Origin (Lux #4)(13)

His eyes narrowed, and the green flecks deepened. “You don’t get it.”

“You’re right.” I knocked his hands off my face. “I’ll never get it.”

Backing off, he shook his head as I climbed out of the shower stall. He reached over, turned off the water, and grabbed a towel, tossing it toward me. “Don’t try to hit me again.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.” Using the towel, I tried to dry off as best I could.

He clenched his fists. “Look, I get it. You’re pissed at me. Great. Get over it, because there are more important things to focus on.”

“Get over it?” I was going to choke him with this towel.

“Yes.” He leaned against the closed door, eyeing me warily. “You really have no idea what’s going on, Kat.”

“Don’t call me that.” I dabbed at my clothing angrily and uselessly.

“Are you calmed down enough? I need to talk, and you need to listen. Things are not what you think. And I wish I could’ve told you the truth earlier. I couldn’t, but I am now.”

A strangled laugh escaped me as I shook my head in disbelief.

His eyes narrowed, and he stepped forward. My back straightened in warning, and he didn’t come any closer. “Let’s get one thing clear. If Daemon was locked up somewhere, you would’ve thrown everyone and baby Jesus under the bus to free him. That’s what you think I did. So don’t act like you’re better than me.”

Would I? Yes, I would, but the difference between us was that Blake was looking for acceptance and forgiveness after he told more lies than truths. And to me, that was bat-shit crazy.

“You think you can justify this? Well, you’re wrong. You can’t. You’re a monster, Blake. A real living and breathing monster. Nothing, no matter what your intentions are or what the real truth is, will ever change that.”

A tiny flicker of unrest shone in his steady gaze.

It took everything in me not to rip the towel rod off the wall and shove it through his eye. I tossed the towel aside, shaking more from anger than the wet coldness seeping through my clothes.

He pushed off the door, and I took a step back, on guard. He frowned. “Daedalus aren’t the bad guys here.” Opening the bathroom door, he headed out. “That’s reality.”

I followed him. “How can you even say that with a straight face?”

He sat on my bed. “I know what you’re thinking. You want to fight them. I get that. I do. And I know I’ve lied to you about almost everything, but you wouldn’t believe the truth without seeing it. And once you do, things will be different.”

There was nothing in this world that they could show me that would change my mind, but I also recognized the futility of fighting him on this. “I need to get dry clothes on.”

“I’ll wait.”

I stared at him. “You’re not staying in here while I get dressed.”

He glared in annoyance. “Get changed in the bathroom. Close the door. Your virtue is safe from me.” And then he winked. “Unless you want that to change, and I’m so down for that. It does get boring around here.”

My palm itched to wrap around a very unladylike place and twist. The words that came out of my mouth were my own. I felt them. I believed them.

“I’m going to kill you one day,” I promised.

A wry smile appeared on his face as he met my stare. “You’ve killed, Katy. You know how it feels to take a life, but you aren’t a murderer. You aren’t a killer.” He caught my sharp inhale with a knowing look. “Not yet, at least.”

I turned away, curling my hands into fists.

“Like I said, we aren’t the bad guys. The Luxen are, and you will see that I’m not lying. We are here to stop them from taking over.”





Chapter 5


Katy


The moment Blake and I stepped out of my cell, two military guys surrounded us. One of them was Archer. Seeing his familiar face didn’t bring the warm fuzzies. He and the other guy were heavily armed.

They ushered Blake and me toward the elevator, and I craned my neck, trying to see around them to get a grasp on my surroundings. There were several doors like mine, and it looked just like the corridor at Mount Weather. A heavy hand landed on the small of my back, startling me.

It was Archer.

He sent me a look I couldn’t decipher, and then I was in the elevator, squeezed between him and Blake. I couldn’t even lift my hand to brush away the damp, cold hair that clung to the back of my neck without knocking into them.

Archer leaned forward, pushing a button I couldn’t see because of his mammoth body. I frowned, realizing I didn’t even know how many floors this place had.

As if he were reading my mind, Blake looked down at me. “We’re underground right now. Most of the base is, with the exception of the two upper levels. You’re on the seventh floor. Floor seven and six are housing for…well, visitors.”

I wondered why he was even telling me this. The layout had to be important information. It was like…like he trusted me with the knowledge, like I was already one of them. I shook the ridiculous notion out of my head. “You mean the prisoners?”

Archer stiffened beside me.

Blake ignored that. “The fifth floor houses Luxen who are being assimilated.”