Page 165 of Bound By Fury

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to,” he sighs, his eyes traveling behind me. “What now?” he asks someone.

Alastair’s voice is lightly amused. “Show her.”

My back hits a pew as I watch, breath held in my throat, as Lucas yanks the figure up by the back of their robe and pulls the sack from their head.

I fold onto my hands and heave.

“No!” I’m on my feet and running before I know what I’m doing.

Malachi snakes his arms around my middle to hold me in place.

“Maureen?!” I scream, the ground lurching beneath me. “Let go of me!” I claw at his arms like a rabid animal. He hisses but doesn’t loosen his grasp.

“She put up a magnificent fight,” Alastair says from the pew to our right. He leans against it lazily, his glasses at his stomach where he cleans them on his shirt. “Considering her age and lack of magic, I was truly surprised when Lucas came to me with so many scratches and bruises.

“Though of course we had to set the scene for you. Embellish a bit. Couldn’t let you know what tricks we had up our sleeves. We knew that with your recent loss, believing that you were facing another would send you over the edge.

“Sad about her dog, though, poor thing. Heard he got picked up by a rescue and is now living with a foster family, thank the Lord.”

“You fucker!” I lunge again, but Malachi doesn’t budge. “Let me go!”

Lucas’s mouth pulls to the side just a little as he watches me struggle, but it’s quickly replaced by a peculiar flatness.

“Maureen? Maureen? Are you okay? W-what happened to you? What did they do to you?” She’s only half conscious. She stares up at me with bleary eyes. Old bruises tint the thin skin around her jaw in fading green and yellow. Otherwise, she doesn’t appear to be too injured. Still, I bare my teeth at Lucas. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!”

He looks away.

“Now, now, Harper,” Alastair says, tsk-ing as he runs his hands over his hair. “Don’t be mad at Lucas, he’s only following my instructions. Think of her like motivation. You cooperate with us, and she gets to live. Give us a hard time, and I’m going to make him slit her throat.”

I am shaking with so much rage, the still air around us begins to gust. “Traitor!” I spit at Lucas. “How could you do this? You swore to me you weren’t like them!”

Lucas rolls his eyes. “You’re right. I’m not like them,” he says as he drops Maureen, watching as she crumples to the ground.

Stepping over her body, he tucks his hands behind his back, just like his father did earlier.

“I’m worse.”

Alastair chuckles as he looks at his son. “Don’t listen to him, Harper, he’s just putting on a show. But you’re right, he’s not a hunter—not a born hunter, anyway. But his passion, his drive… Ah,” he says, “there I go getting ahead of myself again. I still haven’t filled you in on everything you missed when you took your little nap. But—” he gestures to Malachi, “do you want to—no? Okay.”

Alastair smooths the wrinkles in his shirt and tamps down his hair, both of which are messier than they were before. What happened in those tunnels? The “code gray?”

“Where did I leave off with my story before… oh yes, your people hid their magic from us, Kai has you marked… hm… Well, there is the matter of his parents. Of my… promotion, to imperial sergeant of the southern district. None of this would be happening otherwise.”

Malachi stiffens in front of me.

“You know, when y’all found one another as children, I knew that one day I would need to correct your paths. Friendship, love, it’s a distraction. It clouds the mind. I learned that myself the hard way…,” he trails off for a moment, and I wonder if he’s thinking about his wife. I glance at Lucas. His eyes are hard as he watches his father call his mother a mistake.

“Anyway, as Malachi got older, it was clear I had another issue on my hands.”

He’s so arrogant as to take a seat in the pew like we’re old friends having a chat. My blood is boiling.

“I’m not sure how well you knew my brother, my predecessor.” He shakes his head. “An angry, angry man. Beat Malachi to smithereens more than once.”

I open and close my fists, visions of that final night last summer flooding my mind. The fear on his face when he heard Josiah’s screaming voice bouncing between the trees.

I can feel the tremors rocketing through Malachi at the mention of his father, the floorboards vibrating beneath my feet.

“Josiah wasn’t only angry, he was stupid. He lacked vision. He didn’t hear the call from the Holy Spirit like I did. He didn’t understand how important this day would be. He didn’t deserve to lead us into the Great War. He didn’t deserve you.” He gestures to me, and I lunge, Malachi’s arms wrapping around me once again.