Chapter 17 #2
“It’s why we moved here,” Mom finally said.
“Papa kept telling me his suspicions about the thinning between veils, the First Rift’s mending about to fail with more creations pouring in.
I brought us back to help him. But then he died.
And when you showed signs of Sparking, I—I wasn’t ready to deal with it yet.
Not without him. There is so much about this life, Lia, so much that you don’t understand.
And if everything about this is true, I’m afraid I don’t have the time to teach you.
” She took a shuddering breath. “My fear put you in harm’s way. That is my failing, and I am so sorry.”
Lia knew about fear. About pushing things aside because she didn’t want to deal with it.
They both knew it was easier to focus on other problems rather than your own.
Their mom never opened up like this; Lia never opened up like this.
But it was a relief to tell someone else about the gremlin, someone she knew—despite the lies and omissions—she could trust. At least with this.
Lia’s smile wobbled, despite the sting she still felt.
The words “it’s okay” burned on her tongue, but she couldn’t say them. Not this time.
Because none of this was okay. For anyone.
“I know, Mom,” she said, her throat tight. “I know.”
Their mom smiled tightly. It was a tenuous peace, like the calm before the rains came.
Marcus looked between them, bracing himself for the inevitable. He didn’t have to wait long before their mom took a breath, meeting each of their gazes with eyes like hardened steel.
“In the spirit of honesty, there’s something else you should know, sooner, rather than later.
This cannot go beyond this room until I know more.
Before his death, Papa called. Left a voicemail.
He’d claimed to find the cause of these deteriorations.
And now, with his study destroyed, it proves what I’ve feared.
” A breath steadied her. “Papa’s death wasn’t an accident.
He’d meant to come here and share whatever he discovered.
He was killed on his way here that night.
I thought it was a horrid coincidence but… ”
Papa would have told all of them there were no such things as coincidences.
Lia closed her eyes against the wave of pain that surged inside. Whatever he had found, it had put an expiration date on him. It solidified their theories. Made them fact.
Lia wiped damp palms on her jeans. “I didn’t think it was an accident either.
There’re no skid marks on the road where he was hit.
And if the police noted that, they’d be looking into this as a homicide.
” She couldn’t help but swallow that last word.
She didn’t want to think of her papa murdered.
It stole her breath, crumpled her heart.
How could someone take a life, let alone from a man who embodied all that she knew to be good? Lia couldn’t grasp it.
But she’d had more time to wrap her mind around the possibility than her brother.
Marcus’s chin wobbled. “Why?”
Lia straightened her spine, locking it all down before wrapping an arm around him.
“I fully intend to find out,” their mom said.
“Could it have been a Seeker?” Lia asked, mind skipping like a scratched disc.
Images of the trashed study, that corkboard pinned together like he was connecting dots, kept replaying over and over.
Lia gasped. The startling clarity of it was so obvious.
“They’re looking for whatever he discovered.
They want to use it or—or maybe they already are, and Papa discovered what they’re doing. ”
“I wouldn’t put it past them.” Mom’s brow furrowed. “Regardless, you must leave this to me. You will not be getting into more danger if I have anything to say about it.” Lia opened her mouth to argue, but her mom raised a finger. “So long as you live in my house, I have plenty to say about it.”
Lia clenched her teeth, struggling to do as asked when the door opened.
Kayce, in his Norenthian attire, looked from her mom to Marcus before finding Lia. She clenched her hands, trembling with the effort to keep them still. All she wanted to do was rush to him, needing the warmth of his arms around her. Instead, she held Marcus tighter.
“I don’t do waiting well,” Kayce said, giving Lia a stiff smile before taking long strides to her side.
“Lia…” Her mom leaned forward, analyzing Kayce from head to toe. Lion’s-head-pommel sword and all. “How is he here?”
“Thinning cosmic barriers, apparently.”
Mom remained quiet, chewing the inside of her cheek.
There was a critical light in her eyes, as if, like Leo, she was looking for something in Kayce that she found lacking.
Her brow creased, but tension finally seeped out of her posture when she spoke.
“The truth was never supposed to come out like this.”
Lia’s shoulders slumped. Despite how absent her mom had been lately, Lia knew that Mom loved her.
Everything she did—every extra hour worked, every errand, every college tour—had been for her, for Marcus.
But it hurt. It stung like a splinter embedded in her gut that she couldn’t dig out—no matter how many explanations. No matter how justified.
And now, confirming that Papa was murdered, Lia didn’t know what to pursue: evidence to avenge him or space to obey her mom. The pressure to do right by them both cracked at Lia’s facade.
Silence stretched on until Mom rose, holding her elbows. “I need to call Leo back. Regardless of what I think about Papa’s death, these new rifts must be addressed. An Order meeting called.”
“Kayce being here isn’t a good thing?” Marcus asked quietly.
“I don’t mean that, but it isn’t normal.”
Lia stiffened, and Kayce shifted closer.
“I’m sure time will tell sooner rather than later,” Kayce said. “Secrets don’t stay buried for long.”
Lia could scarcely breathe. Her mind was spinning. What would this meeting decide for them? The room felt inexplicably smaller than it was, like all the air was being sucked out of it for the others while she suffocated.
Thankfully, Marcus had leapt up, drawing everyone’s attention. “I know I’m late to the party, but if every story is real, does that mean…we are all a story? We all only exist in some book, our lives written before us and someone is reading about us, and our actions are not really our own—”
“Take a deep breath.” Lia commanded, standing to grip her brother’s shoulders.
She really needed to take her own advice, but throwing herself into helping others, being what they needed, was the best Band-Aid over her own problems. And this was separate from grieving.
Even though Lioness Silva’s words rang in her mind.
Kayce shot Marcus a sympathetic smile as he sighed, “Welcome to my day.”
Lia closed her eyes. They had all had a day of it. “Think of the universe the same as you know it. You have the planets, the stars, the galaxies. The Emperium exists in a different plane. No one is going to turn the page on you.”
Her brother sagged, nodding mutely. He gave her a grateful smile. She tried to offer one back, but could only manage a grimace. Because it felt like someone had dropped a whole library on Lia’s chest.