Page 138 of Saints & Sinners

“Eden... you wanted a world without rules just because you didn’t agree with the Council’s methods.”

“No,youdidn’t agree either, and you knew that. But then, you ascended, and once Grace came into the picture, of course, you only cared about her, even going as far as to work withthem.”

My head cut toward Joe, shock slamming right into me.

“The Council, even the Celestials, are using you, and now they’re using her.” she pointed at me, her eyes flashing with unrestrained anger. “They sent her into that competition to prove humans are worthless. You think they care about her? About you? You’re both just pawns to them. We all are.”

I jolted back in surprise.

They... sent me into that competition to prove I was worthless?

Hunter tensed beside me, and when I looked up at him, something a lot like guilt crossed his eyes.

Realization sunk in hard and fast.

He already knew that.

How...

“The Celestial system is broken,” Eden said, her voice sharp yet strangely weary. She let out a sigh, her expression cold and distant. “It’s just disappointing how useless that information was at the time when I let Malcolm into the academy.”

Her words struck me like a hammer, shattering everything around me. The room blurred, and her voice echoed endlessly inmy mind, with each syllable carving deeper into my chest.

“What?” I whispered.

When Eden turned her head in my direction, sinister amusement danced in her eyes.

“You... you’re the one that let that demon in—the one that killed Lucas.”

“Ding, ding, ding!” she sang. “It was more of an accident, though. Malcolm was only meant to go in as a form of distraction while I checked to see what thatinterestingletter Azrael received from the Council was. You can imagine my disappointment when I opened Azrael’s safe and found it was just about you. Although I guess it worked in my favor since it only proved how much the Council manipulates.” She sighed, shaking her head. “It’s a shame, though, that Malcolm had to die. He sacrificed so much for me without any questions. Something that the Council could never do.”

My throat burned. Everything did. “You killed innocent people—people who trusted you.”

“Innocent?” Eden scoffed. ‘You’re so stupid, Grace. None of them are innocent. Not the Council, not the Celestials. Andcertainlynot him.” She turned her gaze to Hunter, and everything collapsed around me.

“What does she mean by that?” I asked him, trying to keep the quiver in my voice at bay.

Hunter didn’t meet my eyes.

“Hunter,” I said again, his silence only feeding further into my fear.

Eden’s laugh was bitter and cruel. “Go on, Hunter, tell her.”

A muscle ticked beneath his jaw.

“Tell her,” Eden goaded him. “Tell her how you’re just as corrupted as I am. That your soul was marked by a demon the moment you realized the Celestials failed you and your brother.”

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “That’s not true.”

Hunter finally looked at me, his grey eyes filled with desperation. “Grace,” he started, but I stepped back, my heart splintering.

“Cain...” came Silas’s voice, looking just as hurt as everyone else.

Hunter’s gaze never left mine, not for one second. The longer I stared at him, the longer I felt I would break.

When that balance shifts—when demons gain too much power, or there is corruption within Celestials and Ascendants—the barriers weaken.

The memory of that day Lucas died rang so clear in my mind. Hunter knew the barriers were weakening. He was one of the reasons why. He and Eden—two corrupted souls.

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