Page 71 of The Syphon King

“Well, whatever you do, don’t let her hear you say that,” Pain said.

“Why?” Quantum asked.

For some reason, all stares landed on Harlow, pissing him the fuck off. “Funny how I never get blamed when he’s being brilliant, but on the rare occasion his evolving humanity data slips, it’s eyeball city for me.”

They all turned at the knock on the door and Sync hurried to it. “Who is it?”

“Lucy.”

Harlow nodded quickly. “Let her in, she’s bringing us an update.”

“She knows?” Kult panicked.

“Yes, I had to tell her,” he said, waving her over to their group.

“We’ve been consoling her,” she announced quietly. “She still thinks she’s having a miscarriage and at the moment it’s all she’s thinkingabout.” She leveled her compassionate, worried eyes on Harlow. “Do we know what the next step is?”

“It’s like we’re planning a surprise party for her death,” Kult said, appearing sick.

Lucy shook her head at him. “She will be shocked and devastated but we will help her see it’s far better to lose a child that never existed than one who did. She will understand this.”

“Why does she seem so sure?” Kult asked Harlow.

“Because...” She paused and Kult looked at her, then Harlow, then back at her. “Little one, please finish your sentence.”

She shot a worried look at all of them. “It was a confession. Those are private.”

“Does it relate to this situation?” Kult pushed.

She nodded with a somber, “It does.”

“Then we’ll treat it like a legal issue.” He gave Harlow raised brows.

“Uh, yes, legal,” he said, looking at Quantum. “What was that law again?”

He took all of two seconds to produce, “Under the Tarasoff rule, if a...clergy determines that a patient is at risk of injury, the... therapist is required to take reasonable steps to protect that patient orperson, which... may include notifying others that could prevent the harm.”

All those hesitations meant he’d found loopholes in the law. He also realized Lucy had toldhimabout the abortion and now she worried about privacy and confessions. Because she washisangel. “Brilliant,” Harlow said getting stares. “That he knew the law,” he added.

“Well...” she began in a whisper. “Shehaslost a child before and understands such a pain.”

The wave of sick doom washing through the room was fuckingtangible. “Holy fuck,” Pain whispered. “When did she lose a child?”

“It was an abortion,” Lucy forced around strained breaths. “She was only seventeen. It was against her wishes,” she added in a distressed whisper in her defense. “She named her daughter even though she wasn’t sure the gender.”

Kult took a couple steps and put his back to the group as Pain stood there, the only sign of observable life twitching in his jaw.

Seeing Lucy on the verge of tears, he went and wrapped his arms around her, selfishly celebrating he’d gotten a reason. She hid her face in his chest, and he stroked her silky cheek with the backs of his fingers.

“Who all knows the truth about the...current non-pregnancy?” Sync asked her.

She pulled out of his arms and turned. “Only the Sisters.”

Kult’s head swiveled around to Harlow. “Only the Sisters. Plural.”

Lucy nodded, oblivious. “We don’t keep such secrets when it’s in the interest of the person for all the sisters to know as it was in this case,” she assured with many nods.

Harlow got her back in his arms. “You did the right thing.”

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