammed shut, my Uncle Bas turned on me, saying, “You need to calm yourself down, Zaos. Calm down, or I’m sending you home right now.”

I ignored him, but I couldn’t ignore my viramore when he reached up and turned my head toward him. “Hey, baby. Look at me, okay? I’m safe. You’re safe. You can put your sexy incubus magic back, yeah? I’m safe, love. I’m right here, and I’m safe.”

“Hugo,” I growled out as I wrapped him in my arms and buried my face in his neck, breathing his beautiful and calming scent in.

It took a few minutes, but my magic finally calmed and moved back inside of me. I could practically feel everyone around us take a calming breath… and the hall was filled with a lot of people. Most were people I knew, and some were even family. But I didn’t want to talk to any of them.

Uncle Hiro said, “Come into the viewin’ room with me. Uncle Bas’ll finish the interview, and you can watch.”

I sighed. “I’m guessing you don’t want me going back in there?”

He grinned. “No can do, my friend. You’re lucky Alec isn’t kickin’ ya out entirely.”

I let out a sigh, held Hugo to my side, and followed him into the viewing room. There was a mirror we could see through, plus a few screens picking up the cameras inside. Apparently, there were at least four cameras in there, ensuring we could see every single angle… and recording every word she said.

We didn’t really learn anything else new from the rest of the interview. Anithea gave a few more small details that I assumed helped my uncles with the case but didn’t make a difference to me.

Hugo remained tucked to my side the rest of the time, and he seemed happy to be there, so I didn’t feel bad that he had to keep calming me down.

After Anithea was taken away to wait for her transfer to some hiding place or whatever, Uncle Bas came into the viewing room to speak with us.