The Brightest Night (Origin #3) - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,191

face. But I need to stay. I have a feeling Daemon is going to go Full Daemon, and I need to be here to stop him. He placed his hand on my knee and squeezed. Not that I really want to see Blake live, but that might actually get him kicked out of here, and even though they both were willing to leave if you weren’t accepted, they need this place.

Glancing over to Daemon and Kat, I thought of baby Adam. He was at home, being watched by Heidi and Emery, who apparently were all about watching babies. They did need this place.

I can stay.

Go. He squeezed my knee again. Let me live vicariously through you.

That made me grin. I wanted to check in with Viv. I haven’t seen her since you returned. I totally bailed on her.

I’ll look for you there.

I started to slide off the table, but stopped. Leaning over, I gave him a quick kiss as I thought to him, You do care.

Luc didn’t respond, and that was okay. I knew he heard me. I knew he knew I believed in what I said, and if he didn’t believe in those words yet, I would until he could.

No one else noticed my escape as I crept out of the room. They’d fallen back into a heated argument. Out in the hall, I looked down the end, to the lone door that led to Blake. What were they going to do with them?

Having no idea, I walked out into fading sunlight. Archer had left the meeting, but he hadn’t gone far. He was pacing right where Luc and I had stood earlier. He stopped, looking over as I went down the steps. “They still at it in there?”

I nodded as I slowly approached the older Origin. “I couldn’t sit and listen any longer. I’m going to go check in with Viv.”

“Don’t blame you.” He folded his arms over his chest, his gaze falling to the closed door behind me. “I couldn’t stay in there, not in the same building as Blake, knowing how he hurt Dee. He almost killed her, too.”

“How is Dee handling it?”

“She’s shocked. Angry. Things were a little rough when she first learned, but my lady is strong.”

“She is!” I said, maybe a little too enthusiastically. “I mean, to do what she does, she has to be. I could never keep my cool like she does.”

His grin kicked up a notch. “You should see her after she does the on-air interviews. Pretty sure she wants to blow things up.” The grin was as gone as quickly as it had appeared. “I don’t know how Daemon can stand to be in the same zip code as that guy.”

“I don’t think he can. That’s why Luc is staying behind—just in case Daemon makes a go for him,” I said, running a hand over my arm. There was a chill in the air that hadn’t been there earlier. “What do you think they’re going to do?”

“I don’t know,” he said, eyes nearly identical to Luc’s sliding back to me. “I don’t think it’ll matter what they decide in the end.”

I didn’t think it would, either.

His head tilted. “How does that make you feel? Knowing that two people will die, one of them most likely innocent?”

“I don’t know,” I said, and then I took a long breath. “Actually, I do. I don’t like the idea of Chris dying. I don’t like the idea of anyone dying, but if he’d done those things to Luc, I’d be demanding his execution.”

Archer watched me. “Death is never easy, not even when it’s well deserved. Except the dead have a habit of not staying dead.”

“Seems that way.” I started toying with the hem of my shirt. “And I guess the same could be said about me.”

“Luc never said you were dead. We just assumed you were.”

I wasn’t sure how to feel about a whole bunch of someones assuming I was dead. “How are things on the outside?”

“Where we film, things are normal, but the news isn’t good. They are really pushing the Luxen narrative, even networks that don’t usually fall in line with the administration’s agenda. Only overseas news sources are questioning what is being reported as the cause of the flu.” Lifting a hand, he scratched his fingers through his neatly trimmed hair. “The masses aren’t really paying attention. If this flu spreads wider than the infected cities and the only thing humans do is avoid Luxen instead of one another, things