The Brightest Night

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  “Shit,” muttered Grayson, the next to truly get what was going down. Trusting that he wasn’t going to do anything stupid, I gave him back his ability to move. Grayson showed no acknowledgment of it happening.

  “The new hybrids are powerful, and they will become one of the most advanced armies man has ever seen, but he is…” Morton looked at Luc then with an expression that was part awe. “But he is the weapon of mass destruction. One simple show of his strength and he will end wars before they can even begin. There will be no resistance. There will be no opposition. Not when the world sees what he can do with just a snap of his fingers. He is the Trojan.”

  “If that’s the case, then why do you even need the new hybrids?” Daemon demanded, and I eased off him. He, too, proved that he was just as smart and showed no sign that he could now move. “Why create the flu and mutate half the damn population if Luc is the ultimate weapon?”

  Luc tilted his head at those words. My heart skipped. He was listening. He was aware, but was it him in there? That cold, apathetic Luc who wouldn’t make silly jokes and talk about raising a farm of llamas? Or was it something else entirely different?

  Something even he feared?

  “Mutate the population?” Morton laughed again, catching my attention. “Who told you that? None of the humans who are infected with this flu will survive without our intervention, and we have already chosen who we will save.”

  As if they were gods.

  “The rest will all eventually self-destruct, most likely taking out a few people with them. That’s an unfortunate consequence, but it will create further chaos—”

  “And hatred for the Luxen, because you convinced everyone else that we were making them sick,” Daemon filled in the rest.

  “Exactly,” Morton confirmed.

  Dear God, all those people who were bound to become sick? They wouldn’t even mutate, and I wasn’t sure which was worse, but they were all innocent. Billions of innocent people were going to die.

  “If there’s no need for your army of Hybrids 2.0, then why do you have them?” Grayson demanded.

  “Because a weapon as fine as he is shouldn’t be wasted on things that aren’t even human.”

  Daemon blanched, actually paled when Morton’s words sank in, and I thought I might vomit.

  The hybrids would be used to exterminate the Luxen and any humans with alien DNA.

  And it could work.

  Most of the Luxen would fall fighting the new hybrids while the world shattered apart around them, ravaged by sickness—a sickness that would fuel further violence against one another and against the one thing that could save them.

  The Luxen.

  But that was only a possibility, because Luc hadn’t made a move against any of us even though when I tried to reach him again, there was no answer.

  “Luc,” I said out loud this time. “You’re still there. I know you are. You have to be. You’re still—”

  “He’s no longer the Luc you knew,” Morton said quietly, walking toward Luc. He stopped beside him. “Keep her alive. Your maker will want to know why she’s defective. Kill the others.”

  Your maker.

  I tensed as Luc lifted his head. The Source pulsed intently around him, and I knew if he struck out, no one stood a chance. He’d kill any of us with a half-formed thought.

  Tendrils of the Source reached out from Luc, filling the area in a wave of static before rapidly receding, finally, finally revealing the features I loved so fiercely.

  A face I barely recognized.

  It was Luc—his broad, angular cheekbones and carved jaw, his full lips and his golden skin—but those eyes, amethyst fractured with white, ever-swirling streaks of light, were not his.

  Those eyes tracked everyone present. Morton. Daemon. Grayson. Me.

  And when he looked at me, he did so like he looked at everyone else. Assessing. There was no softness or warmth. No love or want. Just endless hardness and ice, devoid of all emotions.

  This wasn’t Luc whose gaze moved past me, back to the Luxen.

  This wasn’t even the Luc after he’d fed for the first time.

  This was what he had warned me about.

  My heart broke so utterly and so heavily in my chest I could almost hear it. There was a scream in my mind, and it was my own as my knees trembled. A sob choked me, and tears crowded my eyes even as I let the Source rush to the surface.

  The Luc I knew, the Luc I loved, wasn’t there. And that meant I knew something the Daedalus didn’t, something that only in their supreme arrogance they wouldn’t have taken into consideration.

  “Morton?” I called out as Luc slowly turned his head in my direction. A shiver crept over my skin as those fractured eyes met mine. “I said you didn’t matter. I wasn’t wrong. You don’t. Worse yet, you’re dispensable. That’s why you’re here and not Dasher. Just in case…” I drew in a ragged breath. “You know, the Daedalus accidentally created something far worse than they could even imagine.”

  Morton frowned as he looked from me to Luc. “Do what your maker commanded, Luc. Kill the Luxen. Subdue her. We need her alive.”

  “Maker?” Luc finally spoke, and I flinched at the ice that coated the one word, the power that was so heavy I thought it might crush all of us.

  Out of the corners of my eyes, I saw Daemon and Grayson react, taking a visible step back.

  “Maker?” Luc repeated. “I am not made. I am a god.”

  Morton didn’t even have a second to react. Luc turned those eyes on him, and that was it. The man caved into himself. Skin incinerating, taking with it blood and muscles. Bones shattered like glass, and within a heartbeat or two, Morton was nothing more than a pile of half-burned clothing and ash.

  “Holy,” whispered Daemon.

  “Shit,” Grayson finished.

  Luc’s gaze inched back to us, and the lack of humanity, the absence of him, in those cold, scattered eyes sent a bolt of pure fear down my spine.

  How could the Daedalus create something like this and hope to control it?

  Nothing could.

  He zeroed in on me with those frightening, churning eyes, sensing out the uttermost threat. His head tilted once more. I saw the Source pulse around both Daemon and Grayson, and I knew they would try to contain Luc once they realized he wasn’t right. They would die.

  “Run,” I told the others as the strands of hair lifted off my shoulders. Luc’s eyes shifted toward Daemon, and I knew neither he nor Grayson could move nearly quickly enough.

  Unleashing what was left of the Source, I let it wash over me, and I let it out. The blast of power roared faster than either Daemon or Grayson could respond to, sweeping them off their feet and carrying them away as far as I could get them before the Source sputtered to nothing. Their landings would be hard. It would hurt, but they would be alive.

  At least for the time being.

  Luc still stood. He hadn’t even moved a centimeter. Only a single lock of wavy hair had moved, and it slowly drifted back to lay against his forehead. His lips—lips that had kissed mine, lips that had spoken words of love—twisted in a facsimile of a smile, perfect and empty.

  Silvery light appeared around his open hands, and I knew I wouldn’t survive this. I wouldn’t live. I was empty, virtually human. There was no escape. All I could hope was that Daemon and Grayson recovered quickly enough to warn the others, to get as many people as possible out of Luc’s path. That they had a chance to hide, because the biggest threat was no longer the Daedalus or their flu or even their hybrids.

  It was what stood in front of me.

  The Source grew around his hands as the icy burn of power ramped up all around me. The wind roared through the trees. Tears blinded me as I thought what would happen to Luc if he did come back from this and he remembered what he was about to do, and what was left of my heart withered.

  He continued to stare at me, brows lowered and those eyes …

  He glided forward, and I wasn’t even sure if his feet touched
the ground. Then he was right in front of me. My skin erupted in tiny goose bumps as he stared down at me.

  “Luc?” I whispered, eyes widening as I watched him lift a hand to my cheek. The silvery Source danced around his fingertips. I didn’t move. I couldn’t. He held me there in place with just his stare. Not a single muscle could twitch. The fingers hovered near my cheek, and I had no idea what it would do when it touched me, because I no longer knew what the will behind the Source would be.

  And as he stared down at me, I knew that whatever I was about to say would most likely be the last thing I ever said.

  “I love you,” I whispered, body shaking as the wind caught my clothing. “I will always love you. I love you, Luc. I love—”

  His fingertips grazed my cheek, and icy heat drenched my body as the Source whipped out from him.

  Outside of me, the world groaned and screamed. It shook and then fell to pieces. Cement broke apart and crumbled. Buildings as tall as mountains fell in a shower of fine dust. Roofs peeled off and shattered. Trees shuddered into themselves, and metal crunched and gave way as abandoned cars crumbled. Flames erupted from old reserves of gas or propane, the fire spitting into the sky like geysers. The air turned thick with debris as the shock wave rolled and rolled and rolled out from all around us for what felt like an eternity.

  Inside of me, a different storm raged. It started in the recesses of my mind, where it was dark and cloudy, a rumbling and rattling of a locked door. The silvery light ripping through steel and cement then pierced straight through me, obliterating all the shadows in a blinding rush of pain that was a shock to the system as it raced down my spine, firing along nerves. It was so consuming, so powerful that I couldn’t scream around it, couldn’t even breathe as images flashed where the dark clouds had me. Faces and events and words and emotions that all held significance, and they kept coming, years’ and years’ worth of thoughts, desires, fears, and memories.

  And then the storm quieted. The images stopped. The pain stopped. The world stopped.

  I wasn’t standing.

  My arms dangled at my sides, and my legs were limp. Luc held me, an arm around my waist and his palm flat against my cheek. I couldn’t speak as I stared into eyes streaked with lightning. Something was wrong with me. I couldn’t move or close my eyes, speak or stop him as he lowered me toward the smoking, ruined ground.

  Over his shoulder, I saw that the tower was gone, so was the Galleria. My eyes shifted just a fraction to my right, and oh God, there was nothing there. No buildings. No trees—

  The hand at my cheek slid to the back of my head as I felt my legs and then my hips touched the ground. My head was guided down, and he was still above me, his lips inches from mine.

  “Never,” he said, and the ground trembled under me. Brackets of tension formed around his mouth as his jaw hardened. His eyes squeezed shut and then reopened. The bolts of churning white light slowed. “Never come for me.” He slowly slid his hand out from under my head as his lips brushed the corner of mine. “Never look for me. If you do, I will take everything from you.”

  Luc slowly pulled away, and for the briefest second, our gazes met. I thought I heard him whisper my name, but then he was gone, and there was nothing but heated stone and ash, glittering like a million fireflies. Nothing more than tiny specks of what was left of the city drifted back to the ground, where it fell upon me and everything around me like slivers of snow kissed by the sun.

  I couldn’t speak, but even if I could, Luc was now gone, so I couldn’t tell him he was wrong. He’d given me everything, because I remembered.

  I remembered everything.

  Read on for an exclusive bonus scene featuring

  DAEMON

  Never in my whole damn life had I ever been so scared.

  I thought it had been the moment I realized Kat had gone out there by herself, baiting that Arum to protect my sister and I.

  I’d been wrong.

  When I realized Blake had been working for the Daedalus, I’d been scared out of my mind for her, and when Will, the man who had used her mother to get to her—to us—had her in that cage, I’d been terrified for the nightmares I knew those hours would leave behind.

  I’d been wrong.

  Even when the Daedalus had her and everything messed up thing they did and all that came out after that, I’d thought I could never be more scared that she would be ripped away from me.

  I’d been so damn wrong.

  Now I knew.

  Because the hours of pain and too many close calls as Kat struggled to bring our child into this world had truly been the most frightening moments of my life. And each time I felt her heart slowed to a sluggish beat, I thought that was it. She was an incredibly strong hybrid, and I was one of the most powerful Luxen in the world, but when her gray eyes had started to lose their focus, I was terrified that it wouldn’t be enough.

  And as much as it killed me to admit, it wouldn’t have been.

  The tiny body against my chest squirmed, drawing my gaze. My son. Our son. Wrapped in a white blanket, he was so tiny. I didn’t realize infants were this damn small. I bet he fit in both of my palms. Not that I would try. God knows I was too afraid of dropping him.

  Or breathing too heavily.

  Or thinking too loudly.

  He was asleep, and even now, his little legs and arms pumped under the blanket, as if he was ready to get out there and take on the world.

  Just like his momma.

  My gaze lifted from the wrinkling little face. Soft candlelight flickered throughout the room, dancing over Kat’s cheek. Color had already begun to work its way back into her skin. There had been moments where she’d be too pale, when there had been too much blood. She was already healing.

  Thanks to Luc.

  I looked down at my son and it was like someone had punched a hole through my chest.

  If Luc hadn’t been here, Kat wouldn’t have pulled through. She would’ve died. I would’ve gone with her, and if our son had survived, he would’ve done so without the people who loved him more than all the stars in the sky could.

  Quietly, I turned to the wall that faced the house Luc and Nadia were in. Evie, I corrected myself for the umteenth time. Her name was Evie now. One of these days I would stop referring to her as Nadia.

  Probably a long time from now.

  But I needed to try.

  I owed Luc … I owed him everything. He was why we were still here, healthy and whole.

  Worry crept into my thoughts. I had no idea what happened to her, and all I knew was that she hadn’t woken up, no matter what Luc did. If something happened to her…

  Well, the Daedalus would be the least of the world’s problems.

  Right now I couldn’t go there.

  That would be a bridge I hoped to never have to cross. I hoped it all worked out. Luc infuriated the hell out of me, but he deserved happiness just as much as Kat and I do. He deserved to have his girl by his side.

  Kat stirred under the blanket. One pale foot stuck out. I grinned as her toes curled. Any other time I would’ve grabbed that foot of hers. She would wake up swinging, thinking a demon or some crap got her. Courtesy of all those books she read, she had one hell of a vivid imagination. I would’ve made up for it, starting with that foot and following the length of one curvy leg.

  Come to think of it, something similar was why I now held our son in my arms.

  My smile grew.

  Damn if I didn’t get a little lost staring at her. Always did. Awe filled me once more. How she handled everything amazed me. Even when I knew she hurt, when I could feel her heart failing, she had held on to my hand with such strength.

  Time and time again she proved that I wasn’t worthy of her, and I was so damn lucky to have her. To have this.

  Bow-shaped lips puckered and his little brow furrowed. Was he dreaming? Did infants even dream? I had no idea, but if he dreamed, I wanted them to be good ones. Rocking him gently until his forehead smoothed out, I had a fee
ling Kat and I were going to have our hands full with Adam.

  * * *

  There was never a name more fitting for our son. He would be just as fierce as his namesake and as brave and strong as his mother. And he would have me standing behind him. Always.

  Everyone knew I’d burn down the entire world for Kat; watch it all go up in flames if I had to. I always knew I would. No doubt, but as I stared down at the tiny, scrunched up face, I truly realized the depths of destruction I would wreak to keep them both safe and happy.

  “Nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever touch you,” I said and kissed the downy softness on the top of his head. “That is a promise.”

  And that was one I would never break.

  Cradling him close to my chest, I carried him back to where Kat slept. Careful not to wake either of them, I settled in beside her. I bent, brushing my lips over Kat’s brow and then leaned against the headboard.

  It was going to be a long night.

  That was fine by me.

  There was nothing else I rather be doing than watching over the two most important beings in my life.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thank you to my agent, Kevan Lyon, and subrights agent, Taryn Fagerness. Thanks also to Stephanie Brown, Melissa Frain, and the amazing team at Tor: Ali, Kristin, Saraciea, Anthony, Eileen, Lucille, Isa, Devi, and everyone else who had a hand in bringing this book to publication.

  Luc and Evie’s story would never have been a thing if it wasn’t for you, the reader. I cannot thank you enough. Special shout-out to JLAnders. You guys always amaze me.

  The Brightest Night was the first book I wrote without my writing pal, Loki. I want to thank her for nineteen years of friendship and cuddles. Snuggle Diesel for me.

  OTHER BOOKS IN THE WORLD OF THE LUX

  BY JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT

  ORIGIN SERIES

  The Darkest Star