Page 166 of At the Mercy of Midnight
He will be.
Not was.
She pressed a hand over her chest, as if she could cradle the thread that remained.
“I’ll find you,” she whispered to the empty room. “Wherever you are, Silas…I swear, I’ll find you.”
The shadows didn’t answer.
But the tether pulsed once, warm, and steady beneath her ribs.
A promise.
Hope.
THIRTY-SEVEN
Aurora’s belongings were gone when Amelia entered the common room in the morning.
Brinkley glanced up from his usual wingback chair, while Halpert sat at the table with a mug of steaming tea.
She looked around for Silas’ sister.
“She left before dawn,” Brinkley offered. “Left a note that she was going back to Lunarian.”
Amelia nodded, slowly sinking into a chair near the cold fireplace.
“Probably best she’s not here for this in case I’m wrong,” Amelia admitted, glancing between the two men. “But I…I’m not sure he’s truly gone.”
Brinkley tilted his head, closing the book in his lap. “What do you mean?”
“I felt something,” she whispered. “Last night at midnight. I felt a piece of the bond, like he was whispering to me behind a closed door.”
“Then there’s a chance?”
Amelia nodded and shrugged at the same time. “I’m going to look into it,” she said determinedly. She glanced at Halpert, who was silent with a contemplative expression. “I felt him, so there must be a way to reach him, like…like I could reach Lyana.”
Brinkley raised a brow. “The creepy woman from your dreams?”
Amelia sighed. “That’s the other thing…”
She explained, albeit briefly, what Lyana had done. That all of her visions, her words, her visits in Amelia’s dreams had all been a farce. A lie to drive some revenge-filled need.
“She was the first?” Halpert said with a curious tilt of his head.
Amelia nodded. “A lot of it doesn’t make sense, but the journal was never Bane’s. She fabricated it…to get something from us that she wanted.”
Brinkley let out a quiet, confused breath. Halpert didn’t move, eyes darkening and lips thinning.
“Lyana wanted Silas to become a sacrifice for her own selfish reasons, would commit him to…suffering,” Amelia said bitterly. “She didn’t want to heal the land…she’s part of the corruption.” She paused, hands shaking with her anger. “Sheisthe corruption.”
Halpert finally spoke, voice low. “What do you plan to do?”
Amelia glanced up. “Find a way to stop her. Find a way into the Realm…I don’t know how. I…I don’t know.”
Brinkley let out a long, slow breath.
“The growth has accelerated,” Halpert said. “The Rift wardens are forcing evacuation of East Town and a few small communities south of the border as well.”
