Page 63 of Forged in Deception

Hope rose in her chest as she walked quickly down the halls of Senera, listening to nothing but the hum of idle office equipment.

This could all be over soon if they found the evidence they needed.

This could all be over today.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-EIGHT

THE WOMAN

The woman waited, but this time, she did not wonder after Mother.

They had been together for years now. They were closer than sisters. Closer than blood.

She no longer had to take the drug in order to see the serpent. Mother was with her always, beneath her skin, curled up warmly around her heart.

She sometimes wondered if their souls had actually joined and had become one perfect, inseparable thing.

She did not know what she believed about souls, though. Not anymore. Certainly, they were not what she’d been taught they were.

They could be changed. They could be shifted.

And, she hoped, they could be brought to a new world. A better world, where they could finally leave their sufferings and difficulties behind.

She waited.

She was not impatient, but she was eager. Joy seemed to tingle within her fingertips and toes, like she could scarcely hold herself to the earth anymore.

After all this time, after all these years, she was sure she’d found the one.

“Hello, my darling,” Mother said without words, sending fresh tingles down the woman’s spine. “You have news.”

The woman could scarcely form the words. She was far too happy.

“Yes, Mother. I think…I think we have found her at last. The one who is open to the truth. The one who will get us home.”

Mother said nothing for several long moments, but the air surrounding the woman was not silent, either. It seemed to hum and shiver, as though the fabric of the universe itself was pondering, considering.

At last, she spoke, and all else went quiet.

“I do have reservations, my dear one,” Mother said gently. “It has been a long time, but we have made mistakes before. Once she sees our rituals, she may become afraid. She may leave us.”

The woman drew a slow breath in, steeling her will. She did not like to contradict Mother, not ever, but she wasn’t as scared as she used to be. Mother needed her, that much was clear. However great her power was, the beautiful serpent was not infinite. The woman, too, had choices to make for the good of their community.

“I do not think that will happen, Mother,” she said softly. “This one is not like Amira was. She is a true believer, and more than that, she is brave. She will do whatever is necessary to find the truth.”

“You speak well,” Mother said.

The three words were enough to make the woman’s heart soar.

But there was still one thing she did not dare to tell the serpent, one fear of her own that she still carried.

The chosen one may have been found, but that didn’t mean the end would come easily.

Karlin McKenna was too close, too watchful, always trying to figure everything out.

They had to go to the empire of light soon, or she would figure out how to stop them.

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