Page 176 of Illusory

“You’re robbing me of my life!”

William chuckled, a sound so cold it made my skin crawl. “That’s where you’re wrong, my dear. We’re saving you.”

“Savingme? Saving me from what?”

“From yourself,” he replied, his voice dark and unsettling, sending a chill down my spine. “The power inside you—the very blood coursing through your veins—no one soul is meant to carry that amount of power, not in this world. Not unless you’re meant to use it for something more. Something far greater than anything you could ever achieve on your own. Don’t you see?” His eyes burned with an intensity that felt like they could scorch me. “It’s all leading to this one defining moment.”

“Oh, how lucky for me.” Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, but I glared back at him, fury rising. “And where’s your ‘redeeming moment,’ William? Who’s going to beyourjudge, jury, and executioner?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“All the people you lied to, manipulated, used,sacrificed. All the families you destroyed and people you killed—people like my father. Who are you going to answer to foryoursins?”

William’s eyes flashed with anger, his composure cracking for just a moment before he regained control. “Everything I’ve done has been for the greater good. To protect humanity from threats they cannot even begin to comprehend.”

“Must be nice to be the one who gets to decide what the ‘greater good’ is,” I sneered, the contempt heavy in my voice. “To play God with people’s lives while giving yourself a free pass.”

“You have no idea of the burdens I carry or the price I’ve paid to make theharddecisions.” His expression turned to ice. “I pay the ultimate cost every day of my life.”

“And that’s whereyou’rewrong.” I spoke low, the weight of my vengeance burning through my chest. “You haven’t even begun to pay for what you did to my family—to my father. But you will.” I met his gaze, venom in my words. “If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll make sure you pay for it with your life, just like my father did.”

William recoiled as though I had struck him, a fleeting cloud of fear crossing his eyes. He ran a hand over his cassock, glanced at the Horsemen, then straightened, locking eyes with me. Any trace of warmth or sympathy had vanished, replaced by something colder and far more dangerous.

“If only you hadn’t wasted your time spinning in futile circles in that house of follies.” He let the words hang in the air, his lips curling into a cruel smile. “I suppose I’ll have to thank ourHigh Castersfor that.”

A cold chill slammed into me. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re usually more perceptive than this, Jemma.” Heshook his head, disappointment heavy in his voice. “It’s a pity you didn’t see it sooner. Then again, with all thosedeadly sinsgnawing at your mind, day in and day out, it’s a miracle you managed to accomplish anything at all.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I demanded again, my voice cracking with panic.

“I’m referring to thespell, my dear,” he replied, his voice smooth and dripping with arrogance. “A masterpiece, if I may say so myself. It was subtle at first, yes. But I must admit, you and your friends have proven especially…susceptible to it.”

A spell?What spell?!

“What the fuck did you do?!” I snapped, my voice teetering on the edge of hysteria. The truth hovered just out of reach, an uncomfortable weight on the edge of my mind, threatening to crush me.

“You didn’t think that every choice you’ve made over the last couple of weeks was entirely your own, did you? All that fighting and fornicating and slothful laying about?” He scoffed in disgust. “We’ve been with you every step of the way, Jemma. Watching and waiting for you to fall into your own wickedness. Of course, we didn’t have to do much. A small push here, a nudge there.” He shrugged noncommittally as the walls dipped and trembled around me, as though they were going to fold in on me entirely. “The sins of your heart did most of the heavy lifting.”

Panic surged beneath my skin as his words ricocheted through my mind, slamming into every thought, every memory, making them explode with doubt and confusion. What had they done to us? Had they somehow been influencing us? For how long? And how?! How could they have accessed us when the house was completely warded?

“It’s unfortunate that it had to come to that,” William said, his voice dripping with false sympathy when his expressionshowed none. “But you forced our hand.”

“I’m going to kill you,” I vowed, my words a dark hiss of vengeance. “You won’t get away with this, and I swear to everything, I’m not hurting that baby! Not for you, and not for anyone. Your days of spilling blood with other people’s hands are over.”

He gazed at me disappointedly. “I had truly hoped you would listen to reason, Jemma. That you would come to understand what needs to be done and make therightchoice for yourself. But I see now that was never going to happen. Your emotions will always blind you to the truth. Very well then.” He nodded to the hooded man in a black cloak, who stepped forward holding an ornate silver chalice. “We’ll do it the hard way.”

My stomach lurched as two more men entered the room, their faces shadowed behind the same dark hood as the first man, neither one of them looking human.

“Stay the fuck away from me,” I warned, though I had nothing to back my threat up with. My panicked gaze flew back to William. “Call them off, William! You can’t do this to me. You don’t have the right! I don’t agree to this!”

“Unfortunately, you no longer have a choice in the matter,” he said, refusing to meet my eyes as he took a few steps back, clearing the way for the cloaked figures of doom.

“William!”

The three hooded figures approached me, their movements synchronized and eerily graceful. My heart raced, already knowing what was coming—that this was the anointing ritual my Alt had warned me about. The one that would force me to become the Fourth Horseman, whether I wanted to or not.

Terror rocketed through my body as I struggled against the magical bonds holding me in place, my body swingingback and forth in vain as I tried to break free, but it was hopeless. I couldn’t move an inch.