The Darkest Star (Origin 1)

He laughed under his breath. “I don’t have parents.”

I frowned. Luxen totally had parents, but then I figured out what that must’ve meant. Luc’s parents were dead, either before the invasion or during. Maybe they had—

“They didn’t leave me money, either,” he cut in, and my eyes narrowed. “I knew a guy once who had been really good with money. His name was Paris. Learned a lot from him.”

Paris? What an odd name. Sounded familiar. Wait. That was a real person in history, right? “Where is Paris now?”

“Dead.”

“Oh. I’m . . . I’m sorry.”

His back was stiff as he lifted a hand, thrusting his fingers through his hair. “Do you know? Wait. Of course you don’t.” He laughed, dropping his hand as he twisted. “Paris was like a father to me. He was a good man, and I . . . I got him killed. That’s not an exaggeration. I involved him in something—something reckless, before the invasion, and he died for it.”

I didn’t know what to say to that.

“I’ll get back to that part. You want to know why I keep saying I’m not a Luxen? It’s because I’m not.”

I cocked my head to the side and folded my arms. “Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because it’s the truth.” He faced me, and I sort of wished he’d kept his back to me. “I’m an Origin.”

I blinked once and then twice. “You’re a what?”

One side of his lips kicked up. “An Origin. The offspring of a Luxen and a mutated human.”

Several moments passed as I stared at him. “A mutated human?” A hoarse laugh escaped me. “You know what, I think I just need to find Kent and—Holy crap.”

Luc was suddenly right there, towering over me. He wasn’t touching me, but he was close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from his bare skin. “I have no reason to lie to you. None. You need to understand that I have absolutely nothing to gain.” His gaze met mine. “And everything to lose by telling you what the vast majority of the world doesn’t know.”

I swallowed as I held his stare. “What do you have to lose?”

A long moment passed before he answered. “Everything.”

My heart lurched in my chest. “Then why would you risk everything by telling me anything?”

“Good question.” His head tilted slightly. “But you want to the truth and I’m feeling chatty. The question is: Are you willing to listen?”

Part of me want to find my bag and get the hell out of here, but I did want the truth and I could decide when this was all over if he was lying or not. I nodded. “I’m willing to listen.”

“Perfect.” He turned, and in a blink of an eye, he was in front of the fridge, door open. He grabbed two Cokes. “There’s a lot the public doesn’t know.”

Our fingers brushed as I took the Coke he offered me. I thought about what my mom had said about the public not knowing everything. My grip on the can tightened. “Does it have to do with the group my father worked in? The Daedalus?”

A wry twist of his lips appeared as he nodded. “Why don’t you take a seat?”

Exhaling roughly, I looked around and decided the couch was the safest place. I walked over and sat on the edge. It was a wide and deep couch, and if I scooted all the way back, I’d have to roll out of it.

“Your mother told you that the Luxen had been here for a while, right? And that the Daedalus worked on assimilating them into society, hiding them. That’s not all they did.” Luc strode past me, placing his unopened can on the end table. “You see, the Luxen are hard to kill, something the world learned during the invasion.”

Shivering, I twisted and watched him.

“It’s not just because they’re powerful, able to tap into what they call the Source and utilize it as a weapon.” Luc stopped by a dresser, yanking a drawer open. “It’s also because they can use it to heal themselves, which is what Chas did when he returned to his true form. But the really interesting thing is what they can do to humans with that power.”

“Kill them?” I asked, popping open the can.

He chuckled as he pulled out a long-sleeve black shirt. Thank God. “They can heal humans.”

My hand jerked, and carbonated goodness seeped over my fingers. “What?”

As he pulled the shirt over his head, I looked away before I got caught up in watching all those muscles start doing weird and interesting things. “Luxen can heal anything from minor scrapes to near-fatal gunshot wounds. Of course, they have to want to do that, and most never did before the invasion, because their way of life—their safety—harbored on the fact that humans didn’t know they existed. Running around and healing people with their hands is going to draw attention. People who did know the truth ended up disappearing. Even now. People who know the truth go missing. The truth is dangerous.”