Page 78 of The Flame Never Dies (The Stars Never Rise)

“We’ll be back for him,” I said for the thousandth time in the past hour. “Soon.”

“How long do you think it’ll take them to figure it out?” he asked while we watched the sister lift my nephew from the blanket-lined box.

“I don’t know. He’s a passive carrier, and he’ll mostly be in the care of the unconsecrated. But eventually a possessed sister will change his diaper or ease his teething gums with her finger. Someone will be infected, and that someone will infect someone else, and Melanie’s little Trojan Pony will bring Troy to its knees. And they’ll have no idea how it happened.”

“I think she’d like that,” Finn said as the sister took my nephew inside and closed the door. “Bringing the virus back home.”

My chest ached fiercely. “I think she would too.” The light over the porch flickered, and my gaze snagged on the sign next to the door as Finn started the car.

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