All Chapters of A CONTRACT SIGNED IN BLOOD AND DESIRE : Chapter 91 - Chapter 100

Lina stood before the open gate and stared into the impossible world beyond it.There was no ceiling.No floor.No horizon.Only darkness stretching on and on every which way, interrupted by thousands of glowing doors.Some were small.Some were enormous.Some looked ancient.Some looked almost new.One after another they bore different symbols.Each seemed to pulse with a different energy.Lina could feel them calling to her.Not all at once.One by one.As though each door had a different possibility for her to choose it.Fames stood beside her."This doesn't look safe.""It isn't."He glanced at her."You're getting better at admitting that."Lina smiled faintly."I've had practice."Darius stepped closer."Don't touch any of the doors."Lina looked at him."Why?""We don't know where they lead."Evelyn folded her arms."That's not entirely true."Darius turned to stare at her."You know where they lead?"Evelyn nodded."Each door represents a world created by a different choice."

The morning after the seventh world had revealed itself to Lina, she woke with a strange feeling in her chestNot of fearor even excitement,but of the vague sense that she had forgotten something rather important.Lina lay in bed staring at the ceiling for several minutes as the events of the night before filtered through her mind.The seventh world,the woman who had knocked on their door,the messagenot for a savior,but for someone who understandsLina repeated the words she had kept repeating to herself throughout the night as she sat up in bed.They were simple words,yet somehow they felt even more ominous than the prophecies she had read before.Fames was already awake, staring out the window."You're staring again," she told him.He turned around, smiling faintly."I noticed.I always notice.""How did you sleep?" he asked."Badly.""Me too.Why?""Because you kept waking up."Lina frowned."I did?""Every hour.What were you saying?"Fames hesitated, then muttered, "You ke

Nobody moved.The message still glowed on the floor beneath Lina's feet.THE FIRST CREATOR LIED.And beneath it:THE KEEPER WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO SURVIVE.The words slowly faded.But the meaning remained.Lina looked at Elias."He lied."Darius's voice was quiet."That's what it says.""I know what it says."Her eyes remained on the floor."I mean... he lied to me."Fames stepped closer."Lina."She looked at him."He told me the truth."" Some of it.""He told me everything."" No."Orion spoke from across the room."He told you what he wanted you to know."Lina turned to face him."You knew?""I suspected.""When?""Before I returned."She stared at him."Then why didn't you tell me?""Because I didn't know enough.""You knew enough to suspect him.""Yes.""And you still said nothing?"Orion's expression hardened."I needed to be certain."Lina shook her head."You could have trusted me.""I was trying to protect you.""I don't need protection from the truth."Orion lowered his eyes

For the first time in thousands of years, there was no prophecy.No command.No sacrifice waiting at the end of a path.No ancient voice telling the keeper what she had to become.There was only morning.Lina stood on the balcony of the eighth world's central temple, watching the city wake beneath her.Sunlight poured across the buildings.People filled the streets.Children ran between them.Merchants opened their shops.Families gathered around tables.Everything looked ordinary.But nothing was ordinary anymore.The truth had spread all across the world during the night.The names of the thirty-seven keepers had been restored.The history of the source had been revealed.Elias's lies were no longer secrets.And for the first time, humanity knew that the future had never been written for them.It had only been waiting for them to choose it.Lina rested both hands on the stone railing."You're awake early."She turned.Fames stood behind her."You've been standing there for an hour."

Three weeks have passed since the truth was unveiled.The first time in Lina's life that there was nothing hunting her down.No armies gathered on the horizon.No ancient creature lurking beneath a city.No prophecy demanding her blood.No voice whispering that the future had already been decided.Yet Lina could not fully unwind.There was something unfamiliar about this peace.She had prepared herself so diligently for the next disaster to strike that she almost preferred the danger to this stillness.Standing at her room's window, she watched the sunlight spread over the city.People were already taking to the streets.The eighth world had changed drastically since she and the keepers had saved it.The old memorial had been transformed into a monument where every day people spoke the names of the thirty-seven keepers.The Council had established contact with the other seven worlds.Trades had begun.Families long separated were finding each other.Some of the worlds were suspicious.