Page 58 of Kael

Something in my chest locked.

“I got a picture before I ran. Check your phone.”

I pulled it away from my ear. The image loaded slowly, like the universe wanted me to feel every second of it: a woman standing in the doorway, blood on her hands, blood streakedacross the front of her dress, wearing that same manic, too-wide smile I’d seen a thousand times before—usually right before she did something that left bodies.

Lilith. Alive.

I stared at the screen until the edges of the photo started to blur. I had watched them put her in the ground. I had stood there while they closed the lid. I had believed the story because I needed it to be true. And the entire time, she had been breathing, planning, coming for the only thing in my life that had ever felt like peace.

“Priest?” Zia’s voice cut through. “Who is she? Do you know her?”

She hadn’t seen the face, hadn’t heard the voice—just the aftermath.

“It’s Lilith,” I said, my voice flat, almost calm. That was the dangerous part. “My wife. The one who was supposed to be dead.”

Silence on the other end. Then, quietly: “She’s alive?”

“Not for long.” I was already moving again. “Stay where you are. Stay quiet. Do not come out no matter what you hear. I’m coming.”

I ended the call.

Caine and Kael were on their feet. Caine looked like he had seen a ghost; they’d heard enough of everything.

“We’re going,” I said. “Now.”

Chapter 36

Priest

I stepped through the shattered doorway with Caine and Kael at my back. No weapons. Every man I'd had stationed around the estate was dead. There were twenty men with machine guns all pointing at the girls. The air hit me first—gunpowder, blood, and that expensive perfume Lilith always drowned herself in when she wanted attention.

Miyori was on her knees in the middle of the room. Blood covered the right side of her face. Lip split, cheekbone swollen and split open, one eye almost closed. Her hair was still fisted in Lilith's hand like she was a doll someone had decided to break.

Every muscle in my body locked.

Caine muttered something behind me; I didn't hear it. All I saw was the way Miyori's chest rose and fell too fast, the way her hands were clenched in her lap as if holding herself together by force of will alone. She looked up when she heard my boots. Relief flickered across what was left of her face.

Lilith saw me and smiled—that same wide, cracked smile she used to wear when she put a knife to her own throat and told me she'd make her father skin Miyori alive if I didn't come home. The smile of a woman who had never learned the difference between love and ownership.

"There you are," she said, almost breathless. "I knew you'd come. I know you love me most."

I didn't respond. My eyes stayed on Miyori, cataloguing every mark.

"Let her go."

Lilith yanked Miyori's head back. Fresh blood ran down her chin and dripped onto the marble.

"Her?" Lilith laughed, high and delighted. "You mean the mistress?" She forced Miyori's face toward me so I could see every cut. "Why would I let her go? Look at what she did to us. You're pointing a gun at me—all this for a dirty whore."

"Why are you doing this, Lilly?" I used her nickname, and it worked. She smiled.

She let Miyori go and walked toward me. "Because we need a purge. I started it already: the fire at your house, the bomb at Kael's warehouse, the bullet in Malachai, the attempt on Caine." She smiled. "That was me. All of it. Every single piece."

Behind me, Caine cursed her.

"They're a problem. They've been the problem all along."

"How does me leaving your crazy ass make it their problem?"