Ovation (Galaxy Circus #9)

Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Lila

T he following morning, I find myself alone in my bed. Cas and Sax helped me bathe after our sweaty fun times, and I slept like a baby, the two of them having fucked all my immediate worries away. When I wake alone, though, all my concerns come barreling back like an out of control freight train.

Today is another busy day of auditions, and I didn’t get a chance to talk to Link about the onboarding of all the crew yesterday. Today, Malik is arriving from Fluxx with the rest of the shifters in the crew, and I’m sure Cas will like to be there to meet him. We also need to start shifting any personal items we want to take with us back to the ship. It will be at least a few months before we return to Skarr after we resume our previous schedule.

That’s not even taking my grandma and all the information she might have to share with us into consideration. As much as I want to pull the sheets over my head and hibernate, I don’t. I throw them back and get up, grabbing another quick shower to help me wake up so I’m ready to face everything today is going to throw at me.

The living area is suspiciously free of children and mates. Usually, it’s a hive of activity, and the strange silence puts me even more on edge. I make my way to the kitchen to get some coffee, hoping to run into someone there. Instead, I find my grandpas waiting for me. I’m instantly on alert. This seems too organized to be a coincidence.

“Good morning?” I ask cautiously, and although they look tired, all three of them seem like the weight of the world has been lifted off them.

“Lila.” John smiles at me, a genuine one without strain that I haven’t seen since I first arrived at the circus. “Grab some coffee and come sit. We want to talk to you about a few things.”

I don’t move, my heart starting to race with anxiety. Eric lifts the mug in front of him and sends it over to the counter using his telekinesis. I blink in surprise. I often forget they also have powers. It’s been a while since I saw him use it.

“Stop panicking,” he says as the cup lowers down. “Can you pour me another one too? It’s going to be quite a day.”

“Don’t be an asshole, Eric. Can’t you see she’s already spiraling?” William scolds his brother before coming over to me and taking me by the arm. “Lila, everything is okay. Get your coffee and listen to what we have to say.”

“Where is everyone?” I ask, letting William lead me to the coffee pot. He takes a clean mug out of the cupboard, placing it into my hand before filling it and Eric’s.

“Link and Xavier are in their bedrooms. They spent most of the night checking on your grandma and cousins. We told them to get some sleep. The rest made themselves scarce. I think they all have errands today, and they are going to wrap up the auditions for you and make sure your rooms have been remodeled as requested. The ship is scheduled for departure tomorrow, and we need everything to be situated as soon as possible. Kinga and Andre are looking after the children. They are heading to a playground to let them run off some excess energy. I think they were going to build some snowmen and try their hand at tobogganing. Kinga and Andre aren’t too keen on the cold, though, so I’m not sure how long that will last,” Eric tells me, chuckling. I guess being cold-blooded in cold weather wouldn’t be much fun. I know Tirrian grumbles repeatedly about it as well, even though he has internal heat he can access.

“Okay,” I reply, feeling a little less anxious now that I know everyone is fine. “How are Phillip and Fiona?” I ask as William guides me back to the table, and I take a seat next to John.

“They are stable, but it might help if you give them another healing session. Link said you should be able to now. We’re hoping they will wake soon too.”

“Of course,” I agree. I don’t like them, but I don’t believe they need to suffer either, so if I can help ease that suffering, then I will gladly help.

“We need to find out what happened to them. I have a feeling everything is related now that we know Lili’s story.”

“She told you what happened?” I ask, and the three of them nod solemnly, though I can see the fury blazing in their eyes.

“Yes, we know everything.”

“And?” I prompt, but William shakes his head.

“Liliana asked if she could meet you. She wants to explain it to you herself.”

“She wants to meet me?” I ask, my voice quiet.

“Oh, Lila, nothing would make her happier. You were the light of her life for the first few years. Every time we came to Earth, she would stay with you and your parents. It was only that last time that she didn’t come with us, which was strange within itself.”

“And is she the goddess of life?” That’s the most burning question I have, and I brace myself as the three men exchange glances.

“Yes, she is,” John confirms, “which I can assure you comes as a surprise to us all, her included.”

“She didn’t know?” I ask, unable to hide the shock in my voice.

“No, but I’ll let her explain it to you. First, we need to talk to you about something else.” His brow creases, and the tension that he’s been carrying for so long returns. I look at the other two, and both of them appear serious as well. My stomach rolls as I consider what they might need to talk to me about.

“Okay,” I say hesitantly, cupping my mug with both hands so I don’t squirm like a teenager who was out after curfew.

“Relax, it’s nothing bad.” Eric waves a hand at me, but it isn’t particularly reassuring. I’ve come to learn his oh-shit-o-meter is definitely broken.

“No, not at all. In fact, I’m hoping you will be happy for us,” John adds, and I feel some of the tension drain away from me. John is usually the most uptight, so if he’s relaxed about whatever they want to tell me, then it can’t be all too drastic.

“Lila, we’ve decided to retire early. Having Lili back just highlights how much we’ve missed out on, and we’re ready to move on to the next phase of our lives.” William crosses his arms and leans back in his chair, keeping his steely gaze on me. My heart starts to race. “We hoped to hand the circus over to your parents, but that isn’t possible, so it’s your turn. Now that you have a solid mating circle, we think all of you are perfectly capable of taking the Galaxy Circus by the reins and making it something special.”

“What do you mean?” I need explicit clarification before I start my small, possibly large, meltdown.

“We won’t be joining you when the ship leaves for Earth,” William says, voicing the words I had been dreading, and I feel nauseous.

“But, but…” I’m kind of lost for words.

“Take a deep breath, Lila.” Eric chuckles, and I want to shove my foot up his ass. “You’ve got this. We wouldn’t be handing it over to you so soon if we didn’t think you could cope.”

My breathing comes even faster, and I feel a little lightheaded. I lean my forehead onto the table, and Eric chuckles.

“We’ll only be a screen call away, but we want to make up for lost time. If this has proven anything to us, it’s that time is not guaranteed.”

I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth a couple of times and get myself under control. “I can completely understand that, but it doesn’t make me panic any less. I don’t think I’m cut out for such a huge responsibility. Hell, I can’t even take care of three babies, not to mention the two new ones, let alone a gigantic corporation like Galaxy Circus.”

“Maybe not yet, but you have a group of men, most of whom have been trained to take over their parents’ companies or rule. Between the thirteen of you, I have no doubt that this company will flourish.”

Everything they say would make sense to someone sane and rational, but to me it just sounds like blah, blah, blah. None of it is penetrating the panic. “But what about the orb? What are we going to do with that? Surely it isn’t safe now that the Syndicate suspects we have it.”

“Ah, yes, the orb.” William’s tone has me lifting my head and looking at him, my previous panic a small drop in the ocean of the panic his tone now causes me.

“What? What do you know?” I demand, and the three of them exchange another one of those all-knowing glances that makes me want to pull at my hair and scream. How can a glance speak so loudly yet say nothing?

“We now know the origin of the orb. Liliana told us everything, but again, it’s her story to tell,” John says solemnly.

This time I can’t hold in my annoyance, and I stick my tongue out and blow him a raspberry. The three of them chuckle again. Assholes.

“Fine, then what are we waiting for?” I ask, standing up. “Where’s Zeydan? Should he be here for this?” I ask as the grandpas follow my lead and stand with coffee mugs in hand.

“He’s sitting with her now. She was asleep when we left her, but we didn’t want her to wake alone.”

“She remembers him?” I ask as I follow them into their wing of the house.

“She does now,” John confirms as we reach the bedroom area. “Why don’t you pop in and fix the twins first? She needs as much rest as she can get.”

I scoff. “Are you sure about that? From what I understand, she’s been resting for the last twenty odd years.”

“She wasn’t in stasis that whole time,” William tells me, and I hear fear in his voice. “She’s only been in stasis for the last few years, and that was on and off. It was only recently that her captives finally broke her and she admitted where the orb was. She held out despite what they tortured or threatened her with, but they finally broke her once they brought in a new Syndicate member who had leverage she couldn’t stand against.” The fear is replaced with blazing hot fury. I wonder what finally broke her.

I go to ask, but William shakes his head. “It’s not important right now. We need to take one step at a time.”

With those mysterious words, he walks away, leading me toward the room the twins were stashed in.

I huff out another breath of annoyance and follow them, leaving my coffee behind. Damn men didn’t even let me finish it before they began demanding my attention. Luckily I filled up on my husbands last night.

I pass through other rooms, shivering at the cool contrast to the rest of the house. None of these rooms have their heating switched on. There is no point in heating rooms that aren’t being used, and we’ve been gathering in the middle of the mansion.

Some of the furniture is still covered with dust cloths, but I guess if they are staying, then they should probably do something about that.

William reaches the room next to the one my grandma is in. “Xavier and Link moved the twins here when Vivian first arrived yesterday. We left them here just in case she decides to return.”

“Not that we’re ever going to let her see Liliana,” Eric growls, and I blink at the aggression in his voice. Sure, none of them ever showed any signs of affection for her, but this is bordering on psychotic fury. I suspect there is more to this than what meets the eye, especially after Vivian scurried away like a rat yesterday.

“No, we definitely won’t be,” John agrees. “Why don’t you change your form before you go in? I’ll grab you a robe from one of the guest rooms.” He moves farther down the hallway to do just that, but I hold up my hand.

“No need,” I tell him. “I just need a couple of slits in this shirt.” I point to the one I’m wearing, tap into my warlock power, and use it to create what I want, then I let the change wash over me. I feel my Celestian wings push through my skin, the sharp burst of pain expected and bearable now, although I still flinch.

All three of them gape at me in amazement. “I thought you had to be in a specific form to use specific powers. Isn’t that what Oshan said? How did you just use your warlock powers?”

I shrug. “Turns out I’m a special snowflake. I can access powers without needing to be in that form.”

The three of them exchange another one of those glances that drives me fucking nuts.

“Maybe Lil was right,” John murmurs, but before I can ask about what, William flings open the door to the twins’ room and strides in, the other two hurrying after him. Cowards.

I head into the room, shooting death glares at my three grandpas who huddle against one wall. I make my way between the two hospital style beds that have my cousins lying in them. They are both hooked up to heart monitors and have electrodes on their temples monitoring their brain activity as well as IVs keeping them hydrated.

I frown down at them. Both are much paler than normal, which makes the cuts and bruises I couldn’t heal stand out even more. I have no idea what happened to them, but I have a gut feeling that Htaed wasn’t responsible for it all.

I let the power seep into my hands and hold them over Fiona, watching her cuts and bruises fade. She has some internal bruising on the brain too, which I manage to heal, reducing the swelling. Hopefully that is all that’s keeping her asleep. I then do the same for Phillip. He has the same kind of brain swelling, but I can’t find any external trauma that may have caused it. Neither of them had contusions or lumps on their head. It’s almost like they both suffered some kind of concussive force like an explosion, but there was no evidence of that in the barn.

The power recedes, and I brush a hand over Phillip’s forehead, pushing back a lock of hair that fell into his closed eyes.

His eyes flutter at my touch, and I yank my hand back, unable to escape the surprised yelp that leaves my mouth.

“Is everything okay?” John asks, stepping forward. Despite Phillip and Fiona being assholes to me, they are sweet with the grandpas and have a fairly good relationship with them. I think I just made them feel threatened, and I probably would have felt the same way if the situation was reversed.

“I think he’s waking,” I reply as a groan leaves Phillip’s mouth, and he lifts a hand to his head. The four of us wait patiently despite wanting to pounce on him and demand answers. Even an asshole like Phillip deserves a little leeway.