Page 32 of The Shadow Sanctum

I just stare at him.

Luna?

He’s never called me Luna.

“You saved my life once.” Aiden’s legs relax down against the earth. My eyes drift to his mangled ear, the top half missing.

I remember vividly the smell of his blood as it gushed from the broken capillaries as I stood over him with the pair of hedge clippers. Aiden was so strong and flailed so much that two Keepers had to hold him down.

I was just a teenager at the time, not even a Keeper, but still, the punishment was my idea. He was a cultivator who worked in the orchards with his mate. She became pregnant, and unfortunately, the baby was a boy. Aiden went to beg Father for permission to die in the forest with their child.

He was caught eavesdropping on Father’s conversation with someone on the outside. Though he claimed he heard nothing, Father ordered his execution.

I was softer at the time. The sight of agony was a discomfort that I saw in my dreams, and the news of births filled me with anxiety. I felt like I couldn’t breathe until I knew it was a girl.

I pitied Aiden, and I knew the power I had to influence my father.

I suggested an alternative punishment—the loss of an ear. Eventually, Father relented and claimed it was a growth opportunity for his favorite daughter.

Aiden spent three summer days in the forest until the infant finally passed. We never spoke of it again, of any of it.

Until now.

“But you still don’t know what you saved me from,” Aiden continues. “I never told you what I overheard the Chief Elder say.”

An argument erupts in my body—ears perking while my chest tightens, hips hinging closer while my body tenses for a blow. As if there’s anything Aiden could say that would surprise me. There shouldn’t be. Yet, I brace myself anyway. “What are you talking about?”

“He was talking in his office when I went to find him… I was desperate but knew not to interrupt, so I put my ear up to the door just to try and judge if the conversation was delicate or if I could knock.

“It was only his voice, so I figured he was on the phone. I heard him mention a price and delivery date.”

“Okay.” I raise my shoulders. “He was buying something for the Shadow Sanctum. Sometimes, that’s necessary, Aiden. We don’t make metal here or⁠—”

“He was selling something,” Aiden interrupts, his tone chilling. “I didn’t know what until I heard him give the ‘dimensions of the package.’ 7 lbs 11 oz. 20.5 inches.”

My head grows heavy before Aiden even says it, needles prickling ear to ear as blood drains.

“He was selling a baby, Luna. He was selling my baby.”

My eyes close as the world tilts. It barely helps. “That doesn’t make sense. You went to the forest to⁠—”

“I went to deliver my own child to the people your father sold him to,” Aiden deadpans. I force myself to look at him. As cold as his voice is, his eyes reflect years’ worth of suffering. “It took three days. And I’ve been making those deliveries ever since.”

“What?” I inch backward.

“It’s the deal I made with your father. Guenevere’s life in exchange for my silence and servitude.”

Guenevere’s life.

He would’ve killed Aiden’s wife, for the crime of…

I shake my head. But I don’t know if I’m rejecting the claim or the horrific notions it entails. A silly, silly thought pops into my mind, so shameful I wince.

How could he do this to me?

“The only reason he allows me to be so close is because he thinks I’m keeping an eye on you. I’m required to tell him everything you say or do. He’s been watching you your entire life, waiting for the day you’re brave enough to rise against him… If you kill yourself, that day will never come, and he’ll go on selling our babies and raping our women for the rest of his miserably long life.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell anyone?” Bile lurches up my throat. “Why wouldn’t you tell me? I…” My mouth hangs open while I try not to choke on my words.