Chapter 86 The Barrier Held!

Chapter 86 The Barrier Held!
Saintilia POV

I did not mean to laugh.

But I could not help it.

The sound that came out of me was sharp, empty, and without humor.

“Emilio, I was born in Boudins, the village where Jacob lives. Jonas built this place. No one here can touch me. Whatever came last night, your protection was not needed.”

I leaned forward, my hands flat on the table.

“I have been on my own since I was eleven. Do you really think that if people could harm me so easily, I would still be here for you to abuse me and do whatever you want with me?”

According to Emilio, there had been heavy drumbeats, chanting, stomping, and dry, whispering sounds outside the house. But he had seen no one. He said the air had grown thick, and whatever ritual was performed was beyond anything he had ever experienced.

A spirit had been summoned to claim my soul.

And yet I had slept through it.

“You said they came for me, they who?

“Your neighbors.”

I knew exactly who he meant. Jacob and his wife ere into weird stuff. And I knew this because Jonas told me so and I was around them quite often when I was growing up. I was surprise that Emilio knew it was them in the first place.

“Well next time they come for me, please ignore them or worry about yourself. I don’t need your protection.”

From my face, it was clear to Emilio that I meant it.

Perhaps he had always known that evil spirit could not possess me, I was sure he had tried when I kept rejecting him. And when that failed, he used another way by turning to Tina and to take me. Emilio knew the old ways well enough to fear them, but also well enough to protect what belonged to him. Whatever he had done around his home had made it difficult for certain things to cross his threshold.

The kind of ritual sent for me was not meant to frighten. It was meant to end a life quietly. The target was supposed to fall asleep and never wake again, their body found cold in the morning.

But I was still breathing.

That alone was defiance and proof that no one could touch me. He could continue believing that he protected me; but that was his problem.

It was only when I stepped outside the door to begin my chores that I saw it.

Just beyond the packed dirt yard, where the wild grass began to grow, lay a small, crude earthen plate. A few coins were scattered across it. Beside them was a piece of mango, half-eaten and black with rot.

An offering, also to warn me.

Celia had failed to kill me with her curse, so she left me a symbol of warning where I would be sure to find it. It was her way of telling me that Emilio’s house might have kept me alive for one night, but I was still being hunted.

As I stood there, staring at that small, rotten shrine of malice, cold dread settled into my bones.

This was no longer a threat whispered in the dark.

It was the first shot fired in a war I had not known I was already fighting.

Emilo POV

I was making my way back after walking Tina home when I saw Saintilia heading toward Jacob’s courtyard. Her steps were tense and determined, her body tight with anger or fear. Whatever was driving her, it was not ordinary.

I suspected for a long time that something dark existed between Saintilia and Jacob. I did not know exactly what it was, but I could feel it. There was a sickness in the air whenever the three of them were tied together, something hidden beneath their history.

Curiosity pulled me after her.

I followed at a distance, careful not to be seen. I knew I had no simple way to stop Saintilia from dealing with Jacob and Celia. They had helped raise her. That bond gave them a place in her life I could not easily challenge. I had watched enough to understand how deeply she was tied to them, especially to Jacob. For a long time, I believed her feelings for him ran deeper than gratitude or childhood affection.

That belief troubled me.

I knew I could not fight a bond that had been built over years. So I stayed silent and watched. I told myself I would wait until everything clear before taking any actions. I didn’t trust Jacob because of old grudges; I couldn’t question him either.

Tina, meanwhile, had grown more hateful toward Saintilia. Her jealousy poisoned every word she spoke. She had threatened to kill Saintilia and then herself if I ever developed feelings for Saintilia.

Of course, I could never admit the truth.

I had loved Saintilia from the first moment I saw her. But I couldn’t tell Tina that.

I had to keep Tina from harming my beloved. That was why I spent more time with Tina and kept my distance from Saintilia, even when everything in me wanted to be near her.

For a long time, I wondered if Saintilia’s bond with Jacob had become something more than childhood affection. It seemed possible that what began as trust had turned into a hidden attachment, maybe even something romantic.

But that question never sat right with me.

Why would Celia allow it? She was not like Adrienne. She did not seem careless or reckless enough to stand by, while her husband made a fool of her. Still, I had no proof of anything. Only instinct. And my instinct told me there was something rotten beneath the surface.

I hid behind a tree at a careful distance, close enough to hear them, far enough not to be seen. I listened to every word.

For a long time, I had suspected Jacob was the one responsible for the night I found Saintilia unconscious and broken. But suspicion was not proof. I had never been able to reach the truth.

Now, hearing her confront him, I knew.

My heart pounded hard against my ribs. At the same time, I realized how badly I had misunderstood everything. Saintilia had not gone to Jacob because she wanted him. She had gone there to expose him in front of his wife.

And Celia already seemed to know.

That realization struck me hard. How had I missed it? How had I watched all of them for so long and still failed to understand what was right in front of me?

Jacob.

The man I had suspected for years.

The shadow that had lived in the back of my mind.

Now I knew he was the monster who had touched the untouchable.

My blood burned with a possessive fury. I wanted to tear him apart with my bare hands. I wanted to make him suffer in ways he could never imagine.

And yet, even as I stood there ready to avenge her, Saintilia had already dismissed me as though I were nothing. As though my rage meant nothing. As though………..