< Chapter 101-1
Chapter 101-1
Troy
Claim
It was unusually quiet the next morning. I opened the blinds to the stillness outside. Our window
faced the courtyard, so usually, in the morning, there was a flurry of activity. The table of bagels,
muffins, fruit and coffee had been set up, but no one was using it. Yesterday, I’d watched staff
moved back and forth, using the courtyard as a shortcut. Guard members were constantly
streaming in and out until the food and coffee were gone.
Today, it looked like the table hadn’t been touched since the food had been placed out there. An
inkling of unease slithered through me. Generally, this kind of still meant that the guards were all
busy with some emergency, but I suspected London would have alerted me if that was the
problem.
Maybe I was just making a problem in my head because we hadn’t been able to catch a break. I was tense and waiting for the next shoe to drop.
In the bed, Kiana sighed and shifted. Closing the blinds, I put all my attention on her. A weight in my
chest had eased since telling her that I loved her. I should have done it as soon as I felt it. Maybe
then, Morven would have never gotten his hands on her.
At least he was dead now.
Her hand stretched out to the pillow I’d used last night, and her eyes opened. “Good morning,” I greeted softly before she had a chance to wonder if she was alone.
Sitting upright, she pushed her hair out of her face. The usual expressions crossed her face.
Fleeting vulnerability followed immediately by annoyance and stoicism. Then, as if she
remembered what I’d said last night, her face softened, and the vulnerability returned.
“I have to pee,” she squeaked out as she threw the sheets aside and darted for the bathroom. I
couldn’t help but chuckle and noted that she snagged clothes on her way.
I picked up the things that she’d discarded last night and noticed the file folder with her name on it.
She hadn’t had it with her on the ship, which meant that London had given it to her.
The door opened, and I looked up, file folder in hand, I didn’t say anything as I handed it to her.
“London thinks my mother might have been a witch,” she blurted out as she took it.
That was not what I’d expected her to say. “What?”
“Apparently his grandfather kept meticulous journals and was friendly with a null. London copied
some passages he thought I might be interested in. He says that the null power is passed down in
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< Chapter 101-1
the same family. Not mother to daughter or even mother to granddaughter, but that it can be traced to one family line. So, my father must have knocked up a witch.”
The nonchalant tone and haphazard shrug of her shoulders told me everything that I needed to
know.
Kiana wasn’t sure she wanted to know what was in those file folders.
Claim
“What do you remember of your mother?” I asked casually as I made the bed. She joined me, her movements more fidgety than helpful.
“Nothing,” Kiana said quickly and then sighed. “No, that’s not true. I have some memories that I associate with her. Singing and soft touches, but when I try to really focus on them, they don’t feel real. Like maybe I’m making them up, so I really don’t know if I remember her at all.”
“And what did Ragor tell you?”
“What didn’t Ragor tell me? First it was that she abandoned me because she didn’t want anything to do with me. Then, after the first time I tried to escape to find her, he told me that she was dead. Since he was drunk when he said it, I’m inclined to think that was the truth. Sometimes he’d tell me that she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Sometimes he’d tell me that she was nothing more than a one-night stand. Sometimes he’d tell me that he r***d her.”
The more she spoke, the shakier she got. Walking around the bed, I pulled her into my arms and held her until the shivering stopped. “You don’t have to go down this road if you don’t want to,” I told her. “We can burn those pages, and I’ll tell London that you aren’t interested. We can leave it
behind.”
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