Page 121 of Blinding Light

Cyprian’s blood ran cold.

Lights flickered to life, creating a flickering glow in the abandoned parking lot.

A man with platinum curls came forward through the shadows.

“Bekn.” His name fell off Cyprian’s tongue in distaste. It didn’t seem to waver the other man, who smiled a wide, menacing smile.

“Hello again, Cyprian.”

31

Kylix stood outside the enormous front door of the Green Mansion in his usual black cape.

“Cousin.” Moargan stepped outside of the hover car. “I’m glad to see you’re well.” Climbing up the stairs, they stood and faced each other. “I was worried about you.”

“Thank you.” His stoic family member did little but nod in acknowledgment, his tragically handsome face blank as he swept around and walked back inside the house.

But still…Moargan knew better than to ignore the tiny crack in Kylix’s demeanor.

Kylix hadn’t always been like this. There had been a time that they’d played together with their other cousins. But somewhere around his fifteenth birthday—Moargan had been twelve at the time—Kylix had changed. Instead of going out and creating chaos on the streets as he and Helianth did, his cousin had retreated into his own space. Had found comfort in the cold, rather than the warmth.

Kylix had become a machine. Professional. Always in control. Impersonal. The only moments Moargan had seen aflush on his cousin’s skin, a sparkle in those inky-black eyes, was when he let one of his officers please him duringAureates. Most of the time he stayed hidden behind the glass doors.

Today Kylix’s skin was alabaster white. Where possible, he looked even more distant, keeping his black cape as a blanket to shield himself from the rest of the world. And even though he owned his own place, the Luminary had brought him back to the home Moargan had grown up in.

“I was surprised to find your father gone,” Kylix commented as they made their way to his father’s office.

“Yeah.” They settled down on the couches. Refreshments were brought, and judging by the blanket that was still sprawled onto his seat, Kylix must have slept before welcoming Moargan in. “He left me a message early this morning to say that he went back to the hospital.” To say he was surprised when Yure had confirmed that Milanov had left the moment he’d passed his three-hour ‘break’ to go to the hospital, was an understatement.

“For your mom?”

Moargan let out a long breath. “Yeah,” he said again. “She’s—Father believes her Dariux is trying to connect with us.”

Kylix slumped back onto his seat, his eyes glassy from fatigue. “I’m so sorry about Helianth.” His voice broke. Moargan felt his own chest tighten at the sight. He hadn’t seen this much emotion from his cousin in a very long time. “He’s my cousin, myresponsibility.”

“We are all responsible,” Moargan corrected. “I won’t let you carry that weight by yourself.”

Kylix grimaced but didn’t respond.

“Can you remember what happened?” Moargan asked.

“We were exhausted,” Kylix cleared his throat, voice sounding strained. “We’d been on the road for a while. Helianth was down. This case really did a number on him. There was nothing but dead ends. I told him we had to end the mission,head back, go back to the drawing table, and rethink our strategy and possible suspects.” Kylix looked away, but Moargan didn’t miss the look of guilt in those charcoal irises.

“Then what?”

“I was angry. Despite everything, it felt like a failure. Your father had permitted Helianth to leave on this mission, and I wanted him to succeed. When we realized there was nothing out there for us, I just wanted to go home and lick my wounds, I guess. I felt exhausted. When one of the guys handed me a candy, I didn’t think anything of it. I could use the sugar.”

Candy.Moargan’s heart rate sped up. “Then what?”

Kylix pushed a hand through his black hair and blew out a breath. “Then nothing. I woke up, alone and confused. My head was pounding like a motherfucker and I had no idea where I was. Helianth…he was gone.”

“They had taken him.”

Kylix looked back at him, black eyes filled with a forlorn look. He nodded. “They had drugged me.” He grabbed a handful of blue wrappers and showed Moargan. “And took your brother.”

“Yes. We did some tests while you slept. It appeared the drugs were made of kayde mixed with narcotics.”

“So I’ve been told.”

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