Caleb stood up, the top of his head grazing the metal ceiling. His hands were shaking.

“I-I thought you were dead.”

Her lower lip trembled as she looked up at him, tears filling her bloodshot eyes. “Annora is dead, Caleb,” she whispered. “At least, the one you’ve known for the past century.”

“What?”

“I don’t know how it happened. But Lilith… she did this to me. When I woke up, I was without powers. No stronger than a human, the way I was before I first turned into a vampire. And I felt—” Her voice broke and she began sobbing. Annora hadn’t looked me in the eye once yet. She was so consumed with Caleb, I might as well have not existed. “I felt you,” she continued, gasping for breath. “I felt nothing but you. And what a fool I was to let you go. How blind I’ve been all these years to not see that all I’ve ever wanted was right in front of me… you, my love. I felt that I might die when I realized you’d gone. I didn’t understand—” She was rambling like a crazy person.

“H-how are you here?” Caleb asked, cutting her off.

“Isolde told me she suspected you were heading back to The Shade. I packed some supplies and slipped away from the island in one of the subs. I was hoping to chase you down and catch you before you reached The Shade’s port. I-I’ve been waiting days for you to show up.”

A lioness awaiting her prey.

Unable to contain herself any longer, she threw herself at him. My heart skipped a beat as she ran her hands through his hair, and reached up to press her lips against his in a slow, lingering kiss. With Caleb’s back turned to me, I couldn’t see the expression on his face. Whether he was resistant, or welcomed her advance.

I looked away, my chest burning. I didn’t know how much more despair I could handle in such a short space of time. I’d just been told that I’d lost my family. And now, as Annora moaned in Caleb’s arms, I feared that I might have just lost him too.

Chapter 32: Mona

Once Sofia had left the cabin, I lost no time in hurrying out of there myself. I didn’t want to spend any more time alone with those two witches.

When I’d sensed someone calling to me and hurried to the island’s boundary, I never could have imagined that I would find myself standing face to face with the Ageless’ sister. I recognized Brisalia from all those years ago, before I’d been banished from The Sanctuary. How could I have forgotten her? She’d been my mother’s best friend, and my own godmother. After my family died and I’d been blamed, Brisalia had been the only one in all of The Sanctuary to speak out against her sister’s decision to banish me. She’d been ignored, but to this day I couldn’t forget the gratitude I’d felt to her for being the only soft face among a sea of frowns.

I’d expected that it would be just as much a shock for Brisalia on seeing me as it was for me on seeing her. I’d thought that she must have intended to come for Corrine. Or Ibrahim. But she’d looked as if she’d been expecting me. Guilt had burned within me as she’d smiled and reached out to touch my shoulder.

“Mona,” she said, her voice gentle as silk. “It’s been a long time…”

I was speechless, my body rigid beneath her touch. I wished that she wouldn’t look at me that way. With fondness. With empathy.

She didn’t know the monster that I was. She didn’t know what I’d done.

“Do you remember Csilla?” She pointed to her daughter.

Of course I did. Csilla was younger than me, but I remembered we used to collect gems down by the river near my parents’ house.

I nodded.

“We heard rumors that you left Rhys and his people. I see now that it’s true.”

“Yes,” I managed.

I supposed I should have been grateful that Brisalia didn’t seem to know what I’d done. But somehow, her ignorance made me feel even worse.

“B-Brisalia, why are you here?”

She looked at me steadily. “I want to talk to the king and queen of The Shade. I come here on behalf of our people in The Sanctuary, in a mood of cooperation.”

My heart sank. Part of me just wanted to vanish and ignore her. Hope she’d go away and the Novaks would never find out she’d come. But an overwhelming sense of guilt was already ripping at my heart. I wasn’t sure that my nerves could handle walking away after she’d gone to the trouble of coming all the way here.

So I agreed to take them both in. I took them to a spare cabin, and locked them in with a spell I knew even the two of them combined wouldn’t be able to break. I told them to wait while I fetched The Shade’s rulers. I wished that Sofia had just told them outright that we weren’t interested. But I could hardly blame her for reconsidering her stance when Brisalia had mentioned Rose.

Now, we had to wait for the king and queen to come to a decision.

As I returned to Kiev’s and my home later that evening, my mind was whirring. I staggered into the living room and sank down on the couch, burying my head in my hands.

“Mona?” Kiev walked into the room and sat down next to me, clutching the back of my neck and forcing me to look at him. “What’s wrong?”

“I killed her,” I breathed, tears spilling down my cheeks. “I killed Odelia. The Ageless.”

Even after all this time, I’d never told anybody. I supposed I’d thought, if I never spoke about it to anyone, it would almost seem less real. More like a nightmare, a bad dream. But seeing Odelia’s sister standing before me, in her likeness, memories of that horrifying night flooded back. The night I’d swept through the streets of The Sanctuary like a shadow and slit their leader’s throat in her sleep.