His violet eyes flicker with sorrow and pain. “All I’ve ever done, I did for a better life. I thought you were dead. I’ve never stopped loving you.” He says the words with such sincerity, I almost believe him. My foolish heart almost falls for it again.
I slowly shake my head back and forth. “If you loved me, you wouldn’t do this. You wouldn’t sacrifice others for your own happiness. If you truly loved me, you would have left me be. It’s all lies.” Every word feels like a jagged-edged sword of truth slicing me in two.
Hurt flickers in Morbius’s eyes before he quickly morphs it into anger; a slow, sadistic smile spreads across his lips. “Ah, but telling lies runs in our family, doesn’t it, dear brother?” Morbius spits with venom as he clicks his fingers.
My stomach drops. “What?” I breathe. Standing, I turn to face Silas, the Vessel that was all over now scurrying off at the click of his fingers. Silas, black mournful eyes land on mine.
Morbius steps closer, his front at my back, savouring every second. He leans in, speaking softly. “He didn’t just know where I was,” he pauses. I don’t need to look to know an evil grin is spreading across his face as he continues. “He orchestrated it.”
The world tilts, shifting beneath my feet. “He contacted the Dominion. Put my name forward.” It takes everything in me toremain still. “They wouldn’t have been there that night without him.”
Ringing in my ears drowns everything else out. “Silas?” I whisper.
He looks away. “Silas, look at me,” I demand, emotion raw within my throat.
His eyes meet mine. Guilt. Pain. Truth. “I didn’t know,” he chokes. “I thought I was helping-.”
“You got them killed.” My voice is barely audible now. Just air.
“No,” he starts.
“You got my family killed.”
“No, Morbius—” He pauses, swallowing back the pain. “He slit your throat,” Silas snaps.
My head turns slowly. Morbius smile wavers slightly, displaying his palms. “Technically, yes.”
The room spins. I press my palm to my temple.
“You…killed me?” I whisper.
“I knew he’d turn you,” Morbius says, shrugging. “I had faith.”
“You said you thought I was dead!” I snap back.
Morbius shoves his hands into his pockets. “I still had faith that if anyone was going to turn you. I knew it would be him.”
I look back at Silas, his words sinking in. “You turned me?”
“…Yes,” Silas croaks, his body taut, fighting the pain.
“Where else did you think he got those scars from?” Morbius adds. “He broke the code.”
“I broke the code; it was punishment. I would do it, again and again,”Silas’s words echo back to me in my mind.
Everything fractures. Every memory. Every truth. Gone.
“I’m sorry,” Silas rasps, and then he screams. His body arches against the chains, agony ripping through him. “Fuck!” he hisses through gritted teeth. “I got them killed,” he chokes.“They’re dead because of me. So, go. Leave. Don’t come fucking back!”
I can’t breathe. Can’t think. Can’t stay. I turn and run.
Silas’s torturous screams follow me like a haunting shadow.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
LILITH
I run.I don’t know where I’m going. I don’t know how long I’ve been running. The night wraps around me like something alive, thick, suffocating, swallowing every breath I drag into my lungs. The road curls along the mountainside, endless and unforgiving, and I follow it blindly. I don’t look back. I don’t slow down. I can’t. Because if I stop… if I even hesitate… then I have to face it. The truth. And the truth didn’t creep in gently. It didn’t whisper. It hit me, violent and sudden, like a two-tonne truck tearing straight through my chest.
