Shit, could it be? “You’re not like the others…”
He snorted indelicately. “No. But I play my part. We all do.”
“All?”
His neutral expression melted, and his eyes grew warm with compassion. “Those of us born with the ability to feel emotion.”
Emotion? He could…Oh god. “You can feel?”
“Yes. There are more of us, but the ancients have been weeding us out and executing us for two generations.”
I shifted and gripped the leather back of the seat in front of me. “I don’t understand. I thought the shining ones craved emotions.”
His expression was wry. “Maybe at one time, but the ancients have since learned that emotions can lead to uprisings, which lead to war. They keep the power by culling those of us who feel. The drug they use on the humans also dulls emotions, keeping the population docile. The blue mist you just saw is a concentrated version of that drug, and it’s not the first time it’s been used on humans. Over the last few decades, humans have woken up en masse several times as each generation becomes more resistant to the drugs in the water and the air. In those cases, the blue mist is used, and the drug is modified.”
“Wait, how do they know how to modify it?”
“They experiment on the human youth.” His gaze was direct, pointed, as if he was waiting for me to make some kind of connection.
Wait… The Hunt? “The children taken in the Hunt?”
“I believe so. Rumor has it there are two projects the human youth are used in, but I don’t know what the other purpose is.”
“They have my sister.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “No child taken is ever seen again.”
My stomach knotted. “There’s still time. She could still be alive.”
“Even if she is, it’s impossible to get into the red zone,” he said.
How did he know so much about the Keep? “I’ve done it before. I just couldn’t get into the room where they were holding her.”
Shock painted his features. “Impressive. Tell me about the room?”
“There was no way to open the door. No lock, no panel, nothing.”
“It’s a biometric door,” he said.
“What is that?”
“The metal is programmed to allow certain individuals inside. It literally allows them to walk through because it recognizes their biometric signature.”
Fuck. “I have to get to her. There has to be a way.”
“Unless you can get into the biotech wing and program your biometric data into their system and link it to the door, then no, there is no way in.” He chewed his lip, thinking.
“Where is the lab?”
He frowned. “Danika, even if you succeed in getting to your sister, there is nowhere to run.”
I locked gazes with him. “But what if there was?”
His eyes narrowed, and I could almost see his brain ticking. “Then I’d help you get into the lab on the proviso that you take me and mine with you.”
“Yours?”
“There’s a small group of us, Danaan like me, who can feel. We want out.”
I needed this, and Killion would just have to help me figure it out. “Done.”
“Lowland expects me to have misted you. He expects you to be docile and calm now.”
In other words, no defiance. “I understand.”
He started the engine. “Let’s go visit your family. We can discuss the other stuff later.”
“Thank you, Airm Marfach.”
He met my eyes in the rearview mirror. “That isn’t my name. It’s my title as royal bodyguard. My name is Slade.”
“In that case, thank you, Slade.”
He drove up to my front door.
“Um…so what does Airm Marfach mean?”
“It means Lethal Weapon.”
5
“She’s here!” Joti’s screech was audible from outside the house.
Slade opted to remain by the car to give me some privacy. The drones hovered around me, but Slade assured me they wouldn’t follow me into the house.
“Get back.” Ma’s voice filtered through the door. “Into the living room.”
Baba’s soothing rumble was next before the door was pulled open and a silver plate, with a tiny flame lit in the center and some Indian sweets arranged on the periphery, was shoved up toward me. Ma said a prayer, a blessing, and wafted the flame toward me.
“Beti, you are alive by the grace of god.” Her eyes brimmed with tears. “We are all so proud of you.”
I caught sight of Baba’s somber face. His brow was furrowed in his classic troubled look. We locked gazes, and an understanding passed between us. He was awake like me, had always been immune to the drug that pacified the population, and he knew what surviving the games meant. He understood what I must have endured… What I must have done, and he knew it was no cause for celebration.
As Ma ushered me into the house, her gaze slipped past me, and her face drained of color. She muttered another prayer before slamming the door shut.
I guess she’d caught sight of my Danaan escort.
“Come, come,” she said, recovering quickly.
I wanted to hug her, to hug Baba, but I was propelled into the living room where a table had been arranged, laden with all my favorite foods. Joti stood by the window, hands clasped in front of her, eyes bright with excitement. Auntiji sat on the sofa with her walking stick resting on her lap.
Like Baba, her expression was troubled. She was a seer, a witch, and of course, she was immune too. How had I not made the connection?
“Can I hug her now?” Joti pleaded.
“Yes, yes,” Ma said impatiently.
Joti launched herself at me, and as I wrapped my arms around her, hugging her to me, the knot in my chest eased. No makeup or clothes could make my family fear me.
“Sit,” Ma said. “Eat. I made all your favorites.”
“She won’t be able to eat everything,” Auntiji said. “I told you to only make a couple of dishes.”
Ma’s face fell, and my chest twinged. This was her way of showing love. She fed us, she cooked for us, and she watched us eat.
Yes, there was no way I’d be able to eat all this food, but I’d be damn sure to try a little of everything. I grabbed a plate and took a little of each dish to please her.
Her eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands together. “See, my beti needs her strength.”
“They’re calling you Winter’s Blade,” Joti said. “Is it true?”
I tapped the dagger at my side. “It is.”
Ma ushered us all into seats at the table, and for a little while, it was as if this was just an ordinary family dinner. Except Nina wasn’t here, and Ravi…Well, Ravi hadn’t been an active member of the family for a long time.
Baba sat opposite me, and I caught him watching me on several occasions. He wanted to say something, but he was waiting for me to finish the food on my plate, which meant it was bad news or something that might upset me. I knew my father too well.
I mopped up the last of the vegetable curry with my chapati and sat back in my seat.
Baba dabbed at his mouth with a napkin then dropped it in his plate, a sign that he too was done.