Page 33 of The Shadow Sanctum

It’s not just my father.

It’s me.

I’ve been selling babies. I… I’ve been selling people’s children.

How could I not have known?

“I have,” he says, his voice more gentle. “Many of the Cultivators. Most of the Nurturers. A few of the Keepers… Only people who were ready to learn.”

Only people who were ready to learn.

Not me.

“Fear doesn’t make people amenable, Luna. I know that’s what Aurelius taught you, but it isn’t true. Fear doesn’t command loyalty nor earn affection… It just makes people whisper.”

“Our people are terrified of you and your father. They think you’re his clone… But I don’t. I’ve been watching you since you were a teenager. I know your heart, and I know what your father does to blacken it. I know that if you would just think for a minute, look outside yourself and all the nonsense your father has forced inside your head, you would be a truly great leader. You wouldn’t hold your people hostage here. You wouldn’t leave our sons in the forest to die or let grown men have sex with our little girls. You would abolish the Seraph role altogether. You’d make it so those of us who still want to be here can finally live in peace.”

I look away, heart pounding in my ears. “I’m not the Chief Elder.”

“But you could be. One stab to the heart is all it would take.”

My head swings back to Aiden. “He’s my father.”

“And what was Zephyr, Luna?”

My eyes pop with surprise. Both at his sharp tone and at the revelation.

“What am I?”

I blink at him, unsure how to respond.

“What are your people?”

“Everything,” I say automatically. A reflex. Something ingrained into me by my own doing.

Aiden nods slowly, accepting the response. “If you mean that, then you’ll respect their wishes. And their wish is for you not to die.”

My people who fear me. Who once demanded I be burned at the stake—worse than a witch; a demon who will never, ever be worthy of life, let alone belonging. These are the people Aiden pretends to speak for.

The wrongness of it, the absolute impossibility, hits with such a force; it’s as if only now I realize its truth.

For the best part of my life, I believed the horror that is Luna Cox was redeemed by the use I could bring as a protector. A leader. A ruthless advocate for the good of our people, unplagued by self-interest, devoid of vulnerabilities that weaken the strongest of men.

Never once have I hoped to have their love.

But like a deranged fool, I believed I had their trust.

If what Aiden is saying is true, if there are whispers and disobedience and schemes scattering like mice beneath my nose, children being sold, innocents being murdered, out of my father’s loop, out of the people’s loop…

I think of the hole beneath the fence. Of the countless people who must’ve known about it.

I force myself to stand, my mind spinning too quickly to brush the dirt off my knees and shins. “I have to go.”

Aiden doesn’t say another word as I shut the cell door and leave him to endure the punishment for my crime. I’m grateful.

It’s a long walk to the compound. There’s plenty to process.

CHAPTER 12