The world stands still.Rowan’s low curse comes from behind me as Aziel stiffens at my side.But Noah only watches me, savoring the moment he pierced a hole straight through my chest.
“Liar,” I growl.
He steps closer, dragging a hand over one of the broken pews.“They weren’t random.They weren’t human, either—not fully.Witch blood.Old blood.Tainted with what your Council fears and worships in equal measure.”
The world around me narrows.
“Her parents were hunted,” Noah continued.“Eliminated by the Blood Council.Because they wouldn’t hand her over.”
A sharp, electric pain cuts across my ribs as Harlow stirs through the bond.
She isn’t awake, not yet.But something in her soulsensesthis conversation and the distress it is causing me.Fear and confusion ripple through us both.
My voice comes out low and deadly.“Why would the Council want a child?”
Noah laughs softly.“Because she was showing signs even then.”He taps his temple.“The gift.The visions.The ghosts whispering to her.Harlow was born marked.”
My stomach twists at each word that falls from his lips.Truth or manipulation - my body and mind can’t tell the difference.
I step forward.“Why hide in a church?”I change the subject as my mind reels, trying to separate the truth from the lies.
“Because it’s where my sister died,” Noah says simply.“And I’m sentimental.”
I freeze.
“Noah, stop...”Aziel commands, but Noah ignores him.
“Have you ever wondered why she was raised in that sweet little institution?”he asks.“Did you think it was random?Fate?Bad luck?”He shakes his head.“The Blood Council funded it.Operated it.Staffed it.They were watching her.Studying her.Waiting for the moment she’d be ripe enough to harvest.”
My vision darkens at the edges as rage surges through my body, hot and feral.“You’re lying.”
“If only,” Noah breathes out.“But you know I’m not.You’ve felt it, haven’t you?How wrong her memories feel.How the gaps don’t make sense.How she flinches at shadows she can’t name.”
He leans forward, his voice dropping into a whisper that scrapes at my skull.“Harlow was never supposed to be free.”
I lunge, but Aziel grabs my shoulder.“Mateo, no!”
Noah raises his hands mockingly.“Ah.Temper, temper.Just like the coven that killed my sister.”
I stop mid-stride, my breathing fractured.“What did you just say?”
Before he can answer, the church door slams open behind us.The wind howls in, the candles flickering violently.I am momentarily distracted, and Noah uses the opportunity to his advantage.
He bolts toward the side corridor with a speed that is more than just human, slipping through the fallen beams and broken plaster.
I tear free from Aziel’s grip.“Don’t let him get away!”
Rowan shoots after him, but the shadows have already swallowed Noah whole.
I sprint down the aisle, leaping over debris, crashing into the narrow passage he’d vanished into, only to hit a wall of ice-cold darkness.The air vibrates with ghostly whispers.It feels wrong and distorted.Echoing in a dozen unfamiliar voices.
This is Harlow’s ‘gift’ manifesting through the bond.I finally understand what she has been living with her entire life.
I hear a voice, soft as a breath against my ear, ‘Don’t believe him.’
A ghost, the voice familiar but not at the same time.The voice isn’t physical, like the wind fading in the background.
‘Mateo, please...Don’t believe him.’It hits me then, my sister.