Page 254 of Shifting Hearts 1
My shoulders trembled as her muffled screams slipped through anyway. The sound carved into me, relentless.
This was the last. There was no fixing us. No patching the irreparable.
I watched Sonia burn. Ash drifting in the air where she had been. Her screams were gone, silent and permanent.
Darius would never stop hunting Morgan. Never stop wanting her dead.
And she was right. She had enemies on every side. I had loved ones I could never protect.
I wanted it all to stop. I begged it too. But then Morgan screamed.
I turned back. Flames clung to her, twisting over her skin like living fire.
Maybe killing Sonia had been her undoing.
TEN
JASON
Sonia’s death did something to Morgan. Paranoia clawed at her, driving a wedge between her and Adrienne, not wide, but enough to mark the beginning of her undoing. The first crack in her cup, as some would say.
I felt my own first crack too, in Adrienne’s coven, the moment I killed her. Even in hate, betrayal cuts deep. She had taken something sacred from me, myself, my twin, and wielded it against us to get what she wanted. That first fracture in my cup was born there.
The frolicking between Morgan and her slowed. Lust faded, but the killing never stopped. She grew sharper with lies, just like Adrienne. She told the coven she cared for them, but her paranoia was the hand that guided the blade.
After Sonia’s betrayal, some wanted to finish what she had started. Others didn’t. They stayed, uncertain or unwilling to betray her, but something in the air had shifted. Morgan didn’t notice it. She craved power endlessly, yet it was never enough. She was at the apex of the food chain, of the wolves, of everyone’s lists, whether they sought her death or begged her to join them.
Asim was one of them. He’d worked on projects with Adrienne’s coven, and he moved freely among us, coming and going, always watching Morgan. She never liked him.
Years passed. Hope bled out of me. My love, my hope for her, was gone. She was lost.
Then, one night, after a trigger-happy incident that left another coven member dead by her hand, I saw Julian. Natasha saw him too.
Did Julian know Natasha? Did he know what she looked like? I never asked. Yet Morgan stared at him with a fixation that made my skin crawl. People often said we resembled each other. The way she looked at Julian made me wonder if a part of her recognized me hidden in another face. Did she see me when she was alone in her chambers at night?
We left and ended up back in Cassandra’s chambers. Morgan wanted to know who Julian was. She suspected he was me, changed somehow from Jericho to Julian. The way Cassandra moved, her sharp gestures, told me she’d encountered him before.
I laughed, watching her fume. She should be terrified, she was the reason the Chalice had been lost. The jewel I had guarded for years, hidden, until Morgan’s bracelet led Julian straight to me. That moment marked a shift. Julian returned from wherever he had been hiding, hunting the missing jewel with relentless precision.
It was before he traced it to me, which meant Morgan was either alive… or dead. I didn’t even know what year it was. Time had become meaningless; they didn’t celebrate anything, only craved power.
Cassandra exhaled sharply. Julian was fraying her nerves.
“Fine,” she muttered, voice tight. “Nobody harms Julian. He’s probably just looking for the Chalice.”
“And if he finds it?” Morgan’s voice was sharp.
“Natasha, not tonight.” Cassandra hopped down from her throne, far less dignified than usual, striding back toward her chambers.
“Ivan,” Morgan called after him. “What’s the deal with Julian and Cassandra?”
He didn’t answer. Morgan’s temper flared, fire sparking in her eyes.
Hands raised defensively, Ivan said, “I don’t know the whole story, but she’s deeply tied to the Djinns. Before the Chalice disappeared, witches and Djinns were at war, centuries of power struggles. I don’t know exactly where Julian fits in, but she’s been hurt.”
He looked like me. Morgan wanted him too, I could see it, but he was smarter than I ever was.
“Was he her first love? The one from the stories?”
