Page 75 of Hidden

Thatfamily? My family? My heart was thundering.

“Although they are highly respected in their community, the Dubois line has suffered a lot. So has the Stephens’s family, which is your mother’s maiden home.” Miles’s words pulled my attention. “Some say they are both cursed.”

Cursed? My brows furrowed, and concern settled in my stomach. Somehow, I couldn’t help but feel this was my fault.

“I think you and Bryce have a lot in common.” Miles ran his thumb over the crease in my forehead, soothing it out. “Try to bond with him.”

Lies.

Julian moved and touched my arm, pulling me onto my back. “How do you feel?”

Come to think of it, I was groggy. And somewhat stiff.

Julian gently squeezed my arm. “You’ve been asleep for almost a day. Which is better than before, I suppose. Finn said you were in the hospital a week the first time this happened.”

He helped me sit up. Miles stacked some pillows behind me, but my mind was too occupied to even thank him. “I’ve been asleep for a day? What happened?”

“Kiania’s upset and took it out on you. But don’t worry, it won’t happen again.” Damen crossed his arms, meeting my eyes. His expression was softer than I expected, considering the raw anger in his voice. But he seemed certain of his declaration.

In fact, he seemed to be too confident of this. Why did he look a tiny bit guilty, too?

Meanwhile, Julian and Miles weren’t even looking in my direction, and their frames had gone tense. Their actions further confirmed my suspicions. Damen had done something.

“Damen?”

“Finn was right,” Julian said, tucking a wayward lock of my hair behind my ear. “Kiania doesn’t want to kill you.”

I studied him, unsure. Because it had certainly felt like it.

“We were wrong. It doesn’t matter if you’re on medication or not, she can pull from you regardless,” Julian explained. “What she did earlier was to get back at Damen. To show that she had the upper hand.”

My blood turned to ice. “Why does she want to do that? Why does she hate Damen?”

Julian didn’t reply. Titus re-entered the room. He clearly heard what we were discussing, because he opened with, “Why don’t you just show her?”

Julian twitched, an undistinguishable emotion crossing his face. He responded, his tone soft and wary. “It’s not my memory to—”

“No, it’s not yours,” Miles said, moving to the foot of the bed. “It’s her memory.”

I glanced between them, frowning. “What do you mean?”

“You know Shui can pull memories.” Damen was watching Julian. “It’s one reason he excels at information gathering.”

“Don’t sugarcoat it,” Julian snapped, glaring at Damen. “What I did was torture, and you know it.” My heart pounded at the furious look on his face, but Julian wasn’t even paying attention to me. “My abilities were twisted into something evil.”

“We all have a darker side to our powers,” Miles said, his wary gaze on Julian. “Don’t lose sight of the reason why it was necessary. If you hadn’t, you would have regretted it.”

“Don’t misunderstand.” Julian turned toward Miles. “I don’t regret doing it. My issue is using it on her.”

Titus frowned, resting his hip against the closed door. “But you use your abilities on Bianca all the time.”

Julian glared at him, and Titus waved his hand and said, “You help her with her anxiety and when she can’t relax.”

“That’s different!” Julian flushed. “You’ve all come to me. You never cared what I saw. But Mu and I had an agreement. I have never, ever pulled memories from him in any life.”

The faces of the others turned from curiosity to shock. I probably should have been intrigued at their surprise. Yet, alarm flashed foremost through my mind instead.

My heart raced. Inside, I was screaming—he could never,evertouch my memories.