“I can’t believe I said that.” I snuck a peek at Silas. His mouth was set in a thin line, and his shoulders were stiff.
My mortification dimmed to a low simmer as Stephan worked his calming magic.
“We’re going to do a test before we try this for real.” Stephan glanced at Silas.
“Are you sure she’s calm?” Silas asked.
“What’s going on?” My heart rate started to pick up, and then I felt fine. Totally chill.
Silas rubbed the back of his neck, and I narrowed my eyes. I recognized that expression. “What did you do?”
“We found something you need to know while searching for your Father Mike.”
“What? What happened to him?” My panic spiked then calmed right back down. Like a magic Valium. I nodded appreciatively at Stephan. I should bottle that stuff and sell it on the street.
“We don’t know what happened yet.” Silas’s voice was gentle, and his concerned tone made my insides twist despite being under Stephan’s influence. “We found some papers in Michael Smithson’s personal residence behind a concealment spell—paperwork for your passport and a few other identities for him. They were hidden with these.”
He handed me two printed photographs. The first was a picture of an auburn-haired woman and a young girl with two long braids. They were holding hands and smiling in front of a circus tent. The second photo showed the same people, but they were older, laughing together in someone’s house. A birthday cake with the number eighteen sat on the table in front of them. I stared at the teenager in the photo in complete shock. It was undeniably me.
“What is this?” I demanded.
“I believe that’s you and your mother. The resemblance is striking.”
The woman had the same hair color as me, and the same eyes. I’d never seen her before in my life. My heart lurched into my throat before another wave of calm passed over me.
“No,” I said. “No. There’s no way. I don’t know this woman. I don’t remember this at all.”
“Titus mentioned an unbinding spell,” Silas said gently. “I think Michael Smithson took you from your people and placed you under a memory binding so you wouldn’t remember.”
“Father Mike would never...” I shook my head, thinking of my surrogate father figure. He’d rescued me off the streets and given me a second chance when I was just fourteen. But the girl in that photo was me. And she was clearly turning eighteen alongside a woman who looked like her mother.
“He’s been hiding you,” Silas continued. “It explains your memories, your abilities, and why he didn’t return to Aeterna after I found you both in Boston.”
“Why? What could Father Mike possibly gain from kidnapping me and making me forget my family? And before you ask, he never did a thing to hurt or abuse me in any way.”
“I’m not certain yet,” Silas responded. “I know you don’t want to believe this—but Michael Smithson could have taken you for access to your unique abilities, or perhaps for leverage against your Sect.”
My entire world started to slide sideways. Father Mike was the person I’d considered my adopted family. He’d been nothing but kind and loving to me. I stared down at the photograph of the teenage me with the woman I didn’t remember except in glimpses of shattered memory.
The memories that were surfacing were not just Marcel’s—they were mine. The things I could do weren’t just because of him—I had those abilities. I was part of the Lost Sect, and I didn’t even remember it. The evidence was right in front of me, and now I knew the truth—Michael Smithson had taken me from my real family.
He’d lied about everything. Everything I believed about my life was made up, and the realization staggered me. I didn’t know who I was. I couldn’t trust anything I remembered.
I needed time to process the realization, but it reminded me of another lie that still stung. “Why did you lie to me about the Lost Sect?” I asked Silas. “If you believed I was one of them all the way back in Earth, why didn’t you tell me?”
“When I met you, I didn’t know who you were or what your allegiance was. Titus wanted you alive, which led me to believe you were one of the Lost Sect, and I hoped you would lead me to them,” he said. “It was never personal.”
“It got personal.”
Stephan walked to the far end of the room, giving us the illusion of privacy, and my emotional dampening let up a little.
Silas crouched next to me, and my heart rate picked up. “I know you think I’m despicable, but it was never my intention to hurt you.”
“I don’t think you’re despicable, Silas.” My fingers reached for the strong line of his jaw, wanting more than anything to touch him. “It’s not your fault I started to feel... the way I feel. I know you don’t want me to, but I can’t help it. I’m trying to accept that you don’t want the same things.”
He captured my fingers in his own. “You know what I want? I want someone who loves me for me, not my family name. Someone I could raise a child with, not a bond-mate to sire an obligatory heir between Houses. Someone who challenges me, and infuriates me, and never takes any orders—no matter how frustrated that makes me.” The corners of his mouth lifted, and his eyes crinkled. He kissed the backs of my hands, and the gesture was unbearably sad. “You made me want all those things—all the things you deserve to have and I can’t give you. Loving you hurts too much.”
“You love me?” For the first time, I could consciously feel the strength of his emotions through the Aegis bond we shared: desire, fear, longing, and love. It was all there in a confused knot as tangled as my own feelings.
“Gods, I tried not to.”
“Don’t push me away,” I pleaded.
“I don’t want to.”
“See, I knew you two could work it out,” Stephan interrupted with a grin.
My fingers slipped from Silas’s grip. I’d forgotten about the Empath. This whole scene had been thanks to Stephan’s interference with our emotions.
Stephan ignored our glares. “I won’t apologize. You both need to stop denying your feelings.”
My raw emotions skipped right into embarrassed anger. “We’re not puppets! You can’t just make us feel whatever you want.”
“I didn’t make you feel anything. I simply amplified what you were already projecting.”
“Stephan,” Silas growled, rising from the ground.
Stephan pointed his finger at his brother, and his carefree expression slipped into a determined scowl that I associated more with Silas. “You bury your feelings as a coping mechanism from growing up with an Empath and an overbearing father who withheld his approval.”
He pointed at me. “You’re afraid your feelings make you weak, so you avoid them. Not to mention, all the emotions you’re denying every single time you’re around my brother.”
Silas rubbed the back of his neck, and I flushed. But neither of us argued. Apparently, I couldn’t muster up the anger Stephan’s actions deserved because he was right. I should have been upset at his gross violation of our feelings, but he’d forced our guards down, and I finally had a glimpse into what Silas felt. It was good to know he was just as lost as I was.
Maybe Stephan was right, and I was afraid of my feelings. But I didn’t know what to do about that now. We’d both admitted our true feelings, but there still seemed to be no way to meet in the middle. True to Stephan’s accusation, I decided to stick with what I could handle at the moment and changed the subject.
“So... We still need to find the memories Titus was after. They could answer a lot of questions, including what happened with Michael Smithson.” I took a deep breath. “Will you still help me, Stephan?”
Stephan returned to his seat across from me, thankfully allowing us to move forward from the previously painful conversation. “I’m ready,” he said.
“Let’s do this.” I pushed everything else to the back of my mind, closed my eyes, and let the barrage of memories lurking in the corners of my mind flood over me.
> The memories came too fast.
Pain. So much pain.
Titus sneers down at me, and blood drips from his hands. “Tell me, Marcel. We can end this now.”
Pressure seemed to build behind my closed eyes. I had to push through Marcel’s last memories, but it hurt too much. I whimpered and struggled for a full breath until a warm hand squeezed mine, filling me with calm. The Empath was using his powers for good.
Grounded in Stephan’s solid grip, I worked through the memories before Marcel was captured. He was in Boston, searching for something. I recognized the places I saw—the shelter, one of the restaurants where I worked, the hospital.
My mind was pulled deeper into the visions. The memories danced like shadows, flitting by too quickly before the next one pushed in. They blurred in my mind until the memory sort of skipped, and it wasn’t one of Marcel’s memories anymore. It was mine.
The woman stands outside, her back to me as I peer through the wooden barn slats. Her arms rise, palms out in front of her as if she is holding back an invisible force. White magic flares around her. I feel the strength of it in my chest, humming with power. Beyond her, I see a wall of men and snarling beasts—Rakken.
“Mom!” I scream.
A rough hand grabs my arm, and I twist around in surprise. Marcel. His face is younger than I expect, a teenager with shaggy hair.
“We have to go!” he shouts over the piercing howls of the Rakken.
I twist to look back over my shoulder. “She needs me! I can help!”
“No! She’s buying us time!” He pulls me behind him, and I crane my neck to keep my mom in sight even as Marcel pulls me away. “Run!”
The last thing I see before I am dragged away is the Rakken and a blaze of white magic from outside.
My heart lurched, filling my chest with painful tightness. I pulled back from the memories with tears trailing down my cheeks. When I opened them, I was surprised to see Silas holding my hand. Stephan’s emotional dampening let up, and the full weight of what I’d learned settled over me.
Silas searched my face, his grip strong. “What did you see?”
“I saw...” I tried to sort out all the snippets. There was too much emotion to deal with as I tried to process everything I’d learned. I took a deep, steadying breath. “Marcel searched for me in Boston. He thought I could help them.” I swallowed thickly.
Silas’s brow furrowed in concern.
“I think I’m experiencing his memories and mine. I just had another memory of my own. I think I just saw our mother die,” I whispered. “Marcel was my brother.”
Surprise flashed across Silas’s and Stephan’s faces.
I took a shuddering breath, and Silas rubbed his thumb across my knuckles.
I pulled my hand away. I could only deal with so much emotional drama at one time. “Thank you for helping me,” I said, my voice too tight. I stood.
They both rose with similar expressions of concern.
“Maeve?” The soft way Silas said my name tugged at my emotions, and more tears pooled in my eyes.
I wrapped my arms around myself. I’d just found out I had a brother who was murdered trying to save me, and a family I didn’t remember because I’d been taken by a person I had trusted completely. I had no idea who I was anymore, and I didn’t want an audience for the breakdown I was about to have. “I need a minute alone.”
Chapter Thirty
The scent of night-blooming flowers floated on the air as I leaned against the balcony railing overlooking Aeterna. The sweet, musky smell was a sharp contrast to the anxious anticipation pooling in my gut.
It had been two days since my realization about my true past, and I had spent it trying to come to terms. Marcel was my brother, and that meant I was part of the Lost Sect, just like Titus had said. I didn’t remember anything about my family or my abilities because the person I’d seen as my father figure had kidnapped me and stolen my memories. To add to my anxiety, last night had been the Brotherhood’s secret recruitment meeting.
“Atticus has been transported to Earth,” Silas said, striding onto the balcony. He stripped off his white Councilor’s robe and tossed it on the back of one of the outdoor loveseats.
I forced my feet into action and moved to the loveseat. We suspected Atticus would get recruited, and probably even that night, but I still questioned the decision to put him in danger. I tucked my feet under me on the small sofa and gazed into the darkening sky. Aria and Stephan sat quietly on the other sofa, curled into each other. Atticus was our only lead toward finding out the Brotherhood’s plans. But now that his undercover mission was a reality, dread weighed on me.
“So he’s in?” I asked, biting my lip. The day before, Atticus’s sentence had been publicly lifted, thanks to his heroic efforts to save my life at the Exposition. The news had spread through the Lower City like wildfire. Titus’s original plan had been to make him into a martyr for their cause, but a living hero was better than nothing. Pardoning Atticus had been a guaranteed way to get him into the Brotherhood.
“Yes. We already got our first communication from him.” Silas set a small red rock down on the table in front of me. It was the pre-assigned symbol for a successful insertion into the Brotherhood.
The communication system was my idea. Just like the Guardians conjured weapons by marking them with a sigil and pulling them with magic, Atticus had a small satchel that could transfer everyday objects with a tiny amount of magic to the coordinating one we had. Each one had a preassigned meaning. It was sort of like uploading and downloading documents from the internet.
Silas took up my abandoned spot and leaned against the railing overlooking the city. “But no unusual activity was logged at the portal.”
We’d been expecting that, but at least it confirmed our theory that the Brotherhood had a second portal. “We need to find the other portal,” I said, stating the obvious.
The corners of Silas’s mouth pulled down. “Short of sweeping Aeterna with Guardians, I’ve done everything I can. We’ll have to wait until Atticus can send us a more detailed message.”
“What about that Landas fellow?” Stephan asked.
“Nothing,” Silas said. “No deviations from his assignments at the Guardian compound or the Council Centre.”
“He’s lying low after you scared him,” I accused. “I told you to back off.”
“Or perhaps he’s able to access the portal from one of those places,” Stephan suggested.
Silas frowned. “Both are secure. I would know about a portal at either location. The Council has to clear all access points, and they’re extremely paranoid about anything they can’t control.”
Aria cleared her throat. “My father had a portal in his personal chambers before Earth was closed. Could they be using one like that?”
“A private portal?” Silas asked, shocked. “Why didn’t you tell us this earlier? This could be the proof we need of Alaric’s involvement with the Brotherhood.”
Aria’s hands twisted in her lap.
Stephan threw a scowl at his brother. Silas started pacing in long, quick strides that carried him down the length of the narrow balcony and back again.
Aria gave me a sad smile. “We used to take trips to Earth for chocolates when I was a child.”
Stephan wrapped his arm around her shoulders. No matter how miserable her life had been since the prophecy and the arranged bonding, she loved her father. She had Stephan, so maybe she wasn’t as unhappy as she could have been. But still, her feelings had to be complicated.
“I’m surprised the Council didn’t find it when they searched his office.” Silas’s brow furrowed. “Unless...” He paused, his eyes narrowing. “Alaric must be diverting power to cloak it—even the flare. Gods, that would take an enormous amount of magic.”
“But Alaric controls the allocation of all energy resources,” Stephan said. “He could figure out a way to divert enough magic for a second portal with anyone suspecting.”
“That�
��s what Maeve suggested,” Silas said in agreement. “It might be tied to the energy rationing. If he’s cloaking it, we’d have to literally stand in front of it when it was activated. There’s no way we’ll find it on our own.”
“Does it only take a big power boost to activate a portal? Or is there like a magic password or something?” I earned confused looks from all of them. “How much magic would it take to activate a portal?”
A grin spread across Silas’s face as he caught up with my idea.
A FEW HOURS LATER, I followed Silas through the port and emerged at the mountain’s base below the Council Centre. I barely had to pause as the world reoriented around me. My lessons with Atticus and Tessa were paying off.
I followed Silas up the double set of stairs and deep into the mountainside. The guards stationed sporadically throughout the Council Centre hallways saluted Silas as we passed. Some glanced at me, but just as Silas had said, no one questioned a Councilor being there in the middle of the night, even with a guest. We’d debated bringing Aria and Stephan but decided it would attract too much attention.
We walked quickly through the giant, empty main chamber, our footsteps echoing off the stone floor. I scanned the empty seats, remembering my first day in Aeterna when I’d stood in front of the Council with my life spinning out of control. We reached the wall behind the raised sun platform. Silas paused in front of a sealed door and held his hand in front of a scanner. The door chirped and melted away.
“Was that a spell? I didn’t see a flare.”
“Latent identification,” he said.
Right. I didn’t know which was more confusing: advanced magic or advanced technology.
We passed chamber doors decorated with the same symbols carved into the backs of the Council chairs, one for each Councilor. Silas greeted Lady Treva as we walked by. She gave me a curious glance but didn’t say anything as she continued past us.
We paused outside Alaric’s door. Finding the second portal was our only lead. Proving that Alaric had one would be the solid evidence we needed to help convict Alaric as the traitor on the Council. If my plan didn’t work, or if the second portal wasn’t there, we would have to wait days to hear back from Atticus. And that was assuming the Brotherhood had allowed the new recruits to see where the second portal was as they’d transported them to Earth. I somehow suspected Titus wasn’t that trusting.
Fate Forged Page 29