Page 118 of The Art of Exiley

“Their ultimate goalisto reunite with the rest of the world. They have a prophecy about it and everything!”

“Yes, the Oculus has found evidence of years and years of recorded prophecies that could help the entire world, yet those too they’ve kept only for themselves. The Grand Master won’t be happy to hear about your sympathetic mentality. I’m pulling you from the mission.”

“What? No, you can’t—”

He straightens his back and looks down at me. “I can. I’m the right hand to the Grand Master himself.”

“But I’m learning so much, like how to control my abilities and advancements we could use—”

“And it’s a shame you’ll lose that, but it’s preferable to me losing you.”

“You’re not going to lose me.”

“I haven’t already?” His expression is dark with sadness and disappointment. “You didn’t even tell me you were coming to the city. You snuck here and broke out a prisoner! And I shouldn’t doubt where your allegiances lie?”

“What was I supposed to do? You told me nothing. Nothing! I came here to warn you. To tell you they have photographs of you. And to find out what I’ve been helping you do. I thought I was helping you improve the world, not kidnap children!”

“All you had to do was keep your cover, and instead you tell a dangerous royal who you are and bring him directly to us? We’re going to have to move everything to another facility now that he’s been here.”

“Think what you like, but I made the right decision. The fact that I got myself off that island and am here talking to you now is the sign of my success. It was your choice to keep me in the dark, so I was forced to act on my own. And I chose the perfect person to tell. The person most likely to underestimate me so he may actually think I’m innocent in all of this despite my familial connections. A person who has his own agenda and his own secrets,so he’ll stay quiet when this is all over. Now stop underestimating me like everyone else and trust me with the information I need to do the job you sent me to do.” I’m not sure I’ll want to keep doing any kind of job for them once I find out what the Oculus has been up to, but right now ensuring I’m the one in control of making that decision feels paramount.

“You’ve completed your job already. The information you sent us is enough. With it, combined with what we have from Prometheus and our new lead, there’s no reason for you to return.”

“But I finally have information about a stone that allows non-Sires to use Ha’i. I’m the only Sire in the family. You need me to—”

He cuts me off. “That’s no longer quite true.” Kor plucks a leaf from the tree next to him and presses it into his hand, which makes shiin. I feel the hum of Ha’i and—much more easily than I managed with the sticks—the leaf bursts into a momentary flame. Then it’s gone, a puff of ash snowing to the ground.

“You’re not the only Sire in the family anymore, Ada.”

35

Kor isn’t a Sire. He can’t be. He doesn’t have the symptoms I grew up with. I look at his upper lip, and his scar is still there. Sires don’t scar. Could he have gotten ahold of a Ha’i stone? But his hands are empty.

“I don’t understand.”

“Isn’t it amazing? Do you know how much good I’ve done already?” His face is glowing. “I’ve been helping at the charity clinic. There are so many little things I can heal with my energy alone. I’ve saved lives, Ada.”

He closes his eyes, brow furrowed. “There used to be so muchnoise. All these fans thinking I was someone special, treating me as if singing songs was bringing meaning into their lives. I felt like such an impostor with nothing real to give.” He opens his eyes. “But now, now I haveso muchto give.”

He takes my hand in his, his gaze growing somber. “I’m sure there are some nice people on that island, but I will dowhateverit takes to helpourworld.”

There’s something about the way he says this that makes my body grow cold. “Kor. What have you done?”

But I already know how someone who wasn’t born a Sire can gain Sire powers.

“You’ve been drinking the abducted Sires’ blood,” I choke out in shock and disgust.

He nods.

“But… you’re a vegan!” I hardly recognize the person talking to me.

“I’ve accepted that this power comes with a cost.”

“Human blood!”I back away from him in horror. “How are you even able to digest it?”

“Prometheus gave me the information I needed to change myself.” Prometheus. Kor’s ally from Avant. I know he’s given important information to the Families but nothing that would give them direct access to the people. Nothing like what they were hoping to get from me. “It was not an easy surgery.”

I gasp as Kor lifts up his shirt. There’s a brutal crisscross of scars, a map of torn flesh. “Sire abilities only heal your body as it is now, not any damage from before they kick in.” There is bitterness in his voice. Kor had worked hard for the body that had earned him a slew of shirtless magazine covers. His scarred abdomen is a far cry from photo shoot worthy now.

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