Chapter 4
Rafe
Marion and I stopped near the burnt out trees, and I did my best to ignore my mother’s agents as they scrambled out of the way to bow for me.
“Please take a look at this man,” Marion said, pointing with the toe of her kitten pump toward the body of one of the attackers.
I stared at her shoe for a moment, wondering why the fuck such an old woman was still wearing heels, even short ones like these.
Were these part of a uniform? I added that to my mental list of shit to yell at my mom about.
I crouched down next to the body, covered by a long white sheet. My shadows slithered up from the grass, gently pulling the sheet away from the body so I could gaze upon it.
It was a man. Young, probably only a year or two younger than me.
He wore all black, same as the other zealots littering the lawn.
Though…maybe calling them zealots wasn’t too accurate.
The early reports from several students matched what I’d seen with my own eyes.
Men in teams, with different objectives, communicating through their radios.
These men had been trained, some of them militaristically so.
This one’s green eyes were wide open, blindly staring up into the cloud-filled sky. A dried bead of blood tracked from the corner of one of his eyes, and another from his mouth.
My shadows itched to close his eyes and soothe his face, but I reminded myself he’d attacked the school. This man had probably killed someone, or at least intended to. At the very least, he was involved with a dangerous cult of psychos, who had killed and kidnapped students.
I blew out a breath.
I hated this shit.
“Where was he hit?” I asked, trying to separate myself. It was better to approach this type of thing clinically, detached in a way that kept me from thinking about how Skye could have been one of the victims of this attack. Or Willow. Or Mia. Or fucking Aiden.
I examined the man in front of me again as Marion shifted anxiously next to me.
The man didn’t appear drowned. My shadows shuffled the sheet further down his body, but there weren’t any wounds on him. No blood anywhere except for his face.
“He wasn’t hit,” Marion said lowly.
“So, what? An air affinate stole his oxygen? Maybe…overfilled his lungs?” I suggested, though that was a bit odd. This academy didn’t teach the really scary ways to kill people.
But my mother’s newly inherited military certainly did.
“Friendly fire?” I tried.
Marion cleared her throat. “His insides are, ah…mush.”
My brow furrowed as I glanced up at her, and then my entire body filled with dread as I remembered the attacker Wyatt and I had inched away from just moments ago. The one that looked squeezed.
Skye’s name rang out through my mind like a death knell.
Skye.
Skye was…the squisher.
Hell. Fucking. Yeah.
My insides lit up like a firework. I’d already thought my Key was exceptional, but now she was something extraordinary. A goddess of death all wrapped up in a crop top and sneakers.
I loved it.
But then a pang of regret passed through my chest.
I…missed her. She was clever, protective…and ruthless. She was everything I’d ever wanted while still being sweet and kind. I still couldn’t stop replaying the vision of Aiden bundled in one of Skye’s soft blankets while she cuddled and cooed at him.
I wanted a beautiful, murderous sex vixen who squeezed men to death to fuss over me, damnit.
“What could have caused this?” I nearly whispered.
Marion’s jaw moved back and forth as her eyes searched my face. “A Telekinetic,” she said under her breath.
I froze, not having expected her to say the word out loud.
“I see,” I said slowly. My shadows moved the white sheet back to cover the man before I stood. I needed to handle this very carefully. Marion was already closely watching my too-blank expression. “So you’re implying that there’s one here, on the campus, that got through our Sensors?”
“It’s not an implication, it’s a fact. I was personal Healer to His Majesty King Rogelio II on the day of his second assassination attempt.”
Ah, yes. The second assassination attempt, because he’d had four or five.
I could never remember, even though it was one of those useless facts I was made to learn while growing up, because it was more important for a future king to know how many assassination attempts his ancestors had survived than it was to study something important, like taxes.
I almost snorted. I actually had no idea how to do taxes. Did I even pay taxes as a prince?
I should probably know that.
I made a mental note to ask my fake friend Wyatt about that later.
Marion cleared her throat, and I blinked several times, remembering what she’d just said. King Rogelio II was my grandfather’s father, and–
Wait a minute. “How old are you?” I blurted.
Marion stared at me, her expression one of cool indifference.
Right. Rude. Don’t ask ladies their age.
Anyway, King Rogelio II was my grandfather’s father, and he’d very famously been attacked by a Telekinetic who’d tried to assassinate him via squishing.
That seemed to be a popular method of killing for Telekinetics, as demonstrated by the squeezed affinate at my feet.
“My Prince, if I may speak freely?” Marion’s fingers twitched at the hem of her cardigan.
I nodded.
“There are several who were killed in this manner. But there is one that confuses me. A student.”
I nodded again. Landon. I knew Skye had killed him. He was too out of control, practically begging her while we looked on. I was still surprised Skye had actually done it.
“Take me to him,” I sighed.
Marion dipped her head, then led me away, toward the ruins of the astronomy tower. Wyatt kicked off the wall where he’d been standing guard, following several yards behind me and Marion.
Landon was, thankfully, covered with a sheet where he lay in the burnt grass. Marion clasped her hands in front of her as I knelt down. My shadows reached for the sheet, and Marion held out a wrinkly hand to stop me, her gaze behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder, seeing Wyatt hovering nearby like he was my personal guard, even though he’d told me a million times he didn’t want to be my personal anything.
I sighed. “It’s alright,” I told her. “He’s one of my Link-mates.”
Marion’s white eyebrows rose. “Link-mates? Not a Link?”
I narrowed my eyes at that, not sure if that was just a curious question or an insult. Marion didn’t seem like the insulting type, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Forgive me,” she said, bowing her head slightly.
I cleared my throat, gesturing toward the sheet.
“What am I going to see under here?” I asked.
Marion struggled to crouch down next to me, which had both me and Wyatt reaching for her in case her legs gave out.
Marion sighed, then murmured, “This one was killed by…the enigma, though I do not believe he was an attacker.”
I breathed out slowly.
Of course.
If I’d seen a student with the same cause of death as several attackers, I’d also assume the student was involved in the attack. I knew Landon wasn’t, though, and now I was eager to see what Marion’s theory was.
“He threatened the enigma then,” I suggested.
Marion shook her head. “He has two different signatures I can sense. The enigma killed him, yes, but that was his body. His brain…” She looked uncomfortable for a moment, then gestured for me to pull back the sheet.
Landon looked the same as I remembered from the night before. He was dead, his skin now ashen and stiff, though his expression was peaceful.
But I barely held back a jolt of shock.
There were…veins protruding from his temples.
Dark, purple-red and blue veins snaked down Landon’s face from his hairline like a morbid lightning strike.
I’d never seen anything like it, and never wanted to see it again.
It was unnatural in a way that made my hackles rise with a cold sweat down my neck.
The shadows replaced the sheet immediately.
“That’s not from our enigma.” I croaked.
“Not at all,” Marion murmured, her blue eyes watching me intently. “This is a telepathic injury. One I have not seen in many years.”
I rubbed my eyes, then my temples, half expecting to feel veins bulging.
“You’ve seen this type of injury before?” I asked.
Marion didn’t reply for several seconds, and when I glanced at her, she looked uncomfortable.
“My Prince, it is quite…I don’t want to offend–”
“Go on,” I encouraged, waving my hand.
“I have only seen such injuries about a decade ago, when Her Grace, the Crown Princess…suppressed the knowledge of your…accident.”
My throat went dry. My balance faltered.
I heard Wyatt’s boots in the crunchy grass behind me, and I held up a hand to stop him. Thankful as I was that my best friend was here for me, I was still pissed at him.
“My mother has caused injuries like this?” I breathed.
“It is a telepathic injury. Any Telepath overexerting their affinity will cause an injury such as this.” Marion explained.
A telepathic injury that Skye didn’t cause.
She’d been in his mind, though. Surely she’d felt the Telepath that’d done this…which I would have known about if she trusted me and Wyatt wasn’t an idiot.
So what had truly killed Landon? Did Skye manage to stop his heart in time, or had the Telepath sensed the end was near and killed him to tie up loose ends?
“Looks painful,” I whispered.
“It is especially painful,” Marion said, pursing her lips when I looked at her. “One of the citizens Her Grace had…worked on was conscious and…in quite a bit of pain when I healed him.”
“And he was fully healed?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
Marion nodded, but it was stilted. “I visited him once after the healing, where he stays in a long-term care facility.”
Fucking hell.
I knew my mom could be vicious but that seemed downright cruel. I flexed my tattooed arm.
Time for a subject change.
“Has Lena Iykos been informed of his cause of death?” I rasped, nodding toward Landon.
Marion shook her head.
“Let’s keep it that way for now,” I said. “Until we know more about what’s going on here, I’d like to keep this under wraps. There’s no reason to set everyone off if we’re not sure what we’re facing.”
“I agree, my Prince. Lena Iykos is in the reunification center. I am assuming you’ll be speaking with her to deliver the news.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “And where would the reunification center be?” I asked sheepishly.
“The dining hall, my Prince.” Marion replied smoothly. “I recommend you not go in alone.” Her bright blue gaze moved over my shoulder, and I turned as I sensed Wyatt drawing closer.
For a moment, I was comforted by his presence, and then I remembered he’d fucking lied to me.
Okay, well, he didn’t lie. He just chose not to tell me vital information. There was a phrase for that, wasn’t there? Lying by omission?
“Any further information on this topic, please give to me directly.” I said quietly. “I don’t want an uproar until we know what’s going on.”
“Agreed, my Prince. I will call you with any updates on our…enigma.”