Rebel Born (Secondborn #3)(78)

“Who doesn’t remember?” Nesunna asks with a confused smile.

“Ransom. He doesn’t know how to make you a powerful goddess again. He purged all his memories of designing my implant. He can probably re-create the research. He may be able to get back to where he left off. He’s brilliant, but it’ll take him a long time, unless I give him his knowledge back. That was his insurance policy. Ransom knew Crow would keep him alive indefinitely, to get his hands on the technology.”

“Roselle, what are you doing?” Reykin asks, swallowing back his growing anger.

“I don’t know,” I answer with his brother’s voice. I can make Ransom’s body mimic my voice if I want to, but I don’t. It’d scare Reykin even more. “I suddenly found myself inside Ransom. I couldn’t hold my mind back from taking over his.”

“You have to get out of him. Right now, Roselle!” Reykin seethes.

I narrow my eyes at him. “Ransom has done something similar to this to me many times. He let others control me, too.”

“I don’t care. Get out of there now!”

My shame heats Ransom’s cheeks. Reykin’s lips twist in disgust.

“Ransom had a special access code to me—to my mind,” I blurt out. “He programmed me to ask him a phrase—a passcode. ‘Am I yesterday?’ I would say. He’d respond, ‘You’re the future, Roselle.’ That’s how the implant in my head would know it was him and let him in completely. My mind won’t allow Ransom to access me now even with this code, not since I died. The embedded neural implant has truly become part of me. I’m my own person now.”

Reykin grimaces. “Roselle, leave him alone,” he growls, and his anger sparks my own.

“And I just unlocked all my own secrets,” I seethe at Reykin. And without waiting for his reaction, I do as Reykin demands. I leave Ransom.





Chapter 14

Cherry Bomb and Winterstrom

Ransom returns to awareness in his own body.

From my seat next to Clifton, I see Reykin bend near his brother and ask him if he’s all right. I lift my napkin from my lap. “Please excuse me,” I say. I push my chair away from the table and stand. “I need to stretch my legs.”

Clifton frowns at the abrupt change in my demeanor. “I’ll come with you,” he replies, and starts to stand.

I put my hand on his shoulder. “No, I just need a moment to myself.”

Reluctantly, he sits back down. “Don’t be too long. The storm will begin, and you’ll get caught in the rain.”

I don’t answer him, but hurry toward the stone steps without looking in Reykin’s direction. Inside the walls of Clifton’s temple, I traverse hallways lit by fiery cauldrons. After crossing the main foyer, I escape down a steep set of stairs. The lovely bridge over the pond leads to a stone archway. Once on the other side of that, it’s just a short walk to the public streets.

Streetlamps cast a soft glow on the sidewalk. Storefronts with imaginative displays offer a distraction from my chaotic thoughts. I can’t shake the guilty feeling that I’ve done something horribly wrong. Shame, intense and savage, bears down on me. My intrusion into Ransom’s mind was inadvertent, but I should’ve tried to leave it as soon as I realized what happened. Instead I took over his consciousness—deliberately stole his thoughts, his memories, and his insight into what I am. That makes me no better than Crow. It doesn’t matter that Ransom had done the same to me. He did it to survive and protect us. I did it because I could.

I stroll slowly, allowing the train of my dress to drag on the pristine, polished stone of the sidewalk. Passersby recognize me immediately and give a wide berth. I don’t care. It’s not like I’m looking for acceptance here. None of this is real anyway. It’s a temporary world, with temporary people, meant to serve immortal gods for as long as it lasts. And it can’t last. Not with Crow conquering the people, land, and manufacturing facilities on the shores above us. It’s only a matter of time before he gets here, unless I somehow get to him first.

As I walk, my feet start hurting, but it doesn’t matter. This is the most freedom I’ve had in ages, and I don’t want to waste it. I pull off my heels and carry them, peering into restaurants and shops filled with patrons laughing and sharing their lives together. A crack of thunder breaks overhead. The dark sky roils with clouds. Flashes of lightning move across the landscape. People scatter from the sidewalks and streets, moving indoors. Parts of the sidewalks open, forming grates to catch the rainwater.

The first drops patter my hair and face. It’s cool. It smells like real rain. Quickly, my dress dampens and plasters to my body. I jump in the small puddles forming in my path. Within a short time, I’m almost back to where I began walking, having made an entire loop around the sphere of New Gildenzear—on this level anyway.

A brightly lit candy store catches my attention. In the window jars of every size and shape contain colorful arrays of confectionary, whimsically leaping and careening on conveyors of air. The jouncing display is highly entertaining. I watch it for a time before peering through the glass door into the shop. At crowded tables, patrons eat ice cream from glass boats with long silver spoons.

I wonder if they have crellas.

Before I know it, my hand wraps around the heavy brass door handle. I enter the shop. Lively conversations die almost at once, except for the children’s, which continue babbling with happy abandon. Water drips from my hair and chin. A young woman behind the counter straightens from her work arranging the display case. Slender and tall, she wears a clear plastic apron over her clingy candy-striped uniform. Her hair, dyed in pastel shades of pink, purple, and blue, has been teased to resemble cotton candy, giving her extra height. Blue and lavender eyeshadow sparkles as her eyes round in surprise when she sees me. Her sugary smile fades for a moment before it returns with extra exuberance.