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I crossed to the bed and flopped down, rolling over to grab my pillow and smash it against my chest.

An incomplete truth was still a lie.

Guild’s words didn’t sound like a choice anymore.

They felt like a lock.

One I didn’t hold the keys for.

I rolled onto my back. The Phantom sat on the dresser. Waiting. The first gift Alaric had ever given me. My gaze settled on it. Then everything collided. Facility Nine. Rain. The fence. Bethany. The Daughters. The messages. The ribbon. Alaric.

The way he looked away. The way he’d closed himself off. The way he said… not yet.

Something inside me finally snapped.

A sound tore from my throat before I even realized I’d made it. I snatched up the book. Held it for a heartbeat. Then hurled it across the room.

It struck the wall with a brutal crack. The spine twisted. The cover flew open. Pages fanned wildly through the air before the book hit the floor with a heavy thud.

Silence.

My breathing echoed in the room.

“No…” The word was a moan. “What have I done?”

I was already moving. Scurrying from the bed and scrambled across room. I dropped to my knees. Agony tore through me but it didn’t matter. Not in this second. I grabbed the book. My hands shaking so bad I dropped it. It turned, hitting cover down. Pages splayed open. Then… I saw it.

Black ink.

Thick.

Violent.

Dragged across the page until every word beneath had disappeared. Only one sentence remained.

Have you found it?

My pulse stuttered.

Fear plunged through me.

I saw the words.

Then… I felt them.

Have you found it?

No.

I closed my eyes.

Not again.

Please, God. Not again.

Still, I opened them.

Stared at the words until they blurred.