Page 209 of Without a Trace
“I was always watching her,” Lena snapped. “Because I knew.”
Rhett backed against the wall, fingers dragging through his hair, eyes flicking between Lena and me. “She watched us every day,” he said, voice hollow. “Watched them fall for her. And still fed them everything.”
Trace took a step—then another. His fists were clenched, forearms flexed, the pulse in his neck visible. His tattoo glowed, stark against the heat building in the room.
And then Alden’s lit too.
A slow burn beneath his skin, the ink warming with quiet fury. Not because he willed it—but because the manor did.
Thirelin had awakened.
And it was calling the bond forward. Both of them.
“Say one more word,” he warned Brielle, low and lethal. “And I swear I won’t care who your father is.”
Alden wasn’t moving at all. His knuckles pressed into the pommel of a knife strapped to his belt, breathing shallow and sharp. But his eyes were glassed over with rage. A held storm. The kind that only breaks when blood hits the floor.
He stood there like a man unraveling beneath the surface—because the girl he would’ve died for had been used as a weapon. And he hadn’t seen it coming.
His eyes flicked to me, to Lena, then to the bloodline that built this mess.
And I knew—he wasn’t going to let this go.
And I stood at the center of it all, the fire beneath my skin turning into something dangerous. The truth had stripped away every last illusion. There was no going back. Not for me. Not for them. Not for Lena.
Because this wasn’t just betrayal.
It was war.
And I was finally ready to choose my side.
Scarlett
We stood at the threshold—Brielle still smirking, Lena trembling, every breath held on the edge of something ancient and irreversible.
Then my father stepped forward.
“She was never meant to wear it,” he said quietly.
Lena flinched. “You told me—”
“I told you the Veil was watching,” he said. “That you had a part to play.”
His voice stayed calm, but the edges were fraying. “But the heir… was always her.”
He looked at me.
“The Codex knew. Thirelin knew. The bond knew. You were born for this, Scarlett.”
Brielle’s expression sharpened.
“She’s already bonded,” Lena said bitterly, voice cutting through the heat. “Don’t say it like that’s something sacred.”
I stepped forward. “You don’t get to be angry that it wasn’t you.”
Her breath hitched, shoulders drawn tight.
“I was ready,” she snapped. “I knew the Codex backwards. I trained in blood rites before I could ride a damn bike—”
