Page 201 of The Midnight Order

Momentarily, it’s all I can think about.

Lowell’s eyes are fixed on us, his thumb sliding back and forth over his bottom lip as he watches Jasper’s toying.

“I almost missed it,” Corvin says, and I finally snap my attention toward him.

“Missed, what?” Asher asks, prodding his counterpart along.

“There was a message scrawled in invisible ink, but I think time and the circumstances of the letter’s storage weakened its appearance.” Corvin opens his phone, pulling up an image. “I had to use chemicals and a 3-D scanner to recreate it.”

He walks around, showing each of us.

“What is it?” Jasper asks.

“It’s a symbol.”

Lowell huffs as Corvin approaches him, snatching the phone away from him.

The energy in the room shifts. Suddenly, it’s harder to breathe. The air is filled with the fear radiating off Lowell.

“This can’t be… But what would it mean?” Lowell looks up at Corvin.

“I don’t know what the significance means in context to Silver or why it was hidden in the letter.”

Asher sighs. “We get it. You two are so fucking smart. What is it?”

“It’s the symbol for the hybrids,” Lowell snaps. “For The Absconditus. The Hidden.”

“Hybrids?” I whisper, turning on Jasper’s lap.

“They’re a myth.” Jasper squeezes my thigh, this time comfortingly rather than to stoke my arousal.

“They are,” Lowell agrees.

“What’s written about them?” Asher sits forward, steepling his hands as he rests his chin on them.

“Not much.” Corvin pockets his phone.

Every eye in the room dances toward me, and I feel like I’m on display. “What?”

“Could she be?”

I swallow. “What’s a hybrid?”

“A vampire, witch combination. It’s illegal in our world, the vampiric world, to mate with a witch. Though witches seek vampiric mates often, we’re taught to resist temptation and report crossbreeding. To turn a blind eye is death,” Lowell says, standing to his full height.

He comes to a stop near me, standing between Jasper’s feet.

“Why would a witch seek such a union if it’s frowned upon?”

Lowell tips my head back, his thumb caressing my lower lip. “I didn’t say it was frowned upon in their world, little lamb. A Hidden is a powerful being. According to witch lore, one can heal the dying, reanimate the dead, and give immortal life to the mortal.”

“So… if I were one of theseHidden…”

Lowell’s grip on my chin tightens, and I wince. “If you are, it’s why you’ve been hidden away all these centuries. It’s also probably the reason why Soliel kept even your memories from you.”

Jasper stands, taking me with him.

I’m pressed between them now. Lowell grips my throat in his hand.

“It also means you’re a threat.”

To Be Continued…