Shifting Selves by Mia Marshall Read Free Book Online Page A

life, and my ignorance had caused unspeakable harm to myself and others. They’d forced me to live a more sheltered life than a harem bride for the first fifty years of my existence and achieved nothing in the process. I was still in danger of going mad, still in danger of being killed by my own people, but now I coped with those risks while occasionally demonstrating the emotional intelligence of a banana slug.
    I’d been born a little broken. Their insistence on denying what I might become ensured I stayed that way.
    All these thoughts crashed together in my head, a senseless cacophony of noise and instant anger, and I did the only thing I could. I forced it down, imagining the rage folding into smaller and smaller squares until it was just a tiny speck.
    Some people rushed to their parents in times of stress, seeking comfort for their worries and fears. I did not have those parents. I had parents so determined to protect me they sought to control every aspect of my life. Any anger I revealed would become a weapon, justification for wrapping me in cotton wool and hiding me from the world once again.
    “Why are you here?” My voice was steady. If I wasn’t using every bit of my emotional control to maintain that measured response, I’d have been quite proud of myself.
    Josiah opened his mouth to respond, but my mother answered before he could. He looked at her in astonishment, unused to being interrupted.
    “I was worried about you. You haven’t been answering our calls.”
    I turned to her, this woman I loved as much as I loved anyone on this planet, and briefly wished the earth might swallow her whole. “Worried about what? That I might be furious you tried to hide what I was? That I might not want to speak to you after a lifetime of lies? Or maybe just that you never warned me that, the first time I met my father, he might try to kidnap me for observation?”
    Josiah rolled his eyes. “Really, Aidan, such exaggeration accomplishes nothing. You know everything I did was for your safety. This visit is no different. If you won’t live with me and Serafina in Hawaii, then please consider returning to your island with Fiona.” I glanced at Sera, who gave a tiny shake of her head. She hadn’t signed off on that plan. “We know so little about dual magics, and until we understand how your powers will develop, you really must live in isolation, in a state of contentment. Fiona and I will work to determine the best course of action.” He smiled easily, believing his point so obvious there was no room for argument.
    There is always room for argument.
    “That presumes I find peace around either of you at this point.” I looked at Josiah and let the rage briefly fill my grey eyes, then I deliberately let the fire die. Whether he acknowledged it or not, I had control, damn it.
    “I’ve been more content in the last two weeks than I’ve been in ages. I was alone for years, hating myself and hating Sera for things that weren’t our fault, because you never told me what I was. I lost a decade to your lies, hiding from truths I didn’t understand, and now you’re asking me to hide again. If you hear nothing else I say, hear this. I am done hiding.” I stood up straight, quite impressed with my own speech.
    Josiah was harder to impress. He threw up his arms at my refusal, just another father exasperated by his errant, unreasonable daughter. He began to pace the room, so much like Sera that, for a moment, I almost wanted to trust him. “Serafina, you know this isn’t the best solution. Getting drawn back into another FBI case? It’s only a matter of time before something upsets her and she accesses her fire side again.” I didn’t bother to ask how he knew about the FBI. It sometimes seemed Josiah had a spy network to rival the CIA.
    It also didn’t seem worth mentioning that Josiah once helped me access that fire side. His logic shifted and changed as necessary to support his beliefs and maintain control. It