جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 170

MAGNUSI stared at Kieran. My hand was still pressed against my temple, and the headache was getting worse by the second."She what?""She brought everyone back," Kieran said again. His voice was steady, but his eyes told a different story. "There were bodies. A lot of them. And then she... she healed them. All of them."Before that headache of mine worsened, my phone rang.The sound cut through everything else. Through the now drizzle of a rain. Through the voices around us. Through the pounding in my skull that wouldn't stop.I looked at the screen.It was Celeste and despite how much I didn't want to, I couldn't help myself. I answered. "What.""Your precious daughter is back." Her voice was raw, shaking with something between fury and fear for some reason. "And guess what? She just tried to choke me to death. Come put a leash on her before I do."My breath caught. "Wait. She's home?"I didn't get an answer because the line immediately went dead after that. I stared at the phone

RAEI followed her through the house. The hallway walls were lined with faded paintings, their subjects obscured by years of dust and shadow. Our footsteps echoed on the wooden floor. Each step creaked under our weight.She stopped at the base of a staircase. The banister was carved from dark wood, intricate patterns worn smooth by countless hands. She started climbing without looking back to see if I was following.I kept my hand pressed to my neck. The bleeding had stopped, but the skin still stung. My heart hammered against my ribs. I had come this far. I couldn't turn back now.The stairs groaned beneath us. We reached the second floor landing and she turned right, moving down another hallway. This one was narrower. The air felt heavier here, thick with something I couldn't name.She stopped in front of a door. The same door where I'd seen the light from outside. Her hand rested on the handle for a moment before she pushed it open."After you," she said. Her voice had gone flat ag

RAEI stared at her, waiting. My body felt like it might dissolve at any moment. The transparency in my hands was spreading up my arms now. I could see the outline of bones beneath skin that looked more like mist than flesh.Annamaria's expression shifted. Not quite satisfaction. Something colder. More calculating."You are weakened," she said. "So sure. I'll do my duty as a grandmother. I'll tell you a story."She began to circle me slowly. I turned with her, refusing to let her get behind me again. Each movement sent small shocks through my system. Like static electricity but internal."Do you know why twins are revered and feared in many cultures?"The question came out of nowhere. I blinked, trying to focus through the pain that still echoed in my bones."I'm not a twin.""I take it you don't have an answer." She stopped walking. Her hands clasped in front of her. "So I will tell you."The garden seemed to dim. The vibrant colors muted slightly, like someone had turned down the sa

RAEThe thought came quietly, almost gently, which somehow made it worse.I could kill her.It sat there in my mind as a stone dropped into deep water, heavy, as it was cold and impossible to ignore. My hands were still wrapped around Annamaria’s face, my knees pressing into her shoulders to keep her pinned, and she was staring up at me with the kind of shock that comes when someone suddenly realizes the balance of power has shifted in a way they didn’t anticipate.Around us the garden flickered like a faulty projection. Trees bent where they shouldn’t bend, colors bled at the edges of things, and every few seconds reality cracked open just enough that I could glimpse the real room beyond it, the rocking chair, the ceiling, the outline of someone screaming.It would have been easy.All I had to do was tighten my hands. Or lean forward and drive my weight into her throat.My wolf wanted it. I could feel that hunger rising up from somewhere deep inside me, dark and insistent, pushing ag

MAGNUSI twisted aside just as the flames streaked past my shoulder and exploded against the wall behind me. Heat washed across my back as the smell of burning wood filled the air.I closed the distance in two strides and swung for her midsection.She brought up an air wall.My claws slammed into the invisible barrier and stopped cold, the impact vibrating up my arm like I had punched a steel plate.She pushed.The wall expanded outward and struck my chest like a battering ram, forcing me back a step.Before I could recover another fireball was already on its way.This one hit my shoulder.Pain flared instantly as the flames seared across my skin, the smell of burned flesh hitting my nose.My flesh.I snarled and lunged forward again.This time I dropped low and swept my leg toward hers.She jumped higher than any normal human could manage, her magic lifting her clear off the ground.While she hung in the air she thrust both hands downward.I knew that move well actually. Even if I co