“Le Château,” Quillan stated, surprising me. “Jack requested it.”
“Jack requested that we all stay there?” I questioned. “Why?”
“I have a suspicion, but we won’t know for sure until we get there.”
I slumped back, allowing the silence to swallow us once again. It felt strange to not be afraid anymore, to be out in the open about who I was bonded to. I hadn’t defeated Danny, but I had managed to switch our positions. Now I had the power of the Klovoda behind me and he was exposed and vulnerable. Maybe he was running for his life the same way I had run for mine. The difference was: he couldn’t turn to the Klovoda for protection anymore because they knew everything, and they were on my side.
Well… most of them.
Probably.
With a frown, I extracted my phone from my pocket, pulling up Jayden’s contact and opening a new message.
You’ve done a lot to hurt me, but you don’t lie to me. You still tell me the truth.
I left the message at that and hit the button to send it. Cabe unfolded his arms, dropping one of them over my shoulder and drawing me into his side so that he could peer down at my phone. He didn’t say anything, but his movement drew Noah’s attention. He slid over and also read the message. When the reply came through, I didn’t bother trying to hide it from them.
What do you want to know?
I felt a small spark of triumph, but it quickly fizzled. He was inviting questions, but he could still refuse to answer if he didn’t like what I asked. Deciding to keep it simple, I sent him a single statement: I don’t know who to trust.
The reply was instant.
Trust is relative.
With a frown pulling at my lips, I tapped absently on the screen of my phone. Eventually, I spelled out a name, and sent it off as a question. Yas?
She has good intentions, Jayden replied.
That didn’t really tell me much, but it was something, so I tried another name.
Jack?
The reply was more informative this time, though still open to interpretation. He’ll be good for us all.
As I was thinking of how far I could push him for information, the phone vibrated, showing me another message.
I’ll simplify things for you, Wonderkid. Takeo was the only person who knew about Danny.
I let out a breath. Noah hummed a thoughtful sound in the back of his throat, moving back into his seat, and Cabe relaxed beside me—though only slightly. Jayden was right; that did simplify things. I only had one more question for him.
And you? Can I trust you?
His reply didn’t come until we had pulled up to Le Château, and it didn’t come in the form of a text message. He was standing beside the car as I slipped out after Cabe, and he was wearing his trademark smile—the one that was both playful and too-intelligent.
“We were family once,” he said, reminding me of what I had said in his house. “Maybe we could be family again.”
I nodded, pausing to examine him. “Maybe,” I said. We have a long way to go.
His smile sharpened, as though he knew my thoughts, and it felt as though he was showing me something genuine, though his expression should have been frightening. It was the real him. The real Jayden wasn’t soft and playful; he wasn’t any kind of guardian angel or responsible agent. He was a weapon—through and through. His power had consumed him every bit as much as Danny’s power had, though he could bring his humanity to the surface when he needed it.
Weston had been wrong. Taking the pairs away from the Atmás hadn’t strengthened them at all. It had only paved the way to the eventual ruination of their humanity, allowing their power complete reign. Weston’s creations were all flawed—and more than that, their very existence had destroyed him. I had burned his carefully plotted succession right from the roots, and Danny had done the rest. Danny was the most powerful of us all, and Weston hadn’t even realised it. All these years Danny had been hiding in plain sight: presenting the rarest ability, the deadliest threat against the human population. Right beneath Weston’s nose. Stalking and tormenting his other creations.
Danny was everything he had ever hoped to achieve. His greatest victory turned gravest mistake. It was so horrible that I actually felt bad for Weston.
I turned away from Jayden and followed the others through the ghostly mansion that only seemed colder and more foreign in the wake of Weston’s death. We retreated to a formal meeting room of sorts and sat ourselves in a circle of chairs, where the majority of the Klovoda was waiting—with the exception of Alice and Takeo. In the center sat a circular Persian rug, an empty space filled with questions and expectations, and something else, too.
Something that I hadn’t felt in such a long time that it was almost unrecognisable.
It was hope.
“We have a lot to discuss,” Jack began, folding one leg over another and casting his eyes about the gathered people. “So… let’s begin. Yas?”
Everyone turned to the woman sitting a few spaces from Jack. She had her eyes downcast, and I understood why when she raised her head, revealing the dark circles that marked her tanned skin and the dampness clouding the brown of her irises, hinting at a hovering grief. She cleared her throat, visibly collecting herself before speaking.
“We’ve reached a tie in the voting,” she announced. “Hardly surprising since two of our members have disappeared. So now the deciding vote is in the hands of the Voda.”
I blinked several times and turned to Quillan, but he was already looking at me, as though he had expected as much. Everyone else turned to me, and I started to shake my head.
“I’m not the Voda,” I quickly asserted.
“Weston’s dead,” Adie announced gruffly. He also seemed to be in bad shape, with his red beard appearing wilder than ever before and his eyes red-rimmed. “That makes you the new Voda.”
I shook my head again, more violently this time. “No.” My voice was strong. “No offense, but that’s ridiculous. I could go through all of the reasons why that’s ridiculous, but we’d be here all night and it won’t be anything that you all aren’t aware of. So, I’ll just cut to the point: I’m unfit. I can’t do it. Miro is the Voda. Everyone is expecting it, it’s the right thing to do. He’ll be a good leader… and I… I won’t. I can’t be, because I can’t control my power, just like Danny and Eva and Jayden.” I avoided looking at the latter as I spoke his name, but I knew that I had just said something controversial, judging by the raised brows of half the room. I continued, ignoring their reactions. “You all said you wanted a reform? Start it right now. Abolish the blood transfusion that gives the Voda power over every sworn-in Zev. It’s creepy, and it won’t work if Miro’s the Voda anyway. So get rid of it. Give people a little more freedom. End the Weston Dictatorship. Start something new. With Miro.”
“Smart girl,” Jack muttered, trying to hide a smile behind his hand as he pretended to rub his jaw.
The others didn’t seem inclined to speak, and I wasn’t surprised when Quillan spoke up, asking the question that should have been on everyone’s lips.
“Who is the vote divided on?” He glanced from Yas to Jack, clearly showcasing his suspicions.
“Me and Jack,” Yas replied, her tone lacking animation. She was still in mourning; only halfway present in the room if the faraway look on her face was anything to go by.
“Well then,” Quillan crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair a little more, that authoritative tone entering his voice and stirring everyone to attention. “I choose Jack. No offense, Yas, but I think you need a little time off.”
I smiled, amused that Quillan had taken over so soon, even without anyone agreeing to what I had said. It only proved my point. He was born to be the Voda.
“I agree.” Sophia spoke up, her dark eyes sympathetic. “You’re grieving, Yas. Jack’s more than qualified. He’s what we need right now.”
Yas sniffed and pulled to her feet, nodding once at Quillan before stopping
right in front of Jack’s chair. “Congratulations, Director.” She held out her hand. “I don’t want to admit it, but I’m relieved, at least right now. You’re capable and I trust you. We’re all still reeling from the Takeo incident… I think we all need someone to trust right now. I’m glad it’s you.”
Jack nudged her hand aside gently and stood, pulling her into a hug. She endured it stiffly, which made me want to smile again, and then they broke apart and the others were standing to congratulate Jack as well.
“I’d congratulate you,” I whispered to Quillan, needing to lean over Silas so that he could hear me, “but I’m pretty sure you only congratulate people on good things and your life is pretty much over now.”
Silas’s chest vibrated with something that sounded awfully like a suppressed laugh. Of course he was pleased with that idea. I was never going to understand the twins’ relationship with each other.
“It’s your life too,” Silas murmured, a slight touch feathering over my spine. “He’s going to make us do all his dirty work—just you wait.”
“You love dirty work,” I shot back, turning my head to the side. His face was suddenly so close, and I became uncomfortably aware that we were in a room full of people.
He smiled the smile that filled me with light and cracked my chest wide open all at once, a full baring of white teeth and the crinkling of his dark eyes. I found myself smiling back, and the touch against my spine became more; I could feel the heat of his entire hand as he pressed suddenly, forcing me to fall to the side. I squeaked in surprise, but he caught me before I hit the ground, his eyes burning with amusement. Everyone was staring as he hefted me straight over his shoulder.
“She fell,” he explained. “She must be tired. We should go.”
Apparently, that was all he was going to say. He strode right out of the room, and I stared back at Noah and Cabe’s laughing faces as they got up to follow us. Quillan was shaking his head, but he got up too. He stopped to talk to Yas, but we were already passing through the doorway and into the hallway beyond, so I couldn’t hear what they were discussing.
“Tell the Voda to hurry up,” Noah said mildly.
I wrinkled my nose at the title, but Cabe’s eyes were glimmering and Silas’s chest was vibrating with another laugh, so I shouted, “Voda! Hurry up!”
Cabe burst into laughter. “You know you can’t order the Voda around, right, Seph?”
“Nobody explained the rules to me. I plead ignorance.”
Quillan appeared in the hallway, a cringe heavy on his lips, though he kept silent as we made our way to the elevator and piled inside.
“You can put me down now,” I said, tapping against Silas’s back.
He didn’t reply. I opened my mouth to repeat the statement, but Noah cut across me.
“Don’t even try. It isn’t going to happen.”
“All the blood is rushing to my head,” I pointed out. “I’m getting kind of dizzy.”
The pressure across the back of my thighs disappeared instantly and a hand gripped my leg, pulling until I started to slide off. When my face was level with the top of Silas’s head, his arm banded around my hips, halting my downward progression and keeping my feet above the ground. He arched a brow, giving me a questioning look, but I knew better than to assume that he was asking an actual question. He was gloating. Noah was right… he wasn’t putting me down until he wanted to.
“What did Yas say?” I turned to Quillan, deciding to give up the battle.
His eyes were on the hand currently spread over my hip, hitching my borrowed shirt up to expose a few inches of skin.
“She said that they’re all moving here,” he said without raising his eyes. “We’re going to clean up the other houses on the property. We’ll be stronger this way. The Klovoda has been hiding away in a shell for too long, allowing Weston to take the lead. Change has been a long time in coming, but now it’s here and things are going to start moving very fast.”
He finally lifted his eyes. I could feel his hesitation. Maybe he was talking about more than just the Klovoda. Things had changed with the five of us, too. The bonding had brought it all about, and it seemed to be on a landslide now, building up emotions and consequences at a rapid pace.
“I’m here,” I found myself saying. “Forget the bond. I’m here for you, Miro. We all are. Until the day we die, we’ll be here to support you. No more running away.” The hand on my hip flexed slightly, so Silas obviously knew that I was talking about him with that last statement, but I kept my eyes on Quillan, needing him to understand. “A lot will change, but that won’t. From now until the end, it’s just us. Us five. We have our own problems, but if the most powerful man in the Zev world couldn’t break us apart, then maybe our chances aren’t so bad after all.”
His head fell to the side, his lips tilted into a half-smile as he assessed me. I hadn’t clarified our relationship—it wasn’t simply up to me—but I had given him something else. Assurance. Assurance that I would be with him, with all of them, no matter what that meant. I would be with them even if they decided to live normal lives, with wives and girlfriends and children. I would be with them even if it broke my heart, because I had to do what was best for them.
Because…
Shit.
I loved them.
To be continued…
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Lead Heart Page 33