With the others up ahead, I hang back with Nova and Sam. She rubs his back. “Are you alright? How did you find him?”
“I sensed him,” Sam replies. Confusion comes off him in clouds. He’s barely able to think straight. Sam stumbles on his words. “He said he’s my brother.”
“He said what?” My forehead creases into a frown. I’m picturing the birthmark. The one I thought was fake.
Nova is looking at Sam’s wrist, clearly thinking the same thing. “Could that be possible?” she asks me.
I press my lips together, trying to reel back through the timeline of Sam’s life that we learned from Sarah. “I mean, it’s notimpossible,” I say.
Sam looks like he might throw up.
“But I think we should hold back on trusting Nico until we’ve heard his story.” I pat Sam’s back. “So far, I’m not convinced.”
“Right.” Sam looks up at the cabin. He draws in a deep breath. “Then let’s go hear the fucker out.”
* * *
Inside,Kole and Mack toss Nico onto the couch. Nova sits on the coffee table in front of him, and we crowd around her in an arch. I’m just about ready to waterboard this fucker to get the truth out of him, but clearly, she wants to try a different approach.
“Nova…” Nico meets her eyes, tugging a little against his restraints.
Calmly, she shakes her head at him. “No small talk. Just tell me what you came here to say.”
Nico’s gaze darts from Nova to Sam. His jaw twitches before he sucks in a deep breath. “Ragnor is my father.”
Sam’s eyes widen. He rubs his arms and takes a step back. “Your father?” he mutters.
Nico nods fervently. “He’sourfather,” he says. “But I didn’t know anything about you until a few days ago.”
Nova crosses her arms impatiently, as we are all waiting for the rest of the story.
Stumbling a little over his words, Nico continues, “Ragnor never wanted anything to do with me. He made me believe that if I proved myself—if I did what he asked time and again—eventually he’d welcome me. But it was all a lie.” He hangs his head. Shame vibrates on his skin. “I was raised to be a spy. A mole. A pawn for H.E.L. to use in their games.” He meets Nova’s gaze. “I had no idea what he was going to ask me to do that night—the night they pulled me up on stage and made me pretend to be Sam.” He swallows hard. “He had Eve burn the scars into my chest, told me all I had to do was say I was this guy named Sam. Get you to believe I was your brother. That’s it. Then, when you guys came and pulled us out…” Nico looks around at the rest of us, “I was told to stay close. Watch. Listen.”
“They faked that too?” Sam steps forward and sits down next to Nova. He’s pointing at Nico’s wrist. “The birthmark?”
Nico shakes his head. A wry smile crosses his lips. “No. This is real.” He looks pleadingly into Sam’s eyes. “I really am your brother.” Then he looks at Nova. “Which I guess, in a way, means—” He stops when Nova narrows her eyes at him, disgust swimming in her face.
“If Ragnor is your father,” Kole’s gruff voice interrupts, “who is your mother?”
“I’m not sure I can tell you that,” Nico mutters.
“Why?”
“Because you hate her, and it’ll make you hate me even more. But I love her, and I don’t want her dragged into this.”
As Kole’s eyes widen, I know exactly what he’s going to say. The name, “Kayla,” drips from his tongue like acid.
Nico gives the smallest nod. “She’s under his control, too.” He looks furtively from Kole to Nova. “She was his mate, but he rejected her when she was pregnant with me. Left her for a human.” He glances at Sam. “A woman called Elena.”
As the pieces of his past both blur and slide into place at the same time, Sam looks like he might vomit. Nova clasps his hand tight with hers.
“If you came here to tell us Ragnor’s the one controlling the League, you’re too late. We already knew that.” She draws her shoulders back and tips her chin defiantly. “And if you came here for some kind of happy family reunion—”
“That’s not why.” For the first time, frustration creeps into Nico’s voice. Meeting Nova’s eyes, inching forward on the couch, he says, “I came here to tell you what Ragnor is planning. I came to tell you he knows where you are.”
19
SAM