If I'd whispered it or worked it into some love song, it would have still been enraging.”
“Maybe. You're still banned from being the one to deliver news to everyone.” Axton's dry tone left my hand itching to smack him.
I forced myself to ease the tension in my jaw and cleared my throat. Their continued insistence dragged my heart a little lower with each word. “Fine. Then I suppose you can go ask Laeru what I meant. If he's returned to reality, that is, but good luck getting him to pick out the subtleties of memory erasures and inserts.”
I pulled back on the compulsion, drawing the bits of my emotions into me slowly. Before Trace was in complete control of himself, I needed to get him thinking rather than merely reacting.
“Look. We all agree I'm bad, but I think you all would like to know what I'm talking about, right? When I was in Dal's head, I found a lot of issues. He's had his memory messed with before—multiple times. More than one Harvester has played with him, and it goes all the way back to when he couldn't even talk yet.” I paused to suck in a breath, hoping the correct words would find me.
“That's sad and all, but what does that have to do with Bevan?” Axton asked as he stepped closer.
“Well, whoever implanted a memory fucked up. There was a spot where they overlaid the original with the false one. In the little snippet I saw, his emotions were pushed to the side. Then I heard a voice. It sounded kind of garbled because of the noises from the inserted memory, but it remained clear enough that I could make out a male's voice instructing Dal to write a note. I only caught a couple of words for the letter, but it started, 'Bevan, I need to.' That was it.” I glanced around at all of them, my eyes moving rapidly as I tried to study them all at the same time.
Axton became grey as blood flushed his cheeks, but his gaze seemed turned inwardly. His emotions mixed with the others' and made it difficult to pick out each one without tapping into the Marks. It didn't really matter, though, because the overwhelming sensation hurt as their fury, grief, and pain struck me over and over with each beat of their heart.
Kian's song had long since stopped, and he stared at the floor. Somehow he remained standing, even though he looked so limp.
With tenseness running through every speck of his body, Trace was Kian's opposite. His balled up fists, and the grinding sound of his teeth were the most visible signs of his internal thoughts, but I paid no attention to them. Instead, I watched his eyes, waiting to see those flames reappear.
When Grace pushed between Trace and Axton, my gaze swung to her.
She kept sneaking glances behind us as she said, “I'm lost, but the seriousness of this revelation is pretty obvious. If it's clear to me, then I'm certain that it will be to the Reapers in the lobby. Maybe we should take this somewhere else?”
Why didn't I think of that? Or at least insist they pull their hoods up?
Just as I opened my mouth to suggest that we find another office to borrow, Axton threw up a wall of illusions and barked out, “No. We have work to do, and this changes little.”
Trace didn't seem to appreciate Axton's view of things because he exploded. “What the fuck does that mean? If that asshole had anything to do with anything, we need to—”
“We need to do our jobs. The memory is gone, erased, destroyed. The end. And even if we could all see it, the fact that Dal was compelled to do it means that there was someone else there. That being is who we need to be searching for, not Dal. Zella didn't mention anything about seeing someone walking up to Dal just before the insert, so he can't tell us who it was regardless. No, they used Dal, probably knowing his father's position and our dislike for him would make Bevan go running straight into some kind of trap.” By the time he finished his speech, Axton's breath was hard and fast, and I felt him teetering on the edge.
“So what are we supposed to do? Just forget it?” Trace asked as he stepped forward, getting right in Axton's face.
Kian and I both grabbed arms at the same moment. I reached for Axton, while