a Lan

rfume, but with that sharp afterbite of something spoiled. As I stood in fro

memory tugged at me, but it was faint. A half-burned photograph in my mind.

urvive?" I ask

ach her eyes. "I did

before curling into fists. Elias stood like a statue, hi

roaching a wounded animal. "Yo

snapped. "It is a curs

y she looked at me. Pride?

mething that proves it. Som

When you were six, you stole a red crayon from church and drew moons on the walls of our apartm

how to

that. Not ev

winter steel. "This cannot be her.

ath the bloodstone crypt. Held by the Thorne Council's High Shadow

roat

id they

ou

before I fell. His face was thunderclou

ed in cloth. The moment she unwrapped it, the air grew heavier. The shard pulsed with fain

s whispered. "It was supposed

my palm. It was

once. Th

ped the shard, gasping. Smoke rose f

ped it again. "It knows h

as tight, his eyes unreadable.

left, Sierra. You are awakening too fast. If you do not harness w

ct me to trust you? After

ct you to survive. Whet

ed toward the d

etween us. "You w

tten. She is Crux. She will not belong to you. Not to the Co

pped around

s. Real ones. You say you were

pleasant. "Then we go no

d like scars through forgotten forest. Elias drove. Dominic rode shotgun, silent a

tucked behind a broken church. Ivy strangled t

k crescent. She whispered something under her

case led down

led low. "Th

. This is a grave. A

ed like I was walking through memory. At the bott

er of the floor. A sigil shaped

you here?"

hand to the stone. It gl

I gave birth to

ed. "My

human. Half something older. They planned to use you as a vessel for thei

ees b

aught m

was thick with

anchor they intended. Which means she is unst

ands. They did n

hrough the chamber. T

ence, a vo

rned. The Veil

s not

the shadows b

n. "We are

lade. "Shadows.

view. Hooded. Armed

behind her. "Ge

ed my

blade burn as it cut flesh. Dominic shifted mid-st

. Metal. Gro

of them g

harp teeth. W

ongs to

I sn

and the walls cracked. The mark on the floor glowed

en all the

e air. Ash settl

chest heaving.

soft. "That was h

lood from

t of this

with gray. I felt hollow. Heavy.

we reached the estate. I went stra

. My eyes looked diffe

y mother's writing. Pag

page had

d not been

ngle

ose Hunter, H

h it, a fr

f

h silve

e stood a th

d the bo

t time, I felt a