Page 90 of Cosmic Power

She shrugged a shoulder, looking back into the fire. “I’m fine.” But in reality, she wasn’t. Not really.

Every few minutes her mind would flash back to that gold parlour room. To the pain she endured at the hands of the Gold King. To her skin being sliced open and her brain being squeezed like a stress ball. She couldn’t help it. It was eating her up inside. She was angry, anxious, confused, and most of all….afraid. And she hated that the most.

His eyes scanned her body, lingering on the patches of dry blood on her clothes and face. “What happened, Zo? What’d they do to you?”

She squeezed her eyes shut as another painful memory slammed into her. She didn’t want to think about it anymore. She just wanted to forget it.

“Nothing. I’m fine.” She blew out a breath and looked back at her uncle. “How long is this getup meant to last?” she asked, desperate to change the subject. He had told her about how Thaddeus had cast the Camouflage spell on him and the others to make it easier for them to infiltrate the fae. Zamorra admired the plan. It was a smart one.

Void studied her for the briefest moment, analysing her before he answered. Whatever he saw made him decide to drop the subject. At least, for now. “Twenty-four hours. I think I look pretty good, don’t you?” He brushed his long white hair off his shoulder and gave her a classic ‘Blue Steel’ pose, Derek Zoolander style.

“Sure,” she chuckled softly, shaking her head.

One thing her uncle was always good for? Making her laugh. The fact he could do it even when her emotions were flying all over the place just proved how amazing he was at helping others forget their troubles. It didn’t last as long as she was hoping, though. It never did.

“Did you know?” she whispered, staring down at the ground.

Her uncle didn’t bother trying to act like he didn’t know what she was referring to. “That Barnabas was your father? No, I didn’t, Zo. I swear, I had no fucking idea. When I heard about what happened when you shook his hand, I suspected. But I wasn’t sure. The fact that he was Orion’s brother meant you would have had a familial bond with him, yes. But it shouldn’t have been as intense as it was, because he was just your uncle. And it shouldn’t have been able to beat our bond. Yet, it did. I couldn’t counter it because the connection between father and daughter is stronger than uncle and niece. The night you were kidnapped, I was with my old pack. It’s why I wasn’t there when he came for you. I was looking for answers. By the time I made it back, you and the vampire posse were all gone. Adele never told me you were Barnabas’ child. When she came to me and asked for my help to sneak out, to leave the pack, she said it was because she was going to give birth to a female and she had to protect you. When Orion said he was leaving with her, I just…I—”

“You assumed I was his?”

Nodding, he said, “yes.”

“What about the fact I have brothers?” she asked, raising her eyes to his face.

He looked away, avoiding her eyes.

“You knew,” she breathed in disbelief. “You knew about Mathias and Braeden.”

“Zamorra—”

“No,” she snapped, cutting him off. Luther frowned in their direction, watching her closely, but she put him out of her mind. “How could you keep that from me? You knew how much I wanted a sibling, a brother. More family.”

“Mathias and Braeden would never have been the siblings you wanted. You forget I stayed with the pack after your mother and Orion left. I watched your brothers grow up. They’re not nice people, Zamorra. They wouldn’t have welcomed you with open arms. I was trying to save you, spare you the hurt of having blood that wanted nothing but to cause you harm.”

On some level buried deep down, Zamorra knew he spoke the truth. She remembered the hostility brimming from them when she met them at Barnabas’ compound. She remembered Braeden’s hurtful words and Mathias’ cold, uncaring eyes. But the anger bubbling inside blinded her from being able to see all that.

“That wasn’t your decision to make! You should have told me, end of discussion. I had a right to know I had a pair of brothers walking around!”

Void exhaled heavily, running a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. I was just trying to protect you. Trust me when I say you weren’t missing out on anything. They’re my nephews and I tried to be there for them, but Barnabas sunk his claws into them so young they didn’t stand a damn chance. They grew up exactly like him; dark, cold and pure evil. They used and abused the women in the pack worse than any others. If they ever met you, found you, they would have handed you over to Barnabas without a second fucking thought. I couldn’t risk that. Neither could your mother. That's why she never told you about them.”

Zamorra closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. As much as it annoyed her, he had a point. If she had been told she had brothers, she would have gone searching for them, tried to find them; regardless of what anyone told her. Knowing what she knew about them now, it didn’t take a genius to guess they would have turned her over to Barnabas straight away. The fact that she was their sister didn’t mean shit to them. She discovered that firsthand.

Opening her eyes, she looked at her uncle, letting her anger go. “I understand.”

Void eyed her suspiciously. “You do?”

She nodded. “I met them at Barnabas’ compound. You’re right. They didn’t give two shits about me. And Braeden? He hated my guts. If it was up to him, he would have gutted me the first chance he got. You did the right thing.”

He gave her a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry they weren’t what you wished for.”

“Why didn’t my mother take them with her? Why did she leave them behind?”

“It wasn’t by choice. She tried to take them with her, but as Barnabas’ heirs, they were guarded around the clock by a powerful dark mage. We couldn’t get to them. And we fucking tried.”

Did Mathias and Braeden know that? That their mother tried to take them with her? That she cared?

Zamorra doubted it. A part of her felt bad for them. Zamorra grew up with a loving and caring mother. With parents that supported her. Cherished her. She doubted her brothers received that same kind of love and affection. She wasn’t sure what life they’d led, but she was sure that out of the three of them, hers was the better one. Before her parents had been brutally murdered, anyway.

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