All Chapters of His Doll: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

"Absolutely not," Ethan said, his voice hard enough that even Mira took a half step back. "You're asking us to walk directly into the one place Darius and the Warden are actively preparing for a ritual that requires exactly what we are. That's not a plan. That's surrender with extra steps.""It's the only place I know of where a counter-ritual could actually work," Mira said, not backing down despite the fury radiating off him. "The Hollow isn't simply the gateway's location. It's also the strongest concentration of the old magic left in this territory. Anything I attempt to weaken the bond's usefulness has to be performed somewhere the magic itself is strong enough to hold the change.""Or it's exactly what they want," Matthias said, arms crossed, his voice edged with the same suspicion he'd carried toward Mira since her arrival. "Lure you both back to the one place they've already prepared for your arrival, using your sister's supposed help as the bait."

"Hold on," Andy said, wrenching the wheel sharply as he veered off the main route onto a narrower side road, tires screeching against pavement barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass.The headlights behind us didn't waver, matching the sudden turn with unnerving precision."They're still with us," Matthias said, twisting in his seat to keep watch through the rear windshield."I know," Andy said, his voice tight with concentration as he pushed the vehicle faster, the darkened landscape blurring past in streaks of shadow and moonlight. "I'm trying."Ethan's grip on my hand tightened further, his other hand already reaching for the weapon secured beneath his seat. "How many vehicles.""Just the one, as far as I can tell," Matthias said. "Though that doesn't mean there aren't more waiting somewhere ahead of us."The road curved sharply, and Andy took it without slowing, the vehicle's tires briefly losing traction against loose gravel before catching again. I braced myself against the

The forest thickened around us as we drove, headlights cutting narrow tunnels of light through trees that seemed to close in tighter with every mile, and I spent most of the ride staring out the window, unseeing, my mind replaying every version of Tally I'd known since the night I first arrived in this house.The way she'd circled me that first evening, cruel and dismissive, sizing me up like something disappointing. The rasp of her voice when she'd finally, honestly apologized, tears in her eyes as she admitted a hundred years of unrewarded loyalty had curdled into cruelty she genuinely regretted. The firm, brief embrace she'd given Ethan before we left, telling him to be careful, her own voice carrying a promise she perhaps already knew she couldn't keep."I keep thinking," I said quietly, breaking the heavy silence that had settled over the vehicle, "that the last real conversation I had with her was forgiveness. At least there's that. At least she didn't die thinking I still hated

"You shouldn't have come," my father said again, his voice raw, carrying across the sudden, breathless silence of the chamber. "Not yet."Darius's expression twisted from surprise into something colder, more calculating, his eyes sweeping over Ethan and me with the particular hunger of a man who understood exactly how much leverage had just walked directly into his hands."Well," he said, a slow, cruel smile spreading across his face. "Look who's decided to save us the trouble of hunting them down."The older robed man beside him raised a hand, and every guard in the chamber shifted at once, weapons rising, the space between us and the exit sealing shut with terrifying efficiency."Seize them," Darius ordered. "Carefully. We need them both intact."Ethan pulled me instinctively behind him, his stance shifting into something defensive, coiled, though I could see the calculation already running behind his eyes, counting exits, counting enemies, searching for any path that didn't end wit

Pain arrived before awareness did, a deep, throbbing ache radiating from my side that made me gasp even before my eyes fully opened. Light filtered soft and unfamiliar through unfamiliar curtains, and for a disoriented moment I simply lay still, cataloguing the sterile smell of antiseptic, the steady beep of some monitor somewhere near my head, the unfamiliar weight of bandages wound tight around my torso."She's waking up." Andy's voice, close, relieved, though something heavy and cautious colored it in a way I didn't yet understand.I forced my eyes open fully, the room swimming into focus slowly, unfamiliar walls, unfamiliar equipment, clearly some kind of medical facility rather than Greta's small quarters back at the compound."Where," I managed, my voice barely a rasp."A secure clinic," Andy said, moving closer, his face drawn and pale, dark circles carved deep beneath his eyes. "One of Mira's contacts. You've been unconscious for two days,