House of Leights (Secret Keepers, #3)(65)

“The human is right, they’re bad news,” Fraizer confirmed. “Connected. Rich. And ruthless. They’re on the way to Hawaii with Laous to track this girl down. If they get to her before you all do, then it’s game over.”

Urgency thrummed through our group again. I wasn’t sure about the rest of them, but I was ready for action. We needed to go now. “Give me a second to set up a temporary transporter back to Earth,” Lexen said.

Before anyone could reply, his eyes were already doing that faraway stare thing as he went into the network. I focused on the ground as well, remembering how I followed the light down. The longer I stared, the more the grass and rocky ground faded away, before it flickered back and forth between darkness and reality. Ohhh, now I understood what they meant about the first time being the hardest. Because the path was easy to follow now, I just needed to … switch my mind across.

Lexen’s focus returned in about thirty seconds. Lights swirled up from the ground in front of him, slow and singular at first, but after another twenty seconds a full transporter was there. “Okay, I’ve informed the council and they’re sending backup across to Hawaii,” he told the group. “But that will take them a few hours to organize, so we’re heading there first. This transporter will take us back to the main one in the platform.”

“What are we going to do about Fraizer?” Daniel asked. He seemed to be avoiding looking at his brother, who in turn was avoiding looking at Daniel.

“This has got to end!” Callie threw her hands up in front of her, exasperation in her voice. “You two need to bury this bad blood between you. Have you both forgotten that you have another brother in Laous’ hands, one who I don’t believe is a bad guy? He just needs someone to give a damn about him.”

Daniel’s face was blank, but the corners of his lips were twitching, along with his eye. He was upset. I had no doubt about it at all.

Fraizer, on the other hand, wore a mask of confusion. “What brother?”

Daniel answered him. “Rao. He’s our brother, not Laous’ son.”

I’d never seen color drain from a person’s face so quickly. Fraizer took a step forward and threw a swing at Daniel. The Imperial overlord had a split-second to try to avoid the hit. He didn’t though. He let his brother’s fist connect.

As Daniel’s head snapped back, Fraizer shouted, “This is all your fault. You let our goddamn family fall apart. You should be the one trapped in Laous’ web of lies, not Rao.”

Callie stepped forward, putting herself between the two of them. That was the first time Daniel had showed a strong emotion, his arms coming out to cage his mate as he pulled her away from Fraizer.

“You’re right,” Daniel admitted, fire in his eyes. “I have failed our family. I’m sorry I blamed you for what happened to Mom. I’m sorry that this all went to hell. But right now all the sorrys in the world don’t mean shit. You don’t trust me. I don’t trust you. And none of us have time to try and deal with it.”

“You’re not going to Hawaii without me,” Fraizer muttered. “Not now I know I have a brother to save. Rao is a good Daelighter who has had to do some really fucked-up things for Laous. And with his abilities, there’s no way Laous will ever let him go.”

“What can he do?” Emma asked, trying to sneak in under Lexen’s arm to see better.

Daniel shrugged. “No idea.”

Fraizer, who still had his fists clenched, chest heaving, snarled. “He’s a soothsayer. He can see events before they happen. He has dreams. This has allowed Laous to be a step ahead of the rest of you morons. If you’d rescued Rao early on, you wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“We didn’t know he was alive,” Daniel retorted harshly, losing whatever control he had on his temper. “I only just found out.”

That took some of the fire out of Fraizer. “Rao was the one who told him how to become Overlord by killing our father.” His voice was quieter now. “He also told him how to find the first secret keeper. He saw it all before it happened.”

After Fraizer said this, Emma stiffened, her face pale. Her parents had been killed by Laous.

“Did he really kill my mom?” Callie interrupted, sounding like she wasn’t sure she actually wanted to know.

Fraizer hesitated. “It was a heart attack, I think. He burned her body after. To hide the evidence.”

Callie’s face didn’t change; there was no grief in her expression, but she did seem to shrink in on herself.

Xander, who had barely spoken since we came out of the network, said, “I know this timing is not good, but the plane is ready. The pilot is waiting for us at the private airfield near Astoria.”

“You guys have a private plane?” I blurted out. How rich were they?

“I have three,” Lexen said with a shrug.

“Same,” Xander added.

Daniel just smirked. “Imperial Exports has dozens, but I have three for my personal use.”

Blinking slowly, I turned to look at Chase. “Please don’t tell me you have three planes as well.”

The other overlords laughed then, and I let out a low sigh of relief. I should have known that he wouldn’t be like the others. He cared about nature and trees and things that stayed on the ground.