Puzzled, I looked to Thayde. He was so focused on his brother, he didn’t even notice.
“I asked her why and she said she needed me to be on her side. When I demanded to know what was going on she told me to just ‘do as I was told’. She wanted me to do something,” his throat caught and his shaking pulled at his hair nervously. “She wanted me to,” he voice wavered.
“She wanted Gavran to kill Limus.” Flynn said, finishing the sentence for him. His icy stare chilled me.
“What?” Thayde’s voice echoed off the walls. “Why? He can’t remember anything!”
“She said she didn’t want any loose ends. When Gavran said he wouldn’t do it, she said if he didn’t, she would make him pay dearly.”
Flynn wouldn’t lower his gaze. More than anything I wanted to read his mind, but I didn’t. Instead, I waited. Gavran shuddered and Flynn finally averted his eyes, patting his friend on the shoulder.
“You need to tell them the rest.”
Gavran looked up, tears streaming down his face. “I don’t remember killing him.”
The ensuing silence was deafening.
“Limus is dead?” Thayde finally broke the eerie quiet. “You killed him?” Thayde directed the question to his brother who nodded. “When?”
“This morning,” he cried out, dropped his head into his hands. “I don’t remember doing it. I just remember standing over him with a knife in my hands and blood all over me. He was staring up at me, his mouth open and his eyes, they were,” he pushed away from the table and hunched over himself in the chair. “I don’t remember doing it.”
Empathy pulled through me, forcing me to my feet and I made my way around the table and knelt before Gavran. When I touched his shoulder, his chin jerked up, his weary red eyes torn with conflicting emotions; disgust, anger, and fear. When I held my arms to him, he fell into my embrace, wrapping his arms around my waist, his head on my arm and lay in my lap on the floor.
Gavran had not been held properly since he was a child and he cried his heart out lying in my arms. I wrapped him in my aura, blanketing him in love and comfort. His sobs shook his frail body and when he finally became still, I leaned my head on his shoulder.
“I’m going to read your mind now, Gavran, is that okay?” I whispered into his ear and he nodded.
Pushing the orb slightly, his memories instantly flew into me. There was so much more he hadn’t been able to tell me. The guilt over killing his father had been too much to bear. He was suicidal. There was much I had to share with my family. However, the one thing I needed to tell Gavran was the most important for the moment.
“Can you please sit up?” I asked.
Embarrassed, he pulled away, wiping his red face.
“You did not kill your father,” I began and held up a hand as he began to object. “It was a Genif. Your sister sent one to invade a little girl’s body while we were in Moorea. She warned me that she was still coming after me. I got rid of it but I think it visited you before it came to me. You don’t remember it because it took over your body. It killed your father, not you.”
He didn’t understand. “But my hands did the deed,”
“No, you weren’t in control of them. You didn’t kill him.”
“I didn’t?” He looked at Flynn and his brother, hope splashed across his face.
“No.” I said with finality. “You could say that Herra did it as it was she who ordered the Genif.”
I stood, offering my hand to Gavran. He took it, standing awkwardly and hugged me.
“Thank you,” he mumbled into my neck, “for healing me. For bringing me back to my brother. For everything.”
“You’re welcome.” I patted his thin back and when he pulled away, I leaned into Thayde. “We need to sit down with the family. I’ll do the talking, okay?” The two friends looked relieved, though Flynn was clearly still angry with me. “I know everything.”
CHAPTER FOUR
NAIRA
“Lars, you need to sit down.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re not going to like what I have to say.”
My soon to be uncle-in-law plopped himself into our single couch and twiddled his thumbs. Aletheia placed herself along the armrest next to him and draped her arm around his shoulder. Mom and Tammer sat squished together, looking apprehensive next to Hadassah. Flynn and Gavran sat nervously next to Thayde and me.
“Herra is gathering an army. She’s in hiding and the reason why we haven’t been able to find her is because she has found the perfect hiding place.”
Tammer had that look on his face he always did when trying to read my mind. But I had figured out how to block people from doing it and put up a shield. He stopped almost as soon as he started and smiled faintly, looking away. I continued.