Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Silas watched him, alertness in his gaze.
“Do you recognize this symbol?” Vero unfolded the paper to show the symbol with the circle and three slashes.
Silas stared at it intently. “No. It’s kind of a dumb symbol.”
Exasperation clapped through Vero. “You’ve never seen anything like this? You’ve lived for three hundred years.”
Silas looked from the paper to Vero. “No, it’s a circle with three lines through it. It has no significance to me whatsoever and, frankly, I can’t think of any kingdom through time, at least that I’ve studied, that had such a symbol. Why? What is it?” He sounded genuinely puzzled.
“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking you.”
Silas shoved the paper back at Vero. “I have no clue. Where did you see it?”
The sight seemed burned into his brain. “The killer cut the symbol into the two dead females, and it was branded onto a couple of the attackers who tried to take me out last night.”
Silas looked at the paper and back up at Vero. “Then what the fuck are you talking to me about? Go talk to the guy in the next cell. He’s one of the attackers, right?”
Yeah. The only one Vero had allowed to live. Hopefully he’d be conscious by now. Vero stood and replaced the paper. “That’s my plan.” He turned toward the door, his head starting to pound. All he needed was a blasted migraine to make this day perfect. He reached for the doorknob and paused, turning around. “You’ve been in the main Kurjan nation for quite a while. Do you have knowledge regarding the experiments conducted by our scientists?”
Silas’s eyebrows rose. “No. I’m a computer guy and a pilot. Sometimes a soldier. I don’t have anything to do with science.” He shivered. “Seriously, some of the weird things they’ve done, like creating that virus to take out the vampires. I mean, who does that?”
It was a good question, really.
Silas shrugged. “Although I do appreciate the Sunshine Cure. You were a part of creating that, weren’t you?”
“I’ve just tweaked it through the years. I wasn’t the genius behind it, unfortunately.” How Vero missed the hours he’d hid out in the labs during his childhood.
Silas nodded, his eyebrows lowering. “Yeah. Most of those scientists were killed by your uncle. I always figured it was a good thing I didn’t want to go into the medical field.”
“What about Paxton?” Vero asked. “Did you know anything of the experiments with crossbreeding demons and Kurjans?”
“God no,” Silas breathed. “That’s insane, as far as I’m concerned.”
Just great. Vero had searched Paxton’s room, and their father’s journal wasn’t there. It had described the details of Paxton’s lineage but hadn’t mentioned Vero’s. Why did he have a demon brand on his hand? “Do you remember if any of the scientists or doctors who experimented with demon females lived?”
Silas eyed him. “Not a one. You don’t want to dig further into your half-brother’s genetics, Vero. Let people forget what he is and let him lead. Enough of us are concerned about his lineage, and only the fact that you’re backing him is reassuring us. You’re Kurjan through and through.”
Yet he might not be. Fuck. Vero opened the door. “I’ll be back later.”
“How long are you keeping me here?” Silas asked. “You know I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Vero’s gut feeling said the male was telling the truth. “I know. I’ll talk to Paxton.”
“Why? You’re the enforcer. Maybe it’s time you acted like it.”
Fire lanced through Vero. “If I acted like it, you’d be bleeding on the floor right now.”
The heavy door groaned as Vero stepped out of the cell, leaving Silas behind with his sharp tongue and unhelpful musings. The dim light of the hallway stretched out before him, casting long, flickering shadows against the rough stone walls. The cold air hung oppressive here, thick with the scent of damp earth and the faint metallic tang of blood that seemed to permeate everything underground. Vero rubbed his temples.
The symbol—the damn circle with three slashes—was an enigma, one he couldn’t afford to ignore. It was etched not only into the bodies of the victims but into the fabric of their fragile peace. Silas’s dismissive remarks about it being “dumb” didn’t help. Vero couldn’t shake the sense that it was more than just a symbol. It was a message. A declaration.
He reached the door to the adjacent cell and paused. His instincts gnawed at him, whispering that he wasn’t prepared for what he might find inside. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open.
The male inside was slumped against the wall, his face battered and bruised, though his chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm. This was the lone survivor of last night’s attack. Vero had personally ensured he wouldn’t die before they got answers, though his condition suggested he might wish he had.