Alle Kapitel von His Doll: Kapitel 71 – Kapitel 80

I turned to run, some desperate instinct driving me toward the treeline even as the Warden's calm certainty rang in my ears, and made it three steps before hands closed hard around my arms, guards I hadn't seen materialize from the quarry's shadowed edges."Let go of me," I screamed, twisting against their grip, though my struggle accomplished nothing against their combined strength."There's no point fighting," the Warden said, approaching slowly, something almost sympathetic in his tone despite the horror of what he'd just orchestrated. "Your friends are likely already engaged with my people at the Hollow. By the time they realize this confrontation was simply a diversion, the ritual there will already be complete.""What ritual," I demanded, still fighting uselessly against the guards' hold. "You said the sealing requires guardian blood freely given. You can't force that from me.""I don't need it freely given," the Warden said, something clinical entering his voice now. "I only ne

"The breach," Mira said urgently, kneeling beside the still pulsing circle, her expression carrying fresh alarm despite everything else happening around us. "It's unstable. Darius's sacrifice disrupted whatever the Warden intended, but it didn't seal it. If anything, the interruption might have made it worse.""How much worse," I asked, my voice unsteady as I continued pressing against the wound along my shoulder, Ethan's hands joining mine moments later, his own grief still raw but his focus already shifting toward the immediate crisis demanding attention."I don't know," Mira admitted. "The mechanics of what just happened, an unintended sacrifice interrupting a forced ritual, that's not something any of the texts describe."Ethan knelt beside his father's still form for one more agonized moment, his hand gripping Darius's shoulder despite everything unresolved between them, before forcing himself back to his feet, grief hardening into the same fierce, protective focus I recognized f

We returned to the compound three days later, the ring on my finger still feeling impossibly new, a bright point of hope against everything else still hanging unresolved over our lives. Andy noticed immediately, his face breaking into a grin so wide it looked almost painful."Finally," he said, pulling me into a fierce hug before turning to clap Ethan on the shoulder. "I was starting to think you'd never work up the nerve.""I needed the right moment," Ethan said, though the small, private smile he gave me suggested the teasing didn't bother him at all.Matthias offered his congratulations with the same warmth, though something more guarded lingered behind his eyes, a reminder that grief for what he'd lost still lived alongside genuine happiness for what we'd found. Mira embraced me longer than I expected, tears bright in her own eyes."Mom would have loved him," she said quietly, just for me. "Even without remembering everything, he's still exactly who she would have wanted for you."

Word from the Brooklyn family arrived four days later, faster than expected, and Andy's expression as he entered the study told me everything before he even spoke."They're in," he said, unable to fully hide his relief. "Formal alliance, full cooperation on intelligence sharing and coordinated defense.""That's excellent news," my father said, though Ethan's expression remained carefully measured, clearly already calculating what came next."There's more," Andy continued. "They mentioned reaching out to Lester on our behalf. Apparently our proposal impressed them enough that they're willing to vouch for us with other houses directly.""That could accelerate everything considerably," Mira said, already pulling up her maps and notes, tracking the growing web of alliances against the Warden's own expanding coalition. "If Brooklyn's willing to advocate for us, we might secure Lester's support without needing to repeat the entire negotiation from scratch."The following weeks unfolded in a

"A spy," my father said, his voice tight with barely controlled fury. "Inside the coalition itself, not simply Ethan's household this time.""That's what the intercepted message suggests," Andy confirmed. "Our ally who caught it says the information was detailed enough that it had to come from someone present at the meetings themselves. Not guesswork or external surveillance."Ethan's jaw tightened, the careful, hopeful progress of these past weeks suddenly threatened by the same kind of internal betrayal that had nearly destroyed everything once before. "Who has access," he asked. "Beyond the representatives who were physically present.""Their staff," Mira said grimly. "Advisors, guards, anyone traveling with the various delegations. It could be anyone, from any of the seven houses now aligned with us.""Or it could be deliberate misdirection," I said, the thought occurring to me even as the tension in the room threatened to spiral into paranoid suspicion. "The Warden knows exactly