Page 63 of His Eternal Claim

Echoes

THE MAESTRO | Past

My phone nearly cracks in my hand when Massimo picks up on the second ring.

“Tell me you’re calling because you finally decided not to murder anyone inside a cathedral.”

“What the fuck is going on?”

“That bad?”

“Vane knows.”

The silence turns ugly.

“What?”

“He knows enough.”

“How?”

“If I knew that, I wouldn’t be calling you.”

My eyes never leave the pews below. Selene sits beside Hannah. Blue silk spilling around her legs. Hands folded too tightly in her lap. Like she’s trying not to shake. Like the trap is snapping shut and she doesn’t know where to run.

Massimo exhales. “That’s impossible.”

“Apparently not.”

“I had every entrance watched.”

“Then someone inside talked.”

“Zagreus—”

“If I fail today…” My chest tightens. “…forget the woman you want found.”

“Don’t be irrational.”

“Fuck your rationality.”

I hang up. Straight to voicemail if he calls back. I shove the phone into my pocket. I walk inside the cathedral, standing in front of the priest, and every man in the room stiffens.

Most of them must be thinking why I’m marrying when my Father is in critical condition and my Mother isn’t here. Well, none of my family members are here. Because I can’t let anyone use them over me. But fuck everything, Selene is here. Someone who shouldn’t be under any circumstances. It ruins everything.

The cathedral doors open, and everything turns bright. People rise, whispers echo as Crystella arrives with her Father. A parade for the damned. I’m already standing at the altar. Hands clasped behind my back. And I feel none of it.

Because Selene finally looks at me. And Christ, that expression, there’s hurt there, raw and trembling, like I reached into her chest and ruined something sacred. Maybe I did.

Maybe every choice I made became another knife.

And still, I’d make them all again. Because she’s alive.

Because she’s breathing. Because she’s fucking here.

And that matters more than forgiveness ever will.

My fingers twitch. The music swells, and Crystella appears at the far end of the aisle.