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Worry that Rhys has somehow figured out what’s been going on with me and Archer makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I don’t know what he’ll be most mad about. That Archer defiled his sister, or that we’re keeping it from him. Not that he needs to know any details about my sex life, at all, but it’s the secret part that will piss him off. Guilt trickles down into my belly. I don’t like keeping things from Rhys, but this is not something I want to share.
“He could have hurt you, Lena. What if he’d touched you and the combined magic exploded, or imploded, or fucked with your brain? He had no idea what the consequences would be, and I can’t just get over that like it’s not a big fucking deal.” Rhys steps forward and pounds his fist on the bar.
There are only a few people left in a booth near the back, and they’re mostly ignoring us, but Rhys needs to get his temper in check. He can definitely be hot-headed, but he really tries to keep it under wraps. Having a father who exploded at every little thing, and liked to take out his anger, annoyance, hell, any emotion, with his fists, is enough of a reason for him to try to keep calm.
I reach out and grab his hand, my palm over his fist, and give it a squeeze. “It’s hard to explain, Rhys, but I think he knew it wouldn’t hurt me. In fact, if he hadn’t helped, things would have been a lot worse.” Memories of that day in Davis’ house, when Miri had been cursed, rise to the surface. “I couldn’t let go of her. There was this imperative to heal, and my magic wasn’t going to let me stop until I finished the job. Maybe that’s not how it’s supposed to work, hell we don’t know how any of this is supposed to work, but that’s what happened. If Archer hadn’t given me his power…” I shake my head, “I don’t want to think about what might have happened.” Not just to me, but to Miri.
The angry look hasn’t faded from Rhys’s face, but he nods at me. “I don’t like what’s happening. With any of this. This is bad fucking news, Lena.”
“We aren’t our parents, Rhys,” I murmur softly, squeezing his hand again. He pulls it out from my grip and crosses his arms again.
“We don’t know how bad they were before the Axis tainted everything it touched.”
“Actually, that’s why I came here today. I’ve been reading Evelyn’s journals. She wrote about both of them, both our parents.”
Rhys narrows his eyes, and I can practically see the walls closing around his emotions. “What did she say?”
“Rhys, I don't think she left.”
“What? You think she’s been hiding in the closet for the past twenty years?”
I press my lips together tightly before taking a calming breath. “No, I think Scott did something to her.”
There’s a beat of silence. My brother’s face is impassive as he takes in what I just said.
“What was in the journal that made you think that?” He’s not denying the possibility that our father could have done something to our mom. Just like me, he knows what a bastard Scott Marsten was, and still is.
“Evelyn was sure Scott had been beating mom. She went to our house the night mom disappeared, and she said she had a terrible feeling he’d done something to her.”
“Just because one person had that opinion doesn’t mean shit.”
He might be able to hide it from everyone else, but I see the painful acceptance of the possibility that our mother didn’t abandon us. Honestly, I’m not sure which scenario is worse.
“True, but it’s a piece of the puzzle we didn’t have before.” And there’s a part of my heart that’s always had an empty space, that feels a little less hurt.
