Archer drew back, grabbing my arm to study the swirling magic moving on my wrist. “Are you… That can’t be right.”
“Remember when I told you I still owed him a name? Apparently, because I couldn’t deliver it, I broke the bargain and now… Well, I don’t even know what happens now.”
You know exactly what happens.
He’ll use you to break them all.
Starting with the ones you love.
That’s what I would do if I were him.
I lifted my shoulder, turning away from the voices only I could hear, but they were getting harder to ignore. The Remnants writhed beneath my skin, feeding off my growing fear.
“You okay?” Archer asked.
“No. Not for so many reasons. But let’s take the kid inside before the wet grass soaks her through.”
“I’ll carry her. You get the dog and the blankets.”
When Archer slid his arms under Quill to lift her, she immediately fought him, kicking and screaming until she heard me speak. “I’m here, Quilly. It’s okay. We’re going inside.”
Quill’s small voice took me back to when she was four and made us check for monsters in her room every night for five months. “You escaped?”
“Yeah. I escaped.” I pressed my forehead to hers as she lay in Archer’s arms. “Thanks for staying with me.”
“We’re family,” she yawned.
I watched as Archer carried Quill inside, cradled protectively against his chest. Something tightened in my throat at the sight. This makeshift family we were cobbling together from broken pieces and shared pain.
As I gathered the damp blankets, my fingers brushed against cool metal. Thorne’s golden book lay half-hidden in the folds of fabric. With a growl of frustration, I hurled it as far as I could into the darkness of the surrounding woods.
“Fuck off, Reverius Hawthorne Noctus.”
The marks flared in response to my anger, sending waves of pain up my arms. The patterns had reached my shoulders now, intricate swirls of darkness that pulsed with their own heartbeat. I stumbled slightly as I followed Archer inside, the searing pain around my ankles spreading with each step.
Inside, the house was quiet save for the soft crackle of the dying fire. Archer had already taken Quill upstairs. I paused in the doorway of the sitting room, taking in the familiar space that now felt foreign. How could everything look so normal when my world had been turned upside down yet again? I’d have to leave soon, I was sure of it. Alastor wouldn’t have bound me to let me live free of his command.
The blankets slipped from my grasp as exhaustion hit me like a physical blow. I stumbled to the couch and sank down, burying my face in my hands. “What am I going to do?” I whispered to the empty room.
You know what you have to do.
Break.
I lifted my head, half-expecting to see that fucking book materialized on the coffee table. I scanned the room, searching for that telltale glint of metal. Nothing. For a moment, relief washed over me. Then, as if summoned by my thoughts, there it was. Sitting innocently on the mantel above the fireplace, its gilt edges catching the last flickering embers.
My fingers twitched with the urge to hurl it into the dying flames. To watch it burn again and again until either it or I was reduced to ash. But Archer’s words echoed in my mind. I couldn’t lose control. Not again. Not when Quill was sleeping peacefully upstairs, finally feeling safe enough to let her guard down. Not when we were all trying so hard to build something stable from the wreckage of our lives.
I forced myself to take a deep breath. Slowly, deliberately, I unclenched my fists, focusing on the feeling of my nails leaving crescent-shaped marks in my palms. I wouldn’t give Thorne the satisfaction of seeing me unravel. Nor Alastor. They couldn’t have that power over me anymore.
Instead, I stood and walked to the mantel with measured steps, letting the magic burn. My hand hovered over the book, trembling slightly before I lifted it and opened it to the first page. His handwriting was fucking perfect.
Keep the book, Paesha. If you need me, I’ll come. Don’t let that anger consume you. I’m not afraid of those shadows. I’ll stand there and let you cut me down a thousand times if you need to stretch that power. Break me. Crush me. Just let it be me and no one else.
Thorne
“Aeris tried to pull her away and she wouldn’t come,” Thea said from the door, startling me. She held two steaming cups, looking over at me with a gross amount of pity.
I snapped the book shut. “Good. We trust no gods in this house.”
