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“I’m not going back,” I said aloud. Fear still weakened my voice, and it cracked as I repeated, “I’m not going back!”
She stepped into view before us, the dim streetlight reflecting off her porcelain skin. Her smile held the same hidden distaste for me that it always had. “I’m afraid you have no choice.”
“You can’t keep her locked up forever,” Alek demanded. “We’ll find her. We won’t stop looking for her until we do.”
Theia laughed, long and wicked. The sound of her caused my breath to hitch. “If you think you can stop me, you have a brutal awakening coming for you.” Within two seconds, she was standing directly in front of us. Alek still held my wrist tightly, but my mother reached out and grabbed my free hand, tugging me in her direction. “This is family business,demon. Leave my daughter alone from now on.”
She would kill him if she knew who he was. Who hisfatherwas. If she found out what I had just told him, he would be dead in an instant…
Alek’s anger became palpable as my mother tugged me once more, yanking me from his grasp.
“Let us go,” I spat at Alek. I hated him. Iwantedto hate him. But at that moment, I didn’t want him to die. I didn’t want Theia to kill him.
Alek betrayed me. He lied to me, he made me think someone in this world actually cared about me and then he let my world crash around me.
But in spite of all that, he gave me one thing nobody else had:hope.
Alek would come for me. I knew that was true.
Not because he cared about me. Not because he might have loved me—no. Neither of those things were true.
But he needed me.
And now, he knew the truth. I had told him my deepest, darkest secret. The secret that gave my life a miserable purpose.He knew.
He would come. Sooner or later, he would come for me.
“I’m sorry,” I said to my mother. I bowed my head, tucking my chin in surrender like I had done dozens of times before.Be small, I told myself.Be submissive. Be nothing.“I don’t know what got into me. He just… they just…”
Theia ran a finger down my cheek. I bit the inside of my mouth to stop myself from flinching away. “Don’t worry, Lyra. I’ll keep you safe. I’ll always keep you safe.”
Hidden, she meant.She’ll keep me hidden.
But at least Alek wouldn’t be killed.
“Take me home,” I whispered to her.
“No!” Alek yelled, a shocking desperation lacing his words. But it was too late.
My mother’s power—light power—surrounded us, ready to bring ushome.
ChapterThirty-Two
Theia paced before me. Her black heeled boots clicked the cement floor with every step she took.
“I should have known better,” she mumbled. “I should have known that you would disobey again. You’re too selfish to see the good in the world.”
“How is this good?” I asked. Tears streamed freely down my face, but I didn’t care. Theia had kept me secluded in the past, but locking me up? In the basement? With chains?
She was losing her mind.
“You aren’t a normal girl, Lyra. You don’t get to live a normal life. I thought you would have listened to me by now, but after that little stunt you pulled last night, I guess not.”
My heart raced just thinking about it. The few hours of freedom I had running free in the world before Theia caught me. The fresh air on my face. The sound of birds chirping as I ran with my bare feet on the pavement.
Theia stopped pacing and knelt before me. “Your life is nothing, Lyra! Don’t you understand that? You were not born to be a normal girl. You were not born to have a normal life.”
I clenched my teeth but said nothing.
