Blaze of Secrets (Asylums for Magical Threats 1)

Marco implied Jaxton would be spending all of his energy protecting Kiarra, and Marco was right. But maybe, just maybe, something would spark Kiarra’s elemental fire.

Jaxton had had a knee-jerk reaction earlier and might have overreacted to the thought of Kiarra lying to him. Messing with her DNA could’ve caused her abilities to become dormant. Or she’d been tricked into believing they were—but no matter what Kiarra believed about her abilities, Neena was never wrong.

“Marco’s right,” Kiarra said. “I’m more of a liability than an asset. No matter how much I dislike you at the moment, I can’t protect you if something goes wrong, Jaxton. And I won’t have that on my conscience.”

Kiarra wants to protect me? “Don’t worry, pet, we’ll figure something out.”

“What will happen to Garrett? He needs special care and attention right now.” Kiarra leaned forward. “Who will look after him?”

Jaxton felt a stab of guilt, but knew he’d find a way to make it up to his brother. “We’ll meet up with Amma and she’ll take care of him.” He briefly explained how Amma often treated many AMT escapees.

Kiarra frowned. “Do you trust her?”

“Yes.” Although Jaxton didn’t know exactly how Garrett would react to Amma’s care. “You have the rest of the morning to pack. We’ll leave with Garrett after lunch.” He switched his gaze to Cam. “If I leave you two alone, can I trust you to stay put?”

“Like I would upset Neena.”

Jaxton nodded. “Good. Then take this time to answer some of Kiarra’s questions.” Before Cam could reply, he motioned for Marco to follow him and exited the room, not wanting to dwell on the guilt pricking his conscience. The guilt was two-fold—one part for handing over the care of his brother to Amma, the other part for feeling jealous of Kiarra’s concern for Garrett.

Hopefully once they reached Scotland, he could delegate most of Kiarra’s training to his sister—who was also a member of DEFEND—and focus on Sinclair. Kiarra was becoming too much of a distraction.

Chapter Fifteen

Kiarra’s life had become an emotional roller-coaster. Inside the AMT, she’d known what to expect from one day to the next, and was able to control her emotions accordingly. Now, decisions were made at the drop of a hat to send her off to a different continent. No one asked for her opinion, they just expected her to go without a word.

Then Jaxton had disappeared before she’d had a chance to protest, leaving her alone with a sister she’d written off years ago. Cam may have defended her with Jaxton, but Kiarra knew next to nothing about the woman sitting next to her. Cam was a stranger now.

Still, this might be the only chance she ever had to get answers. Life inside the AMT had taught her to never to take things for granted, and this was something she needed to do, no matter how painful the memories.

She turned her body toward her younger sister and again faced the scars and unreadable face from last night. She wond

ered about Cam’s past, but Kiarra was afraid of where those questions might lead, so she started with something safer. “When did you start working with DEFEND?”

“Four years ago.” Cam placed her sheathed knife inside a pocket. “Uncle Alex thought it’d be the best chance for me to find you.”

Kiarra vaguely remembered her uncle, but never placed him as a man of action. Uncle Alex had been a man of law and letters. “He made you join DEFEND?”

Cam shook her head. “No, but in my early twenties Uncle Alex suggested it since he had some contacts within DEFEND. I needed a change and he wanted me to go somewhere that would keep me out of trouble. I tried out, passed the preliminary tests, and here I am.”

She wondered what kind of “trouble” Cam had gotten into. Cam was keeping something from her, but Kiarra was in no position to push. Just hearing that someone had looked for her made Kiarra’s heart swell. But one person was blindingly absent from Cam’s answers, so she asked, “What about our brother?”

Cam’s lips thinned into a line. “That’s another reason you need to find James Sinclair.”

“What does that have to do with Giovanni?”

“Sinclair has him.”

Kiarra’s heart skipped a beat. “What?”

“We were split up when our parents died. Uncle Alex tried to win Gio’s custody, but failed. Sinclair wanted an heir, and Gio was the perfect solution since he wasn’t a first-born that could tarnish his reputation.”

Kiarra was afraid to ask her next question. “Does Gio share Sinclair’s views?”

Cam leaned forward. “I believe there’s hope for him yet, but we need to get him away from Sinclair. Do whatever Neena asks of you, but find a way to get Gio out before it’s too late, before Sinclair takes away another member of our family.”

A chill ran down her spine. “What do you mean before he takes away another member of our family?”

Cam sat back and crossed her arms over her chest. Kiarra thought she wasn’t going to answer, but finally Cam said, “James Sinclair murdered our parents.”