Page 51 of Mantle

“What? Never seen you before.”

“You were asleep.”

Those eyes I’d seen there.

That voice I’d heard there.

It had been him.

He’d been there too in that lab with me. Suffering alongside me.

And he’d tried to help me, to give me a spark of hope to hold on to.

When he said I’d beenasleep,he must have meant he’d recognized that those parts of my memory had been slumbering.

“Nyx?”

I jolted and eyed my phone on the coffee table of one of the living rooms in Ariana’s family home, the tabletop covered with all my papers regarding Crossborn initiatives as a whole and specific information about the Crossborn Refuge System as well.

It was Velra calling my name.

We’d been in the middle of discussing our work.

We were all doing that remotely and we had a joint call with all our members later today. With the lockdown in effect, Crossborn wasn’t meeting in person right now. Not even in the Chief Sanctuary Zone that Ariana had warded.

I scrubbed my hand over my face. “So sorry,” I offered. “I just… zoned out for a moment.”

“No worries. I’m a bit off my game today as well.”

“What? I thought you were doing better now?” I said, my concern elevating.

“I was… I am. I even sent in my application to attend an academy.”

“Wow, that’s a major step forward, and really pulling from your loner disposition. Which one?”

“Wraeven Academy. It’s perfect for my specific situation. It caters to darker beings, darker natures.”

“Wraeven, yeah, it will suit you well. Better than Maven. Lazriel attending it didn’t put you off applying there? Or was it a deciding factor?”

“Please. There was no Lazriel factor at all in the decision-making.”

Sure.“So, why did you say you were off today? Something happened?”

“Cassius found Sorin.”

“He did? That’s amazing!”

“He’s being detained now and they should be able to get some key intel from him regarding the whole Puritas nightmare.”

“But it also brought up a lot for you.”

“I knew you’d get it without me having to spell it out.”

“That’s kind of my thing, little sis.”

She chuckled. “That’s an understatement.”

“Focus on the positives that him being caught brings. But I understand the shock.”

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