Page 139 of House of Roots and Ruin
I had not been touched by the divine.
I’d been assaulted by the uncanny.
Kosamaras had taken my sisters and I captive, holding our thoughts in her twisted hands, making us see what she wanted, what we feared.
Eulalie’s grip on me tightened, her pale eyes impossibly sad. “You don’t need to remember this, Verity. Some things aren’t worth it.”
“But…” I sorted through the memories. The night of the fire. Papa’s death. Cassius saving me, seeing me when no one else could. “It ended, didn’t it? It’s over. Annaleigh, she saved us. Somehow…Why am I still seeing things?”
She pressed her lips together. “You’ve always seen things differently. It’s what makes you such a good artist. But when Kosamaras touched you…” She tapped at the center of my forehead again. “It opened something up. Something that didn’t go back together as it should. That’s why you’re here now.” She glanced back through the woods as if she could make out the glowering shape of Chauntilalie. “He chose you.”
“I know,” I confirmed. “Do you know what he’s trying to do? What it is he wants from me—from my children?”
The words felt so wrong. I didn’t have children. Not yet.
“It doesn’t matter. You just need to get out. Go back to Highmoor. You can’t stay here, Verity. You can’t stay with these people.”
“But what about Alex? I love him.”
Eulalie shook her head. “He doesn’t matter. Only you do. You need to leave. Today. Can’t you feel it? There’s danger all around you. Creeping. Lurking. Lying in wait. Even the air in that house is poisoned,” she said, nodding toward the pink candle. “You need to leave. I’ll help you. It’s why I came all this way.”
Her last word drew out long and lingering and its tone reminded me of something. Something worrying and wrong.
I sat up, slipping free of Eulalie’s embrace. “Whydidyou come?”
“I just told you. I’m worried about you, Verity. That house is evil. That man is—”
I shook my head. “That’s not what I meant. Why areyouthe one here? I’ve not seen you since I was six. I can barely remember you. If you wanted to send a warning, why not use someone else, someone I know, someone I trust? Hanna. Why is Hanna not here now?”
Her tongue ran over the back of her teeth. “Not many are strong enough to leave the Brine.”
Warning bells rang in my mind and my eyes narrowed. “But you are?”
She nodded.
“How?”
Eulalie’s face remained flat and expressionless. “I can’t tell you that. That’s not how it works.”
“How does it work? How exactly? Tell me, Eulalie.”
She backed away, expanding the space between us as she realized things weren’t going as she’d planned. “Why are you being this way? I’m here to help you.”
“Maybe so, but you’re not my sister.”
Her head cocked to the side, eyes wide and wounded. “Of course I am.”
“My sisters are in the Brine.”
“I know that. I said that—”
“Hanna is at Highmoor. Hanna has always been trapped at Highmoor.”
“To…to watch over you,” she fumbled.
“You said she was in the Brine. Who are you?” I squinted at her, seeing everything for the first time. Shedidlook just like Eulalie, an exact replica of every portrait I’d ever seen, down to the fine lines lacing over her skin, like cracks in oil paint.
Her eyes grew bright, filling with tears. “I don’t understand. Why don’t you believe me? Why don’t you—”
