Blaze of Secrets (Asylums for Magical Threats 1)

Kiarra’s stomach dropped. “How?”

Cam looked Kiarra straight in the eye. “He staged their deaths to look like a car accident, but a few years ago, I found a witness who knew the truth. Renee and Arturo Melini had become liabilities with their anti-AMT actions, so Sinclair took care of it.”

“But our mom was James Sinclair’s sister. Why would he want to kill his own sister?”

Cam’s face became hard. “If there’s one thing you need to remember, it’s this: blood doesn’t necessary make a family. Ambition and power change people in unpredictable ways.”

“But our mother was his younger sister…” Cam’s face looked too much like what Kiarra remembered of their mother, and she had to look away.

“Kiarra.” At the command in Cam’s voice, Kiarra looked back. “The man does whatever it takes to get what he wants. Even members of the High Council are afraid of him. Our mother was just another obstacle, just like you will become one the moment he discovers you escaped from the AMT.”

You are just an obstacle to him. Ty and his researchers might want her alive and whole, but if James Sinclair found out his first-born niece had escaped and was at large, he would do what was necessary. If he could orchestrate his own sister’s death, then Sinclair wouldn’t think twice about hurting a first-born niece he’d only met once or twice.

She was now an even bigger burden to Jaxton, Neena, and all of the others trying to protect her. “Cam, I can’t go alone with Jaxton. I don’t want him or anyone else to get hurt because of me.”

Cam put a hand on Kiarra’s shoulder and squeezed. “Neena does things for a reason. I trust her, and whether you’ll take my word on the matter or not, I’m not going to interfere, just keep an eye on you as best as I can. Jaxton owes Neena a debt for his brother, and he’ll see it through.”

From what Kiarra had learned of Jaxton over the last few days, he would see his debt through, even if it took his life.

Still, she was tired of being helpless; she wanted her elemental fire back.

She reached out to the south, but felt nothing. Cam looked at her outstretched hand and said, “What happened to your fire, Kiarra?”

Her instinct told her to tell Cam the truth, so she did. “The AMT messed with my DNA and took it away.”

Cam’s face hardened, and Kiarra decided to change the topic to avoid upsetting Cam further. “Everyone keeps saying to trust Neena, but I learned the hard way not to rely on one person when it comes to your own safety. What if it doesn’t all work out? I can’t protect myself, let alone anyone else.”

Cam stood up and pulled Kiarra to her feet. “I know trust takes time, so in the meantime, we need to ease your fears and teach you a way to protect yourself.” She took out a small handgun and gave it to Kiarra. “We have a few hours, and I’m going to show you how to use this.”

Jaxton had left Kiarra alone with Cam, confident that the two wouldn’t try to escape. While the two sisters had their own issues to deal with, leaving Cam with Kiarra had freed up Marco. Darius had found a way to secure the shadow-shifter for transport and had left last night, so only Marco and Taka stood in front of him in the CCTV monitoring room.

He’d filled them in on the relation between Kiarra, Cam, and James Sinclair. It was time for Jaxton to send his remaining men and new charges on assignment. They would have to scatter, but he wasn’t about to waste their talents by merely sending them into hiding. “While Kiarra and I head to Edinburgh, I need you two to take care of some business. The Four Talents have appeared and we need to find them.”

The room was quiet, each man taking in Jaxton’s words. While he knew them well enough to know they wouldn’t think he was crazy, even he had needed a moment to digest the news earlier.

Taka crossed his arms over his chest. “Do we know who any of them are yet?”

Relief filled Jaxton at their trust in him. “Neena has confirmed the identity of the Fire Talent, but we need to find the other three.”

Taka made the leap. “It’s Kiarra, isn’t it?”

Jaxton nodded. “I know accompanying her alone to Edinburgh is risky, but I’m not about to defy Neena’s orders.”

The men murmured their assent before Marco rubbed his hands together. “Does this mean we get to go to Chichen Itza?”

In the legends about the Four Talents, the Feiru High Council had always a designated meeting place for a Talent to go and leave a mark or message for the other Talents to find. The designated message center had changed over the centuries, but in the most recent legends of the Four Talents, the designated site had been Chichen Itza, the ruins of a once great Mayan city in southern Mexico.

The Feiru High Council no longer designated sites as message centers, but if any of the other Talents had awoken, there was a chance that one of them would leave a clue at the last known site—Chichen Itza. “Since Marco speaks Spanish, I’ll be sending him to Chichen Itza.” Marco did a fist-pump in the air, but Jaxton put up a hand to stall Marco’s celebration. “Cam and her team will investigate the ruins while you stay out of sight and watch their backs.”

Marco’s excitement died. “Boss, you can’t be serious. We barely know anything about Camilla, and I’ve never met her team. I doubt they’ll listen to orders from me.”

“They won’t have to because you and Cam will be on separate assignments, with overlapping but different objectives. Basically, Cam won’t know that you’ll be shadowing her.” He hadn’t discussed it with Cam, but Jaxton had a feeling that Kiarra’s sister wouldn’t mind heading a mission. He’d checked her records and Camilla Melini had a high mission-success rate. “I’ll go over more of the details with you before I leave at lunchtime.”

Marco looked like he wanted to say more, but merely nodded.

“What about me?” Taka asked.

“Taka, I need you to find someone with access to the experiments inside the F-block and find out what you can from them, especially