I felt even more afraid of her.

  “What do you mean, ‘GRANDDAUGHTER’!?” Ether tried to stand up, but Klix knocked her back in her seat with a look.

  Ether gave her a look too, one that told me that my interference at this point would earn the ire being directed that way.

  “So you had me hid with those people?!? Who are my parents? What did you…?”

  Klix cut her off. “Hayh is your father and Miel is my daughter—”

  “Is that why they were going to sell me?” The ivory woman beside me dug her nails into the seat.

  “THEY WERE NOT GOING TO SELL YOU!!!” The entire car shook as Klix started to stand up and hit her head on the roof.

  The car swerved, and I tried to hold on to Ether, who pulled away from me to stand up to get on eye level with the Goddess.

  “THEN WHAT DID THEY DO TO MY BROTHER AND SISTER!?!”

  Looking at the two of them almost nose to nose, I could see some similar features, and knowing that I was looking at an older version of Ether helped me discount the scars and markings that I hadn’t noticed before. The biggest difference between the two was that Ether didn’t seem to have the claws that her grandmother had.

  “THEY SENT THEM TO ME!!!” Klix swung her fist, and the window to her right shattered.

  I heard the wheels squeal as the driver tried to compensate for the outburst.

  “YOU’RE LYING!” Tears flowed freely down Ether’s cheeks.

  I put my hand on her back. I wasn’t sure which one of them would stop me first, but I could tell this was not a fight that either would welcome me in.

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  “You little…” Klix slammed her left fist on the divider, leaving a huge dent. “STOP THE VEHICLE!”

  I grabbed Ether to keep her from falling forward as the vehicle came to a sudden stop.

  Klix glared at Ether as she steadied her breathing. “Send me Kara.”

  I felt Ether’s heart start beating faster as she held the Goddess’s glare. I wasn’t sure how she was doing it. The pressure inside the vehicle was making it hard for me to breathe and look in Klix’s general direction. I couldn’t imagine staring into her eyes.

  The door opened, and one of the red armored guards got in and sat down next to Klix.

  The Goddess tapped much lighter on the divider. “Let’s go.” She looked down at the guard. “Take your helmet off.”

  Ether dropped into the seat beside me as the guard pulled off her helmet. While I had only seen a few general shapes and features that Ether and Klix shared, what I was looking at in the guard was like a slightly older version of Ether. All three of the women had the same white hair, red eyes, and snowy white skin.

  “Kara…” Ether swallowed. “But you… You were…”

  Klix sat down and waved her hand at the window to fix the glass. She looked over at the guard, who was trying to blink back tears. “You can talk to your sister.”

  Kara almost leapt across the vehicle to wrap her younger sister in a hug. “We’ve been so worried! We almost tore the city apart looking for you! We thought you’d died!”

  Ether was still stunned as she let herself be pinned. I could see that she was trying to process everything that had happened over the last six years and come to grips with this new information.

  Klix glared at me, then looked back at Ether. “All of my Scarlets are part of my lineage.” Her breathing started to steady. “I have their parents send them to me when they’re twelve to teach them about court life and to begin physically conditioning them for when they receive their Mantles. Once they get their Mantles, then they join me on resource runs into the Dungeon so I can get them up to a high enough level to be considered my personal guard.” The Goddess looked down at the red CB on her wrist. It was the first time I’d seen one of that color; almost all of the ones I’d ever seen were clear.

  “Kara is level sixty-one at the moment.” Klix closed the menu she’d been looking at. “She officially became one of the Scarlets a few weeks ago.”

  Ether looked at her sister. “But that's... Five years???”

  Kara nodded. “It’s not hard to level up like that when Kli..." She looked over at the Goddess, who nodded. “Grandma is farming on floor eighty-one."

  If Klix was farming on an event floor, then she had to be at least Tier Eight. I knew that our stats were higher and we got more points faster, but that was just ridiculous.

  “Yes, yes.” Klix eyed Ether as she motioned at the guard. “See? Your sister is here and not sold to whatever your foolish young mind had dreamed up.” She looked over at me. “Which brings me to my first question. What are your intentions with my granddaughter, and why should I leave her with you?”

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