Page 124 of No One’s Daughter

​They weren’t just similar.

​They were deliberately chosen.

​My pulse roared in my ears.

​One of them—

​One of them had to be—

​“Claire,” I breathed, the name barely more than a broken whisper as it tore from my throat.

​The world tilted.

​The beauty shattered.

​All that was left was horror.

​I was on my feet before I even realised I’d moved, the chair scraping loudly behind me as I stumbled forward, my vision locked on those lifeless forms.

​“No—” my voice cracked, louder now, frantic. “No, no, no—”

​I was vaguely aware that people had turned. Gasped.

​But they fell away. I didn’t care.

​“Which one is she?” I demanded, my voice rising, shaking, splintering apart from under the weight of it. “What have you done with my sister?”

​The performers began moving again.

​Everything just carried on.

​And ignored me.

​Until everything went still at the sound of something even more uncanny.

​Laughter.

​It cut though the silence like a blade.

​Slow.

​Unrestrained.

​Amused.

​I froze.

​“Ah,” Valerius’s voice drifted across the space, smooth as silk and twice as suffocating. “I wondered how long it would take for you to notice.”

​He stepped into view as though he’d been waiting there, emerging from the shadows at the edge of the stage, his gaze fixed solely on me.

​On my panic.

​On my fear.

​His smile widened.

​And something inside me broke.