Page 62 of The Last Syphon

It made no sense, especially considering the amount of power she had been able to draw from him.

“You’ve…You’ve known for two years and never said anything?!” Her outrage was clear in her tone, and it made Felix somewhat defensive.

“You’ve known your whole life and never said anything?” he countered, arching a condescending brow.

Her eyes narrowed.

A knock sounded at the door before it abruptly opened. Their gazes snapped to the short, bald man who walked in. He bowed slightly. “I am Neron, one of the Healers in the palace. Do any of you require assistance?”

They are offering us a Healer?

Inara shook her head. “No, thank you. I am uninjured.”

“Same,” Felix responded. “I’m good.”

The man bowed again, then left as quickly as he arrived.

Their gazes snapped back to one another. “Why didn’t you say anything?” Inara rushed out.

“Why didn’t you?”

“Will you stop answering my questions with more questions?” She growled. “You’ve known I’m a—” She cut the words off quickly out of habit. Inara had never actually voiced what she was out loud to anyone except her mother.

“A Syphon?” Felix whispered softly.

Inara couldn’t help the panic that flooded her veins. She looked around the room, fear curling down her spine, terrified someone had somehow managed to hear the words and was coming to take her away.

Felix grasped her hands, and the contact snapped her out of the overpowering fright taking her over. “It’s okay. You’re okay. I’m not going to tell anyone. I would never tell anyone.”

Of course, she knew that. They had been through everything together. If there was anyone in the realm she trusted the most, it was him.

“Before your mother left for her latest adventure, she spoke to me. She feared for you, worried you might need help one day dealing with your power, and she might not be there to help you. So she asked me to watch out for you. To help you.”

She did?

Inara almost couldn’t believe it. All her life, her mother had told her to never tell anyone her secret. That if anyone knew, it would mean her death. Inara remembered several times in her youth when she had begged her mother to tell Felix. That he was her best friend and he could be trusted, but her mother had always said no. That it was too risky.

Why did she change her mind?

“Why didn’t you say anything, Felix? Why…Why didn’t you tell me you knew?”

He let her go and sighed. “Honestly, I was waiting for you to tell me.” He walked over to the table and made himself a plate full of pastries. “I figured you’d tell me when you were ready. Then, the first year went by, and you never said anything.”

“Because I was always told not to talk about it. With anyone. Even my mother didn’t like discussing it.” Which made growing up particularly difficult for Inara. Regardless of the fact that being a Syphon was a death sentence, it was still a part of who she was. Having to hide a part of herself all her life, never talking about it, was suffocating for her.

Never in her life had she ever been able to be wholly and truly herself.

“I understand, I do.” He took a bite of a beef pastry, chewing slowly so he could pick his next words carefully. “I just always thought you would eventually tell me. Trust me enough to share it with me.”

“Trust had nothing to do with it. Of course I trust you. I just—” She sighed, lowering her gaze to the floor. “I was worried you might fear me.”

“Fear you?” He snorted. “Never. I know you would never take without my permission, which is why I had to tell you to do it in the chamber. I’ve even tried to get you to do it a few times before on our missions, but you never did.”

“You what?!”

His lips kicked up into a devilish smirk. “It was a few months after your mother left. You still hadn’t told me, and I was growing restless, keeping the secret to myself, so I tried to force your hand. You remember that time we were trapped in that underground cavern? We had a pack of gargoyles in front of us, a raging waterfall at our backs, and no way to escape?”

She didn’t like where this was going. “Yes.”