The Brightest Night (Origin 3)

“Do the contacts know where the unregistered Luxen are being moved to?” I asked, thinking that would be one hell of a risk if so. I could easily imagine the Daedalus kidnapping family members of those who worked there to force the contacts to spill secrets.

“No. The zone is still secure.” Luc rubbed his chin over my head. “Daemon also had a message for us. Cekiah wants to see us first thing in the morning.”27Everyone is staring at me like I’m a freak.

Not everyone. Luc responded as he caught my hand, tugging me back and down where he sat, so I was perched on his knees. Kat isn’t staring at you.

My gaze flicked over a few familiar faces and a whole lot of unfamiliar ones. Vibrant Luxen gazes mingled with ordinary human ones stared back at me in open distrust. Being stared at by a bunch of legit aliens like I was the weird one to be wary of was quite unsettling.

Kat was sitting at the long, conference-style table, her chair pushed back as she gently rocked baby Adam.

That’s because she’s focused on the baby.

Luc folded an arm loosely around my waist. Daemon’s not staring at you.

That’s because he’s staring at his wife and son. Which was true. His dark head was bent as he touched the tiny, sock-covered feet.

Everyone is staring at you because you’re beautiful.

My lips twisted as my stomach grumbled. Luc and I had eaten breakfast about thirty minutes before, but I felt like I hadn’t touched food in a week, and that reminded me of how it had been right before I did the mini-coma thing. Which would be more concerning if I weren’t currently in front of what felt like a firing squad. Uh-huh.

And because you blew up a house with your mind.

I sighed. You’re not helping.

His answering chuckle tickled at my mind. Only Luc would be utterly unconcerned at the moment.

Cekiah cleared her throat, drawing my attention. Her braids were swept back from her face, piled into a fascinating, intricate design that made the dyed blue braids really pop. She didn’t sit at the head of the table. Actually, no one sat at the head. There weren’t even chairs there, which I thought made an interesting statement.

No one here was at the head of anything.

Cekiah’s eyes, a more honeyed color compared to Zouhour’s, were fixed on mine. “I hope you’ve fully recovered.”

I nodded. “I have. Thank you.”

Her gaze slid to the space beyond my shoulder. “I wish the same could be said about Jonas.”

“As do I,” Luc replied smoothly while I tensed.

“Jonas was a good man, and he was doing his job,” an older Luxen male said, his skin still mostly smooth with the exception of a few creases at the corner of his eyes.

“I’m sure he was an amazing person, Quinn, but he shot Evie.” Luc’s tone didn’t change. “Who he was before that no longer matters.”

Daemon looked up at that, and our gazes connected. What he had said to me one evening at Foretoken was all too easy to recall.

We aren’t the bad guys, but we aren’t the good guys, either.

Quinn’s jaw hardened. “No one plays judge or jury here. No one has that kind of power.”

“Are you sure that no one is playing judge or jury?” Luc asked as he surveyed the room. “Sort of seems like that’s what occurring right now. The only difference is that I don’t hide it when I do.”

“Luc,” Cekiah said in soft warning.

He shrugged. “I’m not sure what you want me to say about Jonas other than you should train your humans to be very sure who they are shooting before they pull the trigger.”

Eaton lifted his brows from where he sat on the other side of Cekiah. “Duly noted.”

I didn’t even have to look to know Luc was smiling.

“Any of us would’ve done the same as Luc,” Daemon spoke up, straightening.

“Right or wrong, that’s just the way it is,” Dawson chimed in. He sat beside Dawson, and I wondered if they chose to sit side by side to mess with everyone. He looked down the table at Quinn. “Just like you would’ve done the same if Jonas had shot Alyssa.”

Quinn sat back in his chair, not saying a word, and I had a feeling Alyssa was someone very important to him.

“His silence means he knows exactly what he’d do,” Hunter added from where he sat reclined, a leg kicked up on the table. Serena was next to him. Luckily, today neither were trying to kill me. “But he’s a civilized Luxen.”

Daemon snorted. My eyebrows started to climb up my forehead.

“What happened to Jonas is a shame, one that should’ve been avoided,” Bethany cut in from the other side of Dawson. “But I don’t think we were called to this meeting to discuss that.”

Beth sat so close to Dawson that their arms brushed, and my empty stomach dipped as I recalled the horror in her voice. She’d been so afraid for her daughter, of what I’d done.