Page 106 of The Devil's Canvas

“I made you tea,” I continue. “Chamomile with too much honey. You hate chamomile, but drank it anyway.”

A broken sound leaves her throat.

“Ophelia?” she whispers.

“I’m here.”

In the background, I hear Rosalind say, “Put it on speaker.”

A click.

Rosalind’s voice comes through next—low, clipped. “If this is really you, what did you give me for your first Christmas living with us?”

“My birth mother’s music box,” I say without missing a beat. “You said I didn’t have to. That it was too much. I told you that’s why I gave it to you.”

Her breath catches audibly.

“I thought you were dead,” she says. “Everyone did.”

“I know.”

Bella’s voice jumps in, thick with disbelief. “Where the hell have youbeen?”

“I can’t explain everything. Not yet. But I didn’t choose to disappear. And I’m okay now. I’m safe.”

“That’s not enough,” she snaps. “You don’t get to vanish for months and call us from your apartment like nothing happened.”

Months.

I know that. I was told that. But hearing it from Bella makes it feel real in a way the Infernal Council never did.

Because for me, it wasn’t months. It felt like days. Maybe a week, if I stretch it. But not months.

“I’m not asking you to be okay with it. I just need you to understand that I didn’t leave you. I had to go somewhere. And now I have to go back.”

“What does that even mean?” Rosalind asks. “Back where?”

There’s a beat of silence on my end. One that stretches long.

“To the place I belong,” I say. “To who I’m supposed to be now.”

“You’re scaring me,” Bella says. “Just come home.”

“Iamhome,” I whisper. “It’s just… not where it used to be.”

Neither of them speaks.

“Dominic’s still looking for you,” Bella says quietly, like she’s trying to gauge my reaction.

I close my eyes.

“He filed missing person reports. Flew to cities you never even stepped foot in. Talked to your coworkers. Went to that field outside town every week. Just sat there and waited. Thought maybe you’d show up like a ghost.”

My throat tightens.

"I want you to go to the field," I start. "All of you."

"I'm bringing Rhys," Bella says suddenly.

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