Kya.
Chaz is gone… Like he has disappeared before she ever even showed up. The fuck?
“What are you doing here?” Ella asks her suspiciously.
“Relax. Leah… It might be the death of me, but I have a soft spot for Leah. Obviously you do, too. Since my sister is back and unharmed, I’m assuming she’s been feeding, which means you aren’t the nose-in-the-clouds goodies I thought you were, either. I’m just here to help Leah right now, because they want her blood cleansed or they want her wasted.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I snarl. It doesn’t feel right to see Karma’s face on the enemy. And as long as she stands by Slade, she’s the enemy.
“I could have been killed for warning you about what Slade was planning. I really do care what happens to Leah,” she says while glaring at me.
“Why?” Ella asks, taking my side.
Kya’s eyes soften, and she clears her throat. “Because Leah actually cares about me. I… I don’t take that lightly. She saved my life.”
Considering what Kya has been through, I guess the magnitude of Leah’s loyalty to her really does mean something.
“Leah trusts you, so… Fuck. What do you know?” I ask, groaning inwardly at how desperate I’m getting to keep my girl safe.
Kya is dressed like a sex toy in high heels. Not sure what that’s about.
She struts in her skin-tight jeans and her scrap of a shirt over to the wall of writing.
“Did you not read the Aquarius book?”
“What we could read of it,” Ella states flatly. “The rest is in a dead hexer language.”
She tenses, but just as quickly she relaxes. The motion still puts me on alert.
“Slade read it to me once Leah was gone. He said the legend was that the Aquarius’s blood had to be cleansed before he or she mated with one from our world. Before he or she confessed a declaration of love or was changed. She’s bound to Zee. Or he’s bound to her. It means he’s hers, and it definitely means she’s his. Their psychic link will get stronger, and their feelings will only grow.”
I swallow against the knot in my throat, while she continues to talk like I’m not standing right here.
“But before she’s changed, before irreparable decisions are made, her blood can be cleansed and she can rid herself of the hex that makes her bloodline cease. As of right now, with the anointed bloodline reignited, they can only carry on if they crossbreed with one of our kind. It’s punishment—irony at its finest. Aquarius are known to be the purest anointed. So the hex is to muddy up the bloodline or watch it cease to exist. Rock and hard place. Catch twenty-two… You
get the idea.”
Ella frowns, and I feel a sick pang in the pit of my stomach.
“So Leah is only drawn to me because of a hex,” I say on a sigh.
Kya turns to face me, studying me. “Nowhere in the story does it state the Aquarius will be drawn to us, despite some translations of it. Slade knows the language. The hexer who did the curse hoped the desperate Aquarius who fulfilled the prophecy would hate every second of being with our kind. Guess that shit backfired.”
Ella squeezes my arm as I relax, and she turns to Kya.
“Slade attacked my family. We can’t let that go. As a courtesy for what you’re doing, I’m giving you a warning.”
Kya’s lips twitch. “Thanks for that. But don’t worry, Princess. Slade is ready for you. But you should remember, he never got to attack Leah, and it was never going to be an attack on your family.”
“My mother and father were attacked the same day as the ‘anonymous tip’ came through. Trying to say it’s a coincidence?” Ella snaps.
Kya looks genuinely confused. “No offense… I get that Slade has shown you special interest, but don’t think for one second you’re that special,” Kya says with a cocked eyebrow. “He wouldn’t risk our limited number of fighters for a diversion tactic. You’re really not that important. Any of you. He just wants Leah dead. He couldn’t care less about your family.”
That has Ella and I both exchanging confused looks.
“Then who attacked them?”
Kya shrugs. “My best guess? The Morgana chick you losers let go. Stupid move. She’s not strong enough to be Master, but she’s strong enough to work for them. You should have killed her before she took a special interest in your group.”