Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 104753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
I swallow, the world caving in and the sides of my eyes turning black. “Why—why—would I—” I shake my head. For the first time ever. Ever. Tears prick the corners of my eyes.
“Are you crying?” Perse asks, shocked. “She doesn’t cry,” I hear her whisper to someone.
“I’m not lying, Killian. I’m not sleeping with you for revenge. I don’t remember any of this.”
Killian releases me. He looks to King and then to Delila. “Who fucked with her?”
Delila exhales, standing from the bed and moving to the center of the room. She turns to face me. “I swear you kids are aging me so much faster than I need to be aged.” She reaches for the pack of smokes on my bed and gestures to Killian for the lighter. He hands it to her and she takes a couple of small puffs on her smoke. “Your father didn’t do it.”
“I know he didn’t,” Killian answers smoothly. “I fucking asked him. Who do you think I’d ask first? He’s not bad enough to do that shit to her.”
Delila puffs again. “There was only ever you and the Four Fathers who could perform telekinesis, hypnosis and coercive persuasion to the extreme of it manipulating memories, Killian. No one else. And telekinesis only comes into play when we’re needing to move memories around inside someone’s head. It’s almost the same as moving real objects, only more, you know… realistic.”
“So I can’t unleash her memories like Keres did to Perse?”
Delila shakes her head. “No, and even if there was a possibility, we shouldn’t risk it.”
My hands shake as I snatch the smoke packet from Delila. I put a smoke in my mouth and Killian leans forward, lighting the end.
“There’s another possibility,” King exhales, standing from the bed. He moves to the front of me. “Maybe your father did do it, Killian, but he did it for her. Wouldn’t be the first fuckin’ time he tried to play hero.”
I freeze, blowing out a cloud of smoke. My eyes slam shut. “You guys are wrong. I remember everything when I was a kid. We lived in a two-story small house. I went to Kiznitch Elementary. I—we had a tree at the front of our home with a swing attached to it. I—”
“—the house was dark grey, and the bedrooms were the same color. Your bedroom was up the stairs and your parents at the bottom in a loft style.”
My eyes pop open and Killian is kneeling in front of me, his hands on my legs. “Babe, that was my house. My pool house that you lived in. What else do you remember?”
“Don’t push her, Kill…” King warns.
“I won’t!” Killian brushes him off. “Tell me what you remember.”
I suck in a breath. “I was young, so it’s natural to not remember every single thing, but I don’t remember living with your parents. That house was ours. I don’t—” I shake my head, reaching deep inside of my brain to find something. “I don’t remember the driveway.” My eyes fly to Killian. “Why don’t I remember the driveway?” My legs begin to shake again and my throat tenses. There’s ringing in my ears as I hold back a scream.
“She’s going to freak out, Killian, stop,” Perse snaps.
“Because they haven’t wiped your memories.” Killian stands back, squaring his shoulders. “They’ve only removed me from them. In her mind, I didn’t exist. My parents didn’t exist.”
Realization washes over me. He is right. I remember all of The Brothers growing up, not vividly, but I remember seeing them at school and everyone knew who they were. The whole town of Kiznitch knew who The Brothers of Kiznitch were. But Killian isn’t in those memories.
I stand to my feet, itchy to move. “Oh my god, I feel violated!”
“Tell me about it,” Perse mutters.
I swing around to face Killian. “How do I know you didn’t do this? Hmm?”
Killian snatches me by the arm and yanks me into his chest. His eyes are wild, his teeth bared. “Because the last time I saw you, Saskia…” His mouth slams shut. He seems to fight with himself on whether or not he should say anything. Anything at all. He releases me, bringing his cards closer to his chest.
“Because?” I repeat.
“I wouldn’t fuckin’ do that to you.” He shoots a look at Perse. “No offense.”
Delila takes a seat back on the chair in the room. “For some reason, I think I trust you,” she says to me, folding her leg over the other. “So, when I say these next words, you are to not allow them to leave this room. Understood?”
I nod. “Understood.”
Delila lights another smoke. “We go on the road tomorrow. No one knows this, but I have a bug planted in Patience.” She blows out a thick cloud of smoke.
“What?” King snaps. “Who?”
“About that,” Perse mutters. “You can take Callan.”