Page 69 of The Outcast
I cleared my throat. “Excuse me?”
Thor’s face softened. “You’re an exception, Banni. I told you that you could practically be one of us. But it’s no fucking secret that your own people don’t appreciate you or your colleagues. It’s time they acknowledged that there’s more than one type of intelligence and being book smart won’t help you in all situations.”
“Or we could just agree that we need every kind of clever we can get,” Freya suggested.
Thor groaned out loud and it made Freya sigh. “I’m not taking the side of the French, but does it always have to be a competition? Couldn’t it just be cooperation for once?”
Sparrow, Aubri, and Thor all made dismissive sounds at Freya’s suggestion.
“I’m with Thor on this one,” Aubri declared. “Our Explorers will be the new heroes of Old Europe, mark my words on that.” Picking up Violetta, Aubri lifted her in front of her and laughed. “One day when you grow up, you might want to join them or maybe you’ll swoon over the brave, strong men who are part of that elite unit.”
“Could be that she’ll swoon over the women,” I added.
Aubri paused, but then she smiled and kissed Violetta’s nose and repeated my words, “Or the women.”
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CHAPTER 25
Athena and Linea
Sparrow
On the fourth day after my near-death experience, I couldn’t stand being in bed any longer. My body was still healing from the burn wounds and I couldn’t walk because of the burns on my feet. Mason volunteered to carry me to the entertainment room where he placed me on the large couch. That’s where Athena, Linea, and Finn found me when they arrived.
All my life, I’d known them as some of my parents’ closest friends. I’d always adored Finn’s humor and Athena’s warm personality.
She was a small thing, Athena, with tattoos on her forehead that signified her skills as a priestess. I’d always felt fascinated with the strange symbols and what they represented.
Now that I was twenty-five, I was noticing what my parents had said for years. Athena kept young in a way that seemed almost unnatural. Seeing her and Linea side by side it would be easy to mistake them for sisters. Both had gorgeous red hair, but where Athena’s eyes were green, Linea’s had a unique silver gray color.
Finn walked into the entertainment room where I was resting on the couch and began cracking jokes right away.
“Ah, there you are, Sparrow. I heard you’ve been farting on the Aurelius couch for days now.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Is that what they’re telling you?”
“Sure.” He plunked down next to me and grinned. “Everybody’s talking about it and I think Khan even had a talk with the kitchen asking them not to give you any more eggs for breakfast.” He wrinkled his nose and waved his hand before winking at me.
Athena was right on his heels, opening her arms for a big hug. “Don’t listen to him, my child. Finn can’t help himself.”
“She’s right. I’m a broken person who needs to make others laugh in order to feel validated.”
I pushed at his shoulder and made a sound meaningstop itbut Finn just smiled back at me.
“Oh, hey, Linea. You came!” I tried getting up to hug her, but it hurt too much.
When Linea kneeled down in front of me, she took my hands, and looked into my eyes. A wave of comfort washed over me that I couldn’t explain because Linea and I were never close. Linea was four and a half years younger than me and for the past nine years I hadn’t seen her except for the times my family visited her family in the Motherlands.
Usually, Linea never wanted to join her family on their trips to the Northlands, so I felt honored that she had come to see me.
“You look…” I searched for the word and landed on “radiant.”
Ignoring my compliment, she asked, “How are you feeling?” Her tone was full of empathy, and gently she raised her hand to touch the scarf around my head. “I had a vision of you with your hair fully grown back.”
“Maybe it won’t.”
She smiled and squeezed my unharmed left hand. “It will. I know it will.”
