The Darkest Star (Origin 1)

“I knew a girl once,” he said. A wry grin appeared on his lips. “You know that saying, right? All great stories start with a girl? It’s true, and this girl . . . she was special. Not because she was the most beautiful. Not that she wasn’t, because I thought she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, but that wasn’t what made her special. She was the kindest and strongest human I’d ever met. She was brilliant and she was a fighter, surviving unimaginable things.”

A twinge of sorrow blossomed in my chest. I already knew this story wouldn’t have a happy ending.

His eyes drifted shut as he tipped his head back against the wall. “She was probably my only real friend—no, she was my only true friend. She wasn’t like me—an Origin. She wasn’t Luxen or a hybrid. She was just a human girl, a tiny thing, who had run away from her home just outside of Hagerstown—a house without a mother, and a father who cared more about getting drunk and high than he did caring for his child.”

Hagerstown? That was where I was from—where I lived before the invasion. What a hell of a coincidence. The world truly was small sometimes.

Luc continued, his eyes still closed. “Somehow she made it from Hagerstown to Martinsburg, a town in West Virginia. I didn’t find her. Paris did, and yes, he was a Luxen. He came across her one night. I don’t even remember what he was doing, but I guess he felt bad for her, so he brought her back with him. She was this filthy, mouthy little thing, about two years younger than me.” The grin appeared again, this time a little sad. “I didn’t like her very much at first.”

“Of course,” I murmured, trying to picture a much younger Luc.

“She never listened to anything Paris or I told her, and no matter how annoyed I’d get with her, she was my . . .” He let out a heavy breath. “She was my shadow. Paris used to call her my pet. Which is kind of offensive when you think about it now, but yeah . . .” A shoulder lifted. “We tried to keep what we were a secret from her, because this was before the invasion, but that lasted all of about fifteen seconds. She wasn’t scared when she learned the truth. If anything, it just made her extraordinarily curious . . . and more annoying.”

A small grin tugged at my lips as I picked up my soda. Now I pictured a young Luc with an impish little girl tagging along behind him.

“Eventually, she grew on me.” The sad smile returned. “She was like a little sister I never wanted, and then as she grew older, as we grew older, she became something entirely different to me.” His eyes closed as a shudder worked its way through him. “I respected her before I even really knew what respect meant. She’d been through so much in such a short life. Things that even I couldn’t comprehend, and I was never quite worthy of her—of her friendship, her acceptance and loyalty.”

A knot formed in my throat. “What was her name?”

His striking eyes held mine as his head tilted to the side. “Nadia. Her name was Nadia.”

“That’s a pretty name.” I toyed with the tab on my soda can. “What . . . what happened to her?”

“Jason Dasher.”

A piercing pain hit my chest as I looked away. I’d known it before I’d even asked it, hadn’t I? My father—the man who I’d just learned was responsible for horrible experiments on innocent Luxen and humans.

My mother’s words came back to me. He made sure that Luc lost someone very dear to him. Oh God. My father had done something to this girl—this girl who Luc spoke of so reverently that it was obvious he had been madly in love with her even at a young age. And probably still was, even though it was painfully clear she was nothing more than a ghost now.

“You apologized at the lake for what he did, but you don’t know what he did. Sylvia does, but she hasn’t told you.”

Curiosity filled me, but so did a hefty dose of dread. I wanted to know, so I would just have to deal with whatever terrible things my father had done. “What did he do?”

He stopped in front of me and knelt with the fluid grace of a dancer. “There is so much you do not know or understand.”

“Then tell me,” I insisted, my fingers denting the can.

A shadow flickered over his features. “I don’t know if—” Luc stopped and turned his head toward the door. A second later there was a knock. “One moment.” Sighing, he rose and went to the door. Grayson stood on the other side. “I thought I made it pretty clear I didn’t want any interruptions?”