The Brightest Night

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  Because I knew in my bones, Nadia would trust that no matter what, she wouldn’t hurt innocent people. She would believe in herself just as much as she believed in Luc. She sure as hell wouldn’t take the path of least resistance. She would explode right through any and all obstacles. And she’d do it dancing.

  The corners of my lips turned up.

  “You hungry or anything?” Luc broke the silence. “Daemon brought some food over. Or at least that’s what he said when he was here.”

  My smile halted. “Daemon was in here while I used you like an inflatable mattress?”

  One side of his lips kicked up. “Yep.”

  “Oh man,” I groaned.

  “I didn’t mind. I found it oddly soothing.” He trailed his finger along my arm. “You were like one of those gravity blankets. We need to sleep like that more often.”

  He had been surprisingly comfortable, but our possible sleeping arrangements weren’t the most important thing at the moment. “Was Daemon able to tell you anything about how Sarah ended up with these people?”

  “Yeah.” The half grin faded, and my stomach dipped. “The other human girl? Her name is AJ. She was able to fill in some of the blanks once she calmed down. She was with an unregistered Luxen, a friend she’d grown up with. They were concerned about what was going down and wanted a place to lie low. We have contacts in Luxen outreach centers who vet those who are looking to escape. AJ and her friend passed the vetting, and they were given the details on where to meet up with Spencer and Yesi. AJ claims that Sarah was already there with a Luxen, waiting to be moved here. She said that Sarah and this male Luxen kept to themselves, which is ordinary. They’re instructed to not even share their names until they’re here. The same goes for those moving the packages. They don’t tell anyone who lives here or even where they are going. It’s one way to protect the zone in case any of them are captured in the process. The ones retrieving the packages are the zone’s most trusted. They will go down without speaking a word, no matter what.”

  Luc lifted his arm and I rolled over, into him. “According to AJ, things went south when they arrived at the area where we had to ditch the car. Yesi had started ahead with Sarah, the mystery Luxen, and another. We think that’s when Sarah attacked them. Why, we don’t know. Sarah would’ve entered at that point no matter what. Maybe Yesi saw or sensed something, but AJ said that they heard muffled sounds of fighting in the dark, and before Spencer could check it out, AJ said something came out of the woods and slammed into her. She was knocked out, and when she came to, everyone but her, Sarah, and Spencer were dead.”

  “Oh God.” I shuddered.

  “She said that she and Sarah helped get Spencer to the wall. She had no idea that it was Sarah who’d hurt them.” Luc ran the tips of his fingers down my spine. “Dawson and Archer went out to where Sarah said she believed they were attacked. They found the bodies of four Luxen, which has to include the one Sarah was traveling with. So while there’s not a threat that this Luxen may have gone back to the Daedalus, it doesn’t tell us how she hooked up with him or why she turned on him.”

  “Do you think maybe the Daedalus made a Luxen go with her and she was ordered to kill him before he could possibly warn others here? Because if that’s the case, it would be a huge risk once this Luxen got around others who could help him.” I spread my hand out over his chest, above his heart. “But then that would mean the Daedalus would know about the zones.”

  “If the Daedalus were aware of who was here, they’d be storming those walls yesterday,” he replied dryly. “But they most definitely have to know that unregistered Luxen are being moved and hidden somewhere. They have to figure that we’ve disappeared into one of these places. Pairing Sarah with a Luxen they are controlling one way or another ups their chances of Sarah being trusted and allowed into at least one of the places that the Luxen are being held. Either she got incredibly lucky with ending up at the right place or she gained some inside knowledge that the contacts she went to worked with our zone.”

  “Do the contacts know where the unregistered Luxen are being moved to?” I asked, thinking that would be one hell of a risk if so. I could easily imagine the Daedalus kidnapping family members of those who worked there to force the contacts to spill secrets.

  “No. The zone is still secure.” Luc rubbed his chin over my head. “Daemon also had a message for us. Cekiah wants to see us first thing in the morning.”

  27

  Everyone is staring at me like I’m a freak.

  Not everyone. Luc responded as he caught my hand, tugging me back and down where he sat, so I was perched on his knees. Kat isn’t staring at you.

  My gaze flicked over a few familiar faces and a whole lot of unfamiliar ones. Vibrant Luxen gazes mingled with ordinary human ones stared back at me in open distrust. Being stared at by a bunch of legit aliens like I was the weird one to be wary of was quite unsettling.

  Kat was sitting at the long, conference-style table, her chair pushed back as she gently rocked baby Adam.

  That’s because she’s focused on the baby.

  Luc folded an arm loosely around my waist. Daemon’s not staring at you.

  That’s because he’s staring at his wife and son. Which was true. His dark head was bent as he touched the tiny, sock-covered feet.

  Everyone is staring at you because you’re beautiful.

  My lips twisted as my stomach grumbled. Luc and I had eaten breakfast about thirty minutes before, but I felt like I hadn’t touched food in a week, and that reminded me of how it had been right before I did the mini-coma thing. Which would be more concerning if I weren’t currently in front of what felt like a firing squad. Uh-huh.

  And because you blew up a house with your mind.

  I sighed. You’re not helping.

  His answering chuckle tickled at my mind. Only Luc would be utterly unconcerned at the moment.

  Cekiah cleared her throat, drawing my attention. Her braids were swept back from her face, piled into a fascinating, intricate design that made the dyed blue braids really pop. She didn’t sit at the head of the table. Actually, no one sat at the head. There weren’t even chairs there, which I thought made an interesting statement.

  No one here was at the head of anything.

  Cekiah’s eyes, a more honeyed color compared to Zouhour’s, were fixed on mine. “I hope you’ve fully recovered.”

  I nodded. “I have. Thank you.”

  Her gaze slid to the space beyond my shoulder. “I wish the same could be said about Jonas.”

  “As do I,” Luc replied smoothly while I tensed.

  “Jonas was a good man, and he was doing his job,” an older Luxen male said, his skin still mostly smooth with the exception of a few creases at the corner of his eyes.

  “I’m sure he was an amazing person, Quinn, but he shot Evie.” Luc’s tone didn’t change. “Who he was before that no longer matters.”

  Daemon looked up at that, and our gazes connected. What he had said to me one evening at Foretoken was all too easy to recall.

  We aren’t the bad guys, but we aren’t the good guys, either.

  Quinn’s jaw hardened. “No one plays judge or jury here. No one has that kind of power.”

  “Are you sure that no one is playing judge or jury?” Luc asked as he surveyed the room. “Sort of seems like that’s what occurring right now. The only difference is that I don’t hide it when I do.”

  “Luc,” Cekiah said in soft warning.

  He shrugged. “I’m not sure what you want me to say about Jonas other than you should train your humans to be very sure who they are shooting before they pull the trigger.”

  Eaton lifted his brows from where he sat on the other side of Cekiah. “Duly noted.”

  I didn’t even have to look to know Luc was smiling.

  “Any of us would’ve done the same as Luc,” Daemon spoke up, straightening.

  “Right or wrong, that’s just the way it is,” Dawson chimed in. He sat beside Dawson, a
nd I wondered if they chose to sit side by side to mess with everyone. He looked down the table at Quinn. “Just like you would’ve done the same if Jonas had shot Alyssa.”

  Quinn sat back in his chair, not saying a word, and I had a feeling Alyssa was someone very important to him.

  “His silence means he knows exactly what he’d do,” Hunter added from where he sat reclined, a leg kicked up on the table. Serena was next to him. Luckily, today neither were trying to kill me. “But he’s a civilized Luxen.”

  Daemon snorted. My eyebrows started to climb up my forehead.

  “What happened to Jonas is a shame, one that should’ve been avoided,” Bethany cut in from the other side of Dawson. “But I don’t think we were called to this meeting to discuss that.”

  Beth sat so close to Dawson that their arms brushed, and my empty stomach dipped as I recalled the horror in her voice. She’d been so afraid for her daughter, of what I’d done.

  Of what I might do.

  “You’re here to talk about me.” I decided there was no reason to beat around the bush. “And whether or not I should be allowed to stay here. You did warn me that there’d be problems if I proved to be a risk.”

  Surprise flickered across some of the human’s faces, but not Cekiah’s. “I also warned Luc of this. I kept your secret until I could no longer do so.”

  “We weren’t aware of the fact that you were anything but human until yesterday.” The features of the female Luxen from the day before were taut. “Needless to say, none of us were all that pleased to discover that not only Cekiah had kept the secret from us but so did several trusted members of our community.”

  I really had no idea what to say to that, and none of those trusted community members looked all that bothered by being called out. Frankly, Daemon and Dawson looked bored.

  “And here I thought we were going to talk about important things like how close the Daedalus came to discovering the community.” Luc planted his cheek on his fist as he propped his arm on the side of the chair. “And what will be done to ensure that never happens again.”

  “That is what we’re discussing,” Cekiah responded. “That thing was obviously here because of Evie.”

  That thing.

  “And that means the community is at a risk,” a human said. She was young, probably in her thirties. “Another could come looking for her the same way this thing did.”

  There it was again. Thing. My hands curled into fists. I wasn’t like Sarah, but did they understand that? Was I a thing to them?

  “Are we to stop transporting those in need of safety here?” A male hybrid joined in. “Because how else would we prevent something like that from happening again?”

  My skin chilled. I thought about Heidi and Emery still out there, and all the other unregistered Luxen who needed shelter. If they closed up shop, would the other zones follow out of precaution?

  “You can’t do that,” I blurted out. “There are still Luxen and others who need a safe place to go. If you or the other zones start turning people away, they’ll be defenseless. Anyone taken into custody and processed has never been seen again. If these zones shutter their doors, you’d basically be signing their death certificates.”

  “I’m relieved to know you’re thinking about those who need our help.” Zouhour eyed me from where she sat, her nose pinched. “You understand the importance of what we do here.”

  “I do.”

  “Then you have to also understand why we’d be concerned about how you jeopardize what we do here.”

  And I did.

  Lifting a hand, I rubbed it against the wound, the one that would’ve surely killed me if I were human and Luc hadn’t been there. I needed to be here, where I was presumably safe with the exception of being shot, so I could learn more about what I could do and just how much control I truly had over the Source, but I could not be the cause of others basically being left to fend for themselves.

  I wouldn’t.

  Evie. There was a world of warning in how he said my name.

  I closed my eyes. It’s not right.

  A faint charge of electricity danced along my back, coming from Luc. There was no doubt in my mind that the others felt it, too. “She understands fully, more than any of you probably would want to give her credit for. Except you, Kat; you have a heart as big as hers.”

  Kat didn’t look up from her sleeping son’s face as she said, “From what time I’ve spent with Evie, I know she wouldn’t want to do anything that puts anyone or what we do here at risk.” She smiled down at her son. “I’m sure she’s mere minutes from volunteering to leave. That’s what I would do.”

  Daemon sighed heavily as he nodded in agreement, sending Luc a rare look of sympathy.

  “I don’t care if one or a hundred more come looking for her. I brought her here because it was the safest place I could think of.” Luc shifted behind me, his arm tightening around my waist as a brutal edge hardened his tone. “There is not a single thing that I will not do to ensure she remains as safe as possible.”

  “Luc.” I shot him a look over my shoulder.

  He ignored me. “Not a single thing,” he repeated.

  “Trust me,” Eaton grumbled as he dragged his thumb over his brow. “We all are completely aware of that.”

  “Then I don’t know why we’re having this conversation,” Luc retorted.

  “That’s the thing, though.” Kat looked up then. “It doesn’t matter if Evie leaves this afternoon. The Daedalus won’t know that unless she’s spotted outside the zone. If more will be sent, they’ll come even if she’s not here. While that concern is a valid one, it’s a pointless one, and we can’t shut out others who need our help.”

  Lips slowly parting, I stared at Kat while the human female twisted toward her. “Then what do you suggest we do?”

  “Make sure those coming here are being truly vetted and have every single one of our contacts looked over with the finest-tooth comb possible, because I don’t for one second believe that this girl and the Luxen she was with could’ve been all that vetted. Not saying we have a spy in one of our contacts, but I think we have someone who screwed up,” she said, and baby Adam softly cooed. “But that’s just a suggestion, Jamie. A measured, less extreme response.”

  “Are you suggesting I’m fearmongering?” the woman demanded.

  “I wouldn’t dare think of suggesting that.” Kat met the woman’s stare. “But what do you think the Chicago zone will do if we stop allowing packages in? They’ll follow what we do.”

  Looks were exchanged throughout the table, and it was Zouhour who spoke. “You’re right.”

  Luc relaxed behind me. “Do you ever stop and think how incredibly lucky you are to have such a brilliant wife, Daemon?”

  Daemon smiled. “Every. Single. Day.”

  “An additional risk does lie in our contacts. We need to find out how this thing was vetted and allowed in,” Quinn said.

  “She wasn’t a thing,” I snapped as the gnawing ache in my stomach moved upward. “Her name was Sarah, and whatever was done to her was done against her will. We saw her when she mutated. She had no idea what was happening to her. She may be as close to evil as one can get now, but a little bit of empathy never killed anyone.”

  The human woman opened her mouth.

  I wasn’t done. “And just so we all are on the same page, Sarah and I both were changed by the Daedalus. We’re not alike, and I’m also not a thing.”

  Luc’s hum of approval blended with my own thoughts as his arm briefly squeezed my waist.

  “My apologies.” Quinn bowed his head. “You’re right.”

  “You say you aren’t exactly like her, but you both were changed.” Cekiah crossed one leg over the other. “I know what Luc and Zoe have told me. I know what you yourself have said, so what has changed that you suddenly know what you are?”

  I could practically feel Luc gearing up for a biting response, but this was my battle. I rose, and Luc didn’t stop me. “I know tha
t whatever I am, it’s not like her. I don’t think I’m programmed like her and the other Trojans.”

  “You don’t think?” she questioned.

  “Yeah. I don’t think I am. I didn’t kill that one.” I nodded in Hunter’s direction. “Even though he really wanted to kill me.”

  “That is true,” the Arum muttered.

  Luc turned his head in Hunter’s direction, and the Arum rolled his eyes as he pulled his legs down off the table.

  “And I owe her an apology for that,” Hunter grumbled. “I’m sorry.”

  My brows lifted. Before I could respond, his wife leaned around him. “And I was reaching for my gun. She didn’t attack me.” A small, sheepish smile appeared. “And I, too, am sorry about that.”

  “It’s, uh, okay.” I blinked, never thinking I’d be in the position of accepting an apology from two people who had wanted to murder me the day before.

  “But what does that tell us, really?” Zouhour asked, and there was a genuine curiousness in her tone.

  “From what we understand, the Trojans were trained to sense a threat, a challenge, and then eliminate it. They wouldn’t have backed down from that,” I explained.

  “So you were able to show restraint this time?” Jamie said, arms crossed over her chest.

  I met her stare. “I was able to show restraint, take out the Trojan who most likely would not have shown restraint after she attempted to turn me into exactly what she is. I stopped her from hurting anyone, and I did all of that without harming a single person. That’s what I did this time.”

  “You blew up a whole, entire house,” she returned.

  “But did you die? Did anyone other than the bad guy die? No.” Luc leaned forward, hands on his knees. “Does that answer your question, Jamie?”

  She didn’t dare look Luc in the eye as she said, “All that being said, it still doesn’t mean she won’t become a risk next time around.”

  “She’s been working on controlling the Source,” Eaton said, stretching out his left leg. “She and Luc. She’s been using the Source.”