Page 75 of Heir of Ashes

I got up and wet the dish towel, then began to clean up the wound. It was nasty—the skin torn, mixed with paint, plaster, and blood. The bone on his middle finger was visible. It must have hurt like a bitch.

I cleaned his knuckles as gently as possible, rinsing the towel when it became too bloody to continue. Logan remained silent, his heavy eyes on me, giving no indication that he felt any pain. When I rinsed the towel a third time, Logan clasped my hand over his and stopped me. He pried the towel from my hand, tying it around his palm and fingers with his uninjured hand and teeth.

When I met his gaze again, I saw the flash of fury, the barely-leashed violence simmering in the stormy gray of his eyes.

“Did he—did he try anything? Touch you?” he asked in a voice gone rough.

My face heated with mortification, and I hastily shook my head. “No. No.”

I clenched my fists, then unclenched them again. He was dead … and in that particular moment, it felt more than just right, it felt good. Dr. Dean got exactly what he deserved. As for Remo, the world was a safer place without his influence. Itdidn’t mean the images wouldn’t still haunt me, just that I had no regrets. Did that make me a monster?

“You don’t seem surprised about Remo Drammen,” I remarked to keep my mind from providing me with images of the carnage yet again. Angry, yes, but there hadn’t been any shock.

“No.”

“You already knew.” I felt a tug of resentment at that.

“No. But it didn’t surprise me Mr. Drammen had a hand in it. Especially after Vegas. I knew there was something brewing, but I couldn’t place my finger on it. In fact, I thought it had to do with Archer and keeping me occupied, keeping me fumbling to protect the only person who could help me break Archer out.”

Logan’s previous words echoed in my mind like a faraway thought.… She gets in the wrong hands and it’s a fucking disaster. I believe she doesn’t even know what she is.

“But you knew what I was all along.” This time, the accusation was clearer, carrying some of the resentment and bitterness with the words. God knew what else he knew and wasn’t telling.

“Not all along.” He paused a moment before adding, “I had a suspicion, but nothing concrete, nothing to base my suspicions on. Until things began adding up. The Society wanted you so badly they weren’t discussing payment. Archer was looking for a scion, Mr. Drammen was after you. But I only really connected the dots when you mentioned who your father was. That’s when the puzzle pieces fell into place. I knew then Archer had been tricked and that the Society and Mr. Drammen were in cahoots. Before then, I thought Fosch’s daughter had been secluded away from civilization. No one ever mentioned to me what happened to you … where they hid you. If they did, I can’t remember. It happened during a time when I wasn’t inthe right frame of mind to process it.” He shook his head and shifted directions. “I was going to let Archer explain things to you, things I myself am not sure about or don’t know the answer to.” He caught my hand in his uninjured one, squeezed gently, then let it go. “I wasn’t hiding anything from you, Roxanne, I just thought you’d have questions, and Archer should be the one to answer them.”

I nodded once, understanding what he meant, then snorted. “I don’t think so. If he wanted to help out, he should have tried it a long, long time ago, preferably before the PSS took me.”

“I don’t know why that is. But I doubt Archer knew. He never talked about you, no one in the clan did. I thought it … no, I didn’t. I never thought about it. It was something that happened and was sorted out and put aside. It could be because Fosch and Archer, they were close. Maybe no one wanted to talk about him, bring up the hurt.” He took a sip of his cold coffee before he went on. “Before he left a few weeks ago, he told me the Society had gotten hold of a scion and he was going to investigate, since asking for an account of every scion would take a while with clan members scattered the way they are.”

“But that’s not what I heard.”

Logan raised his eyebrows in question.

“The way I gathered, everyone knew where I was,” I said, recalling General Parkinson’s words. “They just didn’t care.”Because I’m a half-breed.

“That’s not true. Archer isn’t like that. Even if he didn’t care about you, everyone knows Fosch sacrificed himself for you. For that reason alone, Archer would have made sure you stayed safe, no matter what.”

I didn’t say anything.

“Look, Roxanne, all I’m saying is that something is wrong. To begin with, whatever happened, whatever the reason,Archer wouldn’t have permitted a scion to be left in the clutches of humans. If for no other reason than to avoid exposing the clan. Most clan members don’t even use their real names. Almost all acquire a human job on the side to keep people’s curiosity at bay. Dean was a liar. He’d have told you that to cause chaos, have you distrust your own kind. To keep you from reaching out—”

“Dr. Dean told me nothing,” I snapped. “Even if he did, I don’t even know who this clan is, where they are, or how to reach out to them in the first place.” I pulled my hair back, tying it in a messy bun, trying to keep my anger at bay. Whatever had been done to me, it wasn’t Logan’s fault. I repeated what General Parkinson had told me. “He did say these Rejected were a secretive bunch and expressed his anger that I had been left to the mercy of the Scientists legally, with guardianship documents.” I remembered what Dr. Dean had told me and added, “Dr. Dean did tell me my mother—Elizabeth,” I corrected, “didn’t mention anything to me because it was one of the stipulations in the document. They were afraid to let me loose among mankind”—my lips twitched—“lest I cause mayhem with my superpowers.”

“General Parkinson was mistaken,” Logan said with conviction.

I cocked my head to the side, remembering something else General Parkinson had said. “He also told me one of my kind helped me in Vegas. You sure know a lot about this clan.” Back then, I thought he had lumped us preternatural beings in one category, but now … I focused on him. On his aura. I had never seen my own aura. For all I knew it could be double-stranded like in a DNA helix: green and yellow in color.

“I’m not like you, no,” he said calmly, his eyes meeting and holding mine. “I told you, Archer found me when I was just a baby in New York.”

When I didn’t say anything, he asked, “Can’t you sense it? My wolf?”

I grunted.

“Look, I’m not sure if someone from the clan tried to help back in Vegas. They’re not very accepting of my presence. It’s been an uphill battle for a long time, an issue I’ve been working on.”

I didn’t sense a lie. Besides, I could feel his wolf. And eventually, I’d meet Archer.

I shrugged and finished telling him about what happened. About Lee, about what happened to my father, how at the end the Rejected and Sidhe had gathered to watch the punishment, how she belittled my kind for letting a human raise me. I didn’t tell him about the bargain. For some reason, I didn’t think it was a good idea. There wasn’t enough trust yet between us.

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