Mother and Father stood in chains between two legionnaires, looking pale and sickly. They hadn’t been allowed to change into new clothes, and the crossbow bolt was still embedded in Mother’s shoulder. Elliot and I were ordered to stand near our parents as the Light Legion searched our property, but I couldn’t bear to even look at them. Instead, I focused on holding Elliot’s hand and striving to appear like the strong, virtuous daughter everyone expected.
Virtuous, despite my visions of shadow.
Virtuous, besides forcing Eden to dream.
“We confiscated your elixir supply,” the Light Bringer began, his voice radiating warmth and power. It felt like honey sliding over a gilded throne, decadent but with a bite of strength underneath. “It is a pity—truly—that someone in your station could host such wickedness.” He shook his head again, slowly circling Mother and Father. “To think that Absolvers would stoop to such depravity. Tonight, you will stand trial and be purified.” He paused on Elliot, then settled his gaze on me. “And your fates are yet to be decided.”
I wondered if he could tell I was having dreams. The dream from the night before, filled with hideous demons and starlit castles, felt like an inky stain marring my skin in its wake. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he could see it.
“So, we’ve been found at last,” Father said in a low, resigned voice, looking at the ground. “Please forgive us, my lord.”
Mother spat at the Light Bringer’s shining foot. Legionnaires immediately wrenched her away from him.
“What is the meaning of this?” the demon inside Mother shrieked. “You dare harass an innocent family?”
The Light Bringer shook his head. “Lower and unveil them.”
“No!” Mother howled.
Legionnaires brought over a trough of sloshing river water and dropped it with a heavythumpatop the grass. They then knotted their fingers in my parents’ hair and shoved their heads under the surface.
Mother and Father thrashed. Violently.
The men worked meticulously, washing and peeling away their skin. Only no—it was not skin at all.
It wasconcealment.
The dark stains of shadow under my mother’s eyes were also in the hollows of her cheekbones and at the corners of her pale lips. My father’s were more subtle: small black threads intertwined with the wrinkles on his face, dipping below his beard and disappearing across his throat. Both displayed the damning signs of Corruption. And both had been hiding it.
Faintly, my ears registered a sharp, sickening buzz.
A painful memory of Eden’s eyes swam in front of me. Dark lines webbed from her irises, settling under her eyes and dripping down her cheeks. She reached for me, screaming,screaming—
Elliot grabbed on to my cloak, the dark red fabric quivering underneath his fingers, and I held him by the shoulders, wishing I could shield him from it all. Wishing he didn’t have to see any of this—experienceany of this—in his lifetime. But this was his life.
This wasmylife.
“Galen and Elena Havenfall, you are hereby charged with high larceny against your kingdom and sovereign, attempted escape from prosecution, and the murder of the innocent people under your care.” The Light Bringer held an elixir vial between gloved fingers and let it splash to the ground. Everything about it was off—its color was too pale, its form too thin, its smell too faint. “Watering down elixir is an unforgivable sin. How many villagers have fallen into Corruption because of it? Likely every Norhavellian Corrupt in recent years. Perhaps even your eldest daughter, if I recall.”
Anger and shame burned in my stomach. Anger at the accusations. Shame at the sea of bitter, disgusted faces. Anger at not knowing, and shame at what little I did. Elliot’s face, now red and tear streaked, was tucked tightly into my side.
“We only did it to protect our children,” Father began, shadow-marked eyes welling with tears of his own. He sounded like himself, which meant the demon vying for control over his body was subdued. This was normal in the early stages of Corruption; only in the most heated moments did the Corrupt’s nature begin to twist. “We did no harm to our eldest,” Father continued, just as Mother’s eyes slid to me, cold and accusing. As if the demon inside her knew the truth. I shuddered, feeling her condemnation as if it were a brand against my skin. “We did no harm toanychild of ours.”
“And yet you harmed many others.” The Light Bringer’s eyes turned cold. “Explain yourselves.”
Mother’s body shook. Slowly, her eyes changed, and she appeared lucid. “It began the winter after our eldest daughter died. Our youngest became very sick,” Mother rasped. “I’m certain Esmer and Elliot remember.”
Of course I remembered. I remembered Elliot, eyes sunken and dull, skin paper-thin and stretched tight over his bones. I remembered looking at the dry, cinnamon-dusted strings of apples Mother used for decoration and being hungry enough that I contemplated eating them. I remembered the dark. I remembered the stench of despair. Of missing Eden and her comforting, steady presence so much that it made everything else seem bleaker in comparison.
“Oh, Elliot. Esmer.” She craned her neck so that she could see us, and a hard lump lodged itself in my throat. She looked almost like herself, but the shadows were undeniable. “We tried our best.”
“The cost of his medicine broke us. We no longer could afford it,” Father added. “Not without sacrifice. And the elixir supply was down to its last vials, with all of winter ahead of us.” His eyes dropped in shame. “We kept the purest elixir for our children, and we diluted the rest of the village’s supply. We traded the excess for favors, food, and for a neighboring healer to visit us weekly.”
“How long did you do this?” They didn’t answer the Light Bringer right away, and horror flooded me. “A month? A season?” The Light Bringer’s attention flicked to Elliot. “Your son appears to be in good health.”
“You have to understand—”
“That winter was five years ago.”
