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“It’s like that but more intense when I’m around you. It’s as if the universe is drawing me to you like a magnet.” Within our little bubble, he reaches out and touches my cheek. “There’s something special about you that both Gray and I feel. Bastian and Evie do their best to block it, but in the end, it’s not something they can deny either.” His finger trails along my skin as if I’m fragile—a priceless treasure. “You will fulfill the prophecy. I know it with everything inside me.”
“And what if I don’t?” If Avren taught me one thing, it’s that I’m not special. Only another cog in the machine, making it work like a well-oiled operation. If any of the members clog up the mechanics, the Council sends them to the wilderness. It happened to my father, to Arazian, to Levi’s parents, to me.
Levi drops his hand, lays his head on my pillow, and opens his arms. “Come here.”
I snuggle into his arms, feeling safer than I have in years with a man I only met less than a week ago. He opened his heart to me. Something I only felt with my father.
His fingers trail along my hairline. “Block out all the lies they’ve fed you over the years about your value to society. The Kindred Few wasn’t complete until you came along. You’re an integral piece, not only to our plan but to our family. Never discount your worth.”
Knowing he can’t hear me without seeing my lips, I whisper, “I love you.” They are words my dad used with me, but it’s been a long time since I uttered such a powerful expression of my feelings. And I mean it. Prophecy or not, I will fight through Avren and the First City to defend my brother.
When I wake, I look over at Levi, cocooned snugly in blankets. Shivering and hungry, I snatch his coat from a nearby chair, pick up my boots, and go out to the hallway, closing the door as quietly as I can.
Soft voices drift through the stairwell from the room below, so I pull on my boots and head out to see if I can scrounge a piece of fruit or bread.
Images from the night before come to the forefront as I find the table we sat at for dinner. My heart races just thinking about Quinn Malum—his long silver hair, hypnotic amber eyes, electrifying touch, and promise to meet again. Did he feel the same spiritual connection the others sense in me? I shake my head to break free from his hold. Without him here, it’s manageable. And currently, my stomach says it could give a rat’s ass about Quinn Malum.
“Good morning, sweetie.” The same woman stands behind the bar, serving up a plate of eggs and bacon to an older man. “Can I get you something to eat?”
“Yes, please,” I say, leaving a stool between me and the man. “An apple?”
The woman furrows her brows and pouts. “No wonder you’re so skinny. I’ll fix you a plate of eggs and bacon, along with a serving of porridge to start.”
Before I can protest, she’s gone.
The man beside me clears his throat. He sets down his fork and looks at me. “You’re clearly human. Were ya born in the wilderness?”
“No,” I say, wondering how much I should tell a stranger. With his gray beard and tattered clothes, he seems harmless enough. “My parents raised me in Avren.”
He turns back to his breakfast, filling his mouth with eggs. “A Citizen.”
Both as an Undesirable and as a Citizen, the evicted face persecution. I felt it from Guy and Flynn’s friends in the city. And it’s rampant here. “No longer, sir. My mother died before my eighteenth birthday.”
“And your father?” The man keeps his focus on his eggs, continuing his intrusive questions.
“He left for the wilderness when I was younger. Decided his job on the Council was too much.” I smile at the cook as she delivers my steaming plate of food. I devour a piece of bacon.
The man picks up a saltshaker, adding a healthy dose to his eggs. “Mildred never seasons a single thing around here.” Instead of diving back into his breakfast, he taps his fork on the side of his plate. “What’s ya father’s name?”
“Daxson Barellis, but his good friends and my mom called him Dax.” I take a sip of water, hoping this man has heard of him before. Not that I’d want to see the man who left me in favor of a life of adventure.
The man mumbles an indecipherable string of words as he wads up his napkin. “Can I get my bill?”
“What was that?” I ask, desperate to hear more from this man who obviously knows something.
“If you know what’s good for ya, stay away from your father and his whole lot. The Northern Duke’s not to be trifled with on a good day.” He mutters a few curse words, counts coins from his pocket, and drops them on the counter. “No worries, Mildred,” he calls. “I overpaid ya.”
I grab the man’s sleeve as he slips from his stool. “Please, tell me more.”
“The only other thing I’ll tell ya is the man’s crazy. Same goal as the rest of the Redeemed, but he thinks working with the Supes is the way to accomplish it.” He rakes his eyes over me. “Scrawny little thing, aren’t ya? The Northern Duke will eat you up and spit you out. Doesn’t matter you’re his spawn.”
I sit back down on the stool to steady myself. Dax Barellis is alive and well. Did he know about my mother’s death and my expulsion? And if he did, why didn’t he send someone for me? The Northern Duke does not sound like the man I knew. The man who bought me a music box, and who my little heart loved until he broke it.
“Do you want to take breakfast up to your husband?” Mildred breaks into my thoughts. “He says you have a bit of traveling out to your sister’s farm.” She leans over the counter, closer to me. “They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
“Thanks for the advice.” I give her a quick smile, not having the strength to smash her illusion of my relationship with Levi. “Can you pack him something to go?”
“No problem. I’ll have it ready when the two of you check out.”
