Chapter23

Chapter23
Betrayal Uncovered

It moves similarly to me.

The same step. The same breath. Simmering beneath the skin is the same anger.

It's not me, though.

I can't really explain it. However, every part of me is aware that that thing is a shell that is encasing my form. It is soulless as well.

Sole goal.

To replace me.

It doesn't launch an assault.

It simply waits.

As if it is aware of something I am not.

As if winning doesn't need my death.

After that, it turns. Fades into the darkness.

Lost.

The strain over my chest releases as I drop to my knees. Roots return to the ground. The rune fades.

I ought to go after it.

I sprint in the other direction instead.

Let's return to the ruins. Lily burnt and returned to the clearing.

I'm not trying to find her.

I want to know the truth.

And I discovered it this time.

Buried under the ash. Concealed within a fallen tree trunk.

Black, torn cloth.

Not Lily's.

Jake's.

Not recently, either.

The edge is stained with dried blood.

Not new. Not his.

But hers.

I put it up against my nose.

And everything changes.

Memory Not scent.

Engraved. Aggressive. Perplexing.

She was being pulled through the woods by Jake.

A cavern. Sealed by sigils. A custom.

She screamed. Not in agony. In warning

pleading for him to stop.

He didn't pay attention.

He finished it.

And after it was over

She had passed away.

Only for a second.

Just enough time.

To allow another object to enter.

The truth is more powerful than any claws could ever be.

She wasn't killed by him.

He opened her.

Then something else intervened.

Kade arrived at that moment.

Not to keep her alive.

To take her.

A vessel was necessary for the Whispering Shadow.

Jake constructed the door.

Kade went through it on foot.

What about Lily?

It became her.

Not entirely. Not quite yet.

However, the shadows are no longer merely murmuring.

It's talking.

Stronger, louder.

It feeds every time she uses it.

And less of her is left the more it feeds.

My vision trembles as I clutch the fabric.

Kade and Jake. Both are at fault.

But not by themselves.

Another exists.

Someone who explained the summoning process to Jake.

Kade was shown how to bind it by someone.

And I am aware of who it is.

I was only ever murmured about the old things by one individual.

I was only ever cautioned to forget the past by one person.

Dad.

I push through walls I vowed never to cross again as I teleport to the pack lands.

When they see me, the guards wince.

They ought should.

I'm not Alpha anymore.

I still bear the wrath of one, though.

He smells stale.

Days have passed since he left.

However, I locate his study.

Ravaged. Not by robbers, though.

By him.

Papers were destroyed. The shelves were cleared.

But there's still one page left.

Confined to the desk's rear.

Not quite scorched.

Only enough remains to identify the symbol.

The altar's rune is the same.

But more senior.

Manually drawn.

And her name underneath it.

Not Lily.

Her birth name.

The one I never heard about.

Since she wasn't a member of our pack at birth.

To it, she was given.

Concealed.

Safe.

A waiting vessel.

He was aware.

My dad was aware of her identity.

The person she was supposed to be.

And he put her right in front of my nose.

I got her from him.

Not as a partner.

Like a trap.

And I smiled as I entered it.

My phone is vibrating.

Just one name.

Selena.

I have a half-sister.

The one whose eyes are like broken glass and whose mouth is sharper than knives.

Unless there is blood involved, she doesn't call.

I respond.

She has a tight voice.

"You must watch this."

I get there in a matter of minutes.

It's worse than I thought it would be.

A temple. from the inside out, burned.

Human bodies.

Dozens.

Not killed.

Exhausted.

They were all marked.

The rune is the same.

Their blood was drawn in.

When she talks, she doesn't look at me.

"She was present."

How did she know? I don't ask.

I sense it already.

The walls still resonate with her vitality.

But not by themselves.

She was with him.

Kade.

I get something from Selena.

A ring. Easy.

Carved from bone.

Still warm.

Still throbbing.

Still bound.

I recognize it right away.

Not hers.

Myself.

The ring I presented to her.

A long time ago.

When I believed that we could both be anchored by love.

She held onto it.

So far.

And it's right here.

At a slaughterhouse.

Lily, what are you trying to say?

That you've left?

Or that you never had me in the first place?

Selena keeps a close eye on me.

Then she says it.

"The Shadow Lords are being called by her."

The name is old. Prohibited.

Not deities. Demons, no.

Predators.

Extinct ages ago.

Until the door was discovered.

Jake pulled it open.

Kade made it wider.

It was Lily.

She's not finished, though.

She is returning them.

Each and every one.

There's just one more thing she needs.

A last sacrifice.

Another soul.

Another betrayal.

With an unblinking gaze, Selena leans forward.

"Your father is the target of her."

I want to chuckle.

Permit her.

Permit her to burn him. Break him.

However, that isn't it.

The twist isn't that.

She's not interested in killing him.

She intends to take advantage of him.

Since he struck the first agreement.

Before Jake.

Before Kade.

The original blood covenant was his offer.

She is presently arriving to pick it up.

She's not coming alone, though.

Once more, the ring's rune pulses.

And then the sky cracks a second later.

Thunder. Not from above, though.

From below.

The entire globe shudders.

Selena takes hold of my arm.

"She must be stopped."

I dismiss her.

"No," I reply.

"I need to get to her."

Because there is a fact that I have yet to confront.

I'm not trying to stop her by pursuing her.

To get her to remember me, I'm pursuing her.

To remind her of her identity.

Before them.

Prior before the Shadow.

Before Destiny used her as a weapon.

However, what if it's too late?

What happens if she forgets?

Or worse

What if she does?

And nobody cares anymore?

I reach the ceremonial grounds' perimeter.

Fire-veined clouds swirl across the black sky above.

The ground is crawling with lightning.

Not organic.

Called forth.

Before I see her, I sense her.

Standing in the middle.

Raise your hands.

Eyes are vacant.

Nothing to say.

Just power.

Around her, it coils.

And across from her

My dad.

Confined.

Bending down.

Grinning.

She lifts a sword.

Carved out of bone and shadow.

And I understand

She will not murder him.

He and she are going to merge.

Finish the cycle.

Make the agreement official.

She is making him available to the Shadow.

Not as a foe.

As a present.

The air screams.

And when she brings the blade down

She pauses.

Not my fault.

Due to another factor.

A noise.

A heartbeat.

A beating heart.

Not my.

Not hers.

Theirs.

The Lords of the Shadow.

They're coming early.

There's a problem.

Confused, she looks around.

Then

He shows up.

Not Kade.

Not Jake.

Myself The duplicate.

The shade.

He passes me.

Directly to her.

She doesn't wince.

He is welcomed by her.

Grasps his hand.

They enter the light.

Together.

And disappear.

Only the ring remains.

A voice, too.

Inside my mind.

Her tone

One syllable whispered.

"Leap."