Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 131364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Her seconds had stood with her and Adam. Saoirse hadn’t come, his sister’s maternal heart not built for violence. But she’d waited for him on the plateau and embraced him with fierce love when he returned home. “You did the right thing, Bear,” she’d said, holding his face in her hands. “He thought to prey on our family. He paid the price.”
Saoirse’s approval had mattered. He’d idolized her as a little boy, and still valued her opinions now that he was wing leader. His big sister had always been whip-smart—and had a generous heart, but one that did not forgive trespasses against those she loved.
Maternals might abhor violence, but should the Canyon be invaded, Saoirse and others of her ilk would shoot out the eyes of any invaders without flinching in order to help the fledglings escape. Not wanting violence and being ready to use it as a necessary weapon were two wholly different things.
“Will you tell me more about your family?” Eleri’s question was hesitant.
“Yes,” he said, stepping back so he could look at her face. “I want you to know them. I especially want you to meet my sister—she’s going to love you.” He pushed back a strand of hair that had become stuck to her skin where she’d cried that tear. “Will you tell me more about Reagan?”
A sweep of ebony across her eyes. “He had to bend memories three more times before his death—the authorities used him until he couldn’t stand it anymore.” Her voice had become quieter and quieter, a bleak descent. “He broke when he was asked to bend the memory of a psychopath who happened to have murdered three young boys. The murderer was a Tk. Important. Worth, the order said, more than three innocent lives.”
Flat words without anger or reproach, but her irises had vanished, her eyes obsidian. “He sent me a time-delayed message, a last note. Said he’d always been scared of death so he’d done what they’d asked, but now he knew there were things far worse than death. He told me not to mourn him, and that he was proud of me for living my life with honor.”
No open grief in her voice, nothing but the track of that single tear, but Adam knew his J now, understood that this loss had devastated her. “I’m sorry you lost him,” he said, and it was a truth.
She meant more to Adam than his rage.
“I wish he’d lived to this time.” Eleri swallowed. “The Es say that Js with that facility might be able to help trauma victims by—with their permission—altering their internal memories so the horror doesn’t haunt them night after night.
“It’s not something anyone has ever done—we take memories and morph the imprint, not the actual internal memory—but there are young Js working with Es to figure out whether it might be viable. Wouldn’t that be astonishing, Adam? To have this ability be a healing tool and not a leash used to manipulate?”
“Yes.” He fought back his own tears at the dull wonder in her at the idea that she might’ve been a gift had she been born in this time. One day, she’d understand that she was a gift to him—the best gift of his life.
He didn’t know how long they stood there swathed in the losses of the past, but when they moved it was as one, their hands linked. He plucked a wild berry for her, watched her taste it with a deep concentration.
“My mom taught me about the berries,” he told her, “the other edible plants in the area. She was born to this land, my father the handsome stranger who won her heart.”
“I was born as a result of a fertilization contract,” Eleri said in turn. “I know who my father is—it’s part of my medical history—but he had no hand or say in raising me.”
Adam didn’t wince at the cold-blooded nature of Psy procreation under Silence; that same system had created his mate. “You lived with your mom?”
“Until I was six. Then I was placed permanently in boarding school—a J, even a 9.2, wasn’t much use to them in terms of the family’s bottom line.”
“So they just let you go?” Adam couldn’t process the idea; he’d fight tooth and claw to keep Ollie and the other babies close, where he could protect and shield them. To just eject a child from the nest? No.
“I was scared at first,” Eleri admitted. “But then I met Bram, Saffron, and Yúzé, and I understood happiness for the first time.” Her words ended in a gasp, her eyes trained forward.
The Green Grotto opened out in front of them, a paradoxically secret space created by the way the canyon walls touched at the top high above, while allowing in spears of light that made the water below glow a luminous jewel green.