Opposition (Lux, #5)(53)

“Okay.” He brushed his lips over my forehead. “I’ll meet you back at the room.”

I didn’t look at Archer as I spun around. Leaving the boys in the control room, I hurried out into the hall. Not only did I need to get food in my tummy, I needed something else to do that felt normal. I considered visiting Dawson and Beth again as I climbed the empty stairwell and entered the wide corridor on the main level. As I rounded the corner, I stumbled to a surprised halt.

Luc stood up ahead, a few doors down from where Dawson and Beth were, but he wasn’t alone. A girl was with him, maybe around his age or a year younger. She was a tiny thing, and he all but dwarfed her. Ridiculously slender, her denim-clad legs were as thin as my arms. Her hair was like spun gold and she was stunningly pretty, with a heart-shaped face full of faint freckles and eyes that were a warm chocolate.

And I’d seen her before.

Back when Daemon and I had gone with . . . with Blake to meet Luc for the first time. She had been on the stage, as beautiful and fluid as a dancer, and then later, she’d poked her head into Luc’s office, and he’d gotten all frownie face about it.

But she looked different now.

A very pretty human girl, but there were dark smudges under her eyes, her cheekbones were sharp, face gaunt and pale, and her entire appearance was overly frail, as if it was taking everything in her to be upright on two feet.

She wasn’t really standing on her own, either. Luc’s hands were wrapped around her upper arms, almost as if he was supporting her weight. I didn’t need to be a doctor to know that she bled some serious illness into the air around her. Not a cold or flu, but something bad.

Something that reminded me of my father.

I bit down on my lip. Luc seemed unaware that I was there as he smoothed his hands up and down the girl’s arms. “It’s going to be okay now,” he said. “Just like I promised.”

A wan smile turned her lips up. “Do you have any idea what’s going on out there? I don’t think anything will ever be fine again, Luc.”

“I don’t care about that right now,” he said in typical Luc fashion. “Remember what I told you about that new drug?”

“Oh, Luc.” She wrapped bony, pale hands around his wrists. “I think we’re beyond the point of anything working—”

“Don’t say that.” Strength and determination poured into his voice. “It will work. It has to work. Or I’ll kick its ass.”

The girl didn’t look convinced, but her smile spread as she leaned forward, sliding her arms around Luc’s waist.

Luc closed his eyes, and his lips parted as he let out a slow breath. “Why don’t you go in there and get some rest, Nadia.” He drew back, smiling down at the top of her head. “I’ve got some things I need to take care of, and then I’ll be back. Okay?”

I so knew he was totally aware of me, and yet I didn’t feel bad for eavesdropping, considering how many times he’d peeped on us.

She glanced over to where I stood, her curious gaze starting at my toes, and when she reached my face, recognition flared in her big eyes. She hesitated for a moment, and then ghosted into the room.

Luc closed the door behind him and faced me. Once more I was struck by the wisdom in his odd purple eyes and the set of his face, as if he was much, much older than he appeared.

“Who is she?” I asked.

“You heard me say her name.”

“That’s not what I meant.” I glanced at the closed door. “I remember her. She was at the club, dancing on the stage.”

He cocked his head to the side. “I’ve killed people for just looking at her, and you want to know who she is?”

Luc could do that in the blink of an eye, and he could also make me squawk like a chicken if he wanted to, but I wanted to know who this girl was to him, and I seriously doubted he would mess with me. Or at least I hoped not.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, he strolled up to me. “After everything you’ve seen and heard, you really want me to tell you about her?”

I crossed my arms. “Right now, I would like to think about anything other than what I just saw and heard.”

He was silent for a long moment as he studied me, and then he leaned a shoulder against the wall. “Nadia just got here from Maryland—Hagerstown, to be exact. I called in some favors when I got to this base.”

The kid had more favors owed to him than a gambler had debt. “Of course.”

A slight grin appeared. “I’ve known Nadia for a couple of years, met her when I first visited the Wild and Wonderful West Virginia. She was a runaway—abusive home, a father who would make you sick.”

The moment those words formed, the worst-case scenario took form.

“What you’re thinking doesn’t even touch what really went on,” Luc said, voice hard. “Don’t worry. He got his just deserts in a very slow and painful way.”

My heart skipped a beat at the cold, grim smile that appeared on his face. I didn’t even need to ask what he did. I knew.

“She was young and living on the streets when I met her, so I took her in. Paris wasn’t too keen on it. She’s human after all, but there’s something . . . Well, Nadia is special.” A far-off look crept onto his expression.

“Is she your girlfriend?”