I fell down, completely overwhelmed, and my knees caught against a fancy rug that was now stained in bloodied water. My breath caught in my throat as the sobs tore through me with a violent efficiency that disentangled all of the horrible pain from my heart, leaking it into the room until it hung like a heavy fog around me.
“She’s bonded to all four of them.” Yas breathed out the words as though afraid of the very statement, but the few mumbles of agreement about the room seemed to bolster her resolve. “How is this possible? How was this never verified? Miro? Silas? Why was this never reported?”
“Our father,” Quillan grunted out the response, apparently unwilling to extrapolate.
Silence met his statement and I felt cold arms wrap around me. The touch was familiar and welcome, so I turned toward it, burrowing deeper into the embrace until Cabe’s rough voice sounded in my ear.
“Thanks, little healer.”
I threw myself at him, locking my arms around his neck and veritably crawling into his lap, needing to get as close as possible. He chuckled, but the sound was strained. I wanted to hide away in him again; to lose myself in his unique brand of brightness until the horror of the world simply didn’t matter anymore… but I couldn’t do that.
The horror was a part of me.
The horror was a part of us.
I disentangled myself, pulling to my feet as Noah and Quillan approached. We hadn’t intended to rally together, but it was natural to want to be close with the tense energy that lingered in the air.
“I think arresting Silas is going to be out of the equation for now,” Jack stated calmly. “So why don’t we get everyone cleaned up, and we can deal with this in the proper way? I assume you’re all done with trying to go about whatever it is you’re doing in secret?” His eyes landed on me as I nodded my head slightly. “Good.” He smiled. “Sophia? Why don’t you take her to our house; I’ll take care of the others.”
Sophia walked toward me and I cast one more glance at Silas and Cabe before I edged around Noah’s tense form and allowed Sophia to take my hand. Poison was the only one who made to follow us, and nobody attempted to stop her. They probably assumed that she wanted a change of clothes too, since she was still dressed as a stripper. She grabbed my hand as we passed over the blood-stained footbridge, and I gripped her fingers tightly, trying to convey my gratitude. Sophia’s house was another of the stilt-houses over the water, though it had proper doors and walls instead of the billowy mosquito nets that some of the other houses had. She showed me to a bathroom and left me alone with Poison, probably assuming that I needed a bit of time to get myself together. Poison turned on the shower and stripped to her underwear, climbing inside and sitting down, pulling her knees to her chest. I laughed humorlessly, recognising the parallel of our current situation to the night Aiden had died. Her strained smile matched mine, and I pulled my own clothes off, huddling beside her in my underwear.
The hot water pooled over me as I leaned my head on her shoulder. Neither of us tried to speak for a few minutes, instead allowing the water to work its magic.
“Danny is still out there,” I eventually whispered.
“And Silas almost killed Cabe,” she added tonelessly.
“And Weston is missing.” I nodded my head against her shoulder.
“And the Klovoda knows your secret,” she concluded.
“Things are looking up, aren’t they?”
We both burst into sudden laughter, which caused Sophia to knock on the bathroom door, asking us if everything was okay. I could see why she might be concerned; laughter in this situation was a sure sign of insanity. I turned off the shower and wrapped myself into one of the towels that Sophia had provided, handing the other one off to Poison as I moved to open the door.
“Come on out.” Sophia smiled at our appearance, indicating the bed that had been covered in a wide selection of clothing. “You know that’s a pretty big secret you’ve all been keeping, and for such a long time, too. You shouldn’t even have a pair, Seraph.”
I nodded absently, plucking at a t-shirt as I tried to fight past the secrecy that I had grown used to. When it became clear that I wasn’t going to speak about it, Sophia didn’t seem annoyed or suspicious, as I had expected her to. Instead, she only smiled kindly and backed out of the room to let us dress in private. When we were done, she escorted us back to the Klovoda’s meeting room, keeping her questions to herself.
After we returned, I sat immediately between Noah and Cabe—the latter of whom was also freshly showered and dressed.
“You can ask your questions now,” Quillan spoke up, standing off to the side with his arms crossed. He seemed to be guarding Silas, who wasn’t entirely visible from his position sitting behind Quillan. “But you’ll direct them to me. Seph won’t be answering anything tonight.”