Page 161 of Oathbreaker

“He’s the Engineer of the Middle East.”

Leo doesn’t move a muscle at this revelation.

“Okay, so my father was about to become the head of the shadow government or some shit. You still haven’t told me what that has to do with me.”

Misha gives me a hard look. “Your father made a deal with Morris Winthrope. We still don’t know the full details, but we know it had to do with the sacrifice of you and your sister.”

“My sister?” I growl. Heat radiates from my chest as all this fuckery settles in.

At my side, Leo takes a step toward Misha.

“You need to start saying a lot more words that make sense, Hroshko.” Leo’s voice is dark, menacing, and his aggression is palpable.

“Yes. You were to have a genetically perfect child with Blair Winthrope, and your sister was to be delivered to The Legion.”

“What?” I start to pace, finally putting my gun back into its holster.

My father wanted me to get with Blair and have children with her...for an experiment?

“The accident. Winter’s abduction,” I grind out.

“They wanted to clear everything that stood in their way.”

I stop pacing. “Did you know?” I swallow, but my mouth is dry. I stare right into Misha’s eyes. “Did you know that Winter was going to be abducted?”

Misha’s moment of silence tells me everything I need to know. I lurch over to him, only to be stopped by Leo. “Tell me why I shouldn’t put a bullet in your brain right now. Tell me why we should trust you? You knew she was going to be taken, and you did fuck-all to prevent it.”

Leo’s tense presence at my side mirrors my outrage.

“Wait, H,” Leo interjects, his voice more calm than mine ever could be.

“Don’t you fucking get it? This is about more than any one person. This is about the survival of humanity.” Misha’s voice is low, urgent, and I struggle to wrap my brain around the words.

“Fuck humanity. She was raped repeatedly. Beaten. She was innocent before he took her. Now she’s had to kill, and I know that will stay with her forever.”

Misha’s expression flickers and remorse lands in his eyes, but only for a moment. “I’m very sorry that happened to her. If I could have intervened, I would have. I helped the best way I could.”

His words, with their sincerity, cause me to deflate. I move away from Leo, walking away from them both.

This is too fucking much. I whirl around.

“You keep saying they’re going to bring on the Apocalypse or some shit. How? Be specific.”

Misha squares his shoulders at my words, returning to his computer.

“We’ve figured out that it’s called Elysium.” He motions us to look over his shoulder. When we both move to the side of him at the desk, I try not to choke on vomit.

Pictured are grotesque approximations of humans. People with arms coming from their legs. Faces with no eyes, mouth, or nose. Babies with their heads upside down.

“The fuck is this?” Leo says. He steps away from the computer, bringing the back of his hand up to wipe his mouth. He swallows several times.

“That’s the early stages of what they’ve created. Elysium is their plan to engineer perfect humans that don’t get sick, live forever, and have perfect offspring. They are using the same technology to build a type of super soldier. Think super-fast healing, impervious to bullet wounds.”

Misha continues, flicking through the images one after another.

“Stop,” I say, turning away. I walk back to the sidebar and begin to pour myself a drink. I knock back the finger of whiskey in one shot.

“So they’re trying to build a perfect human. That shit looks far from perfect,” Leo says.

---