Chapter 423

LUMINA "Why?" Rivers asked suspiciously. "What did this Janice want in return?" "A promise," I said. "When I died, when she offered to send me back, I promised that if I got another chance, I would leave Xenois. Would take Ollie and remove us from his life so we wouldn't have to suffer through his neglect again." "But you didn't leave," Silvia observed. "No," I agreed. "Because when I came back—when I woke up in my past self one year before everything fell apart—I started investigating. Started paying attention to things I'd dismissed before. And I realized, well it took leaving here with Ollie to seek refuge in Zade's pack that Xenois wasn't choosing to neglect us. He was being magically controlled by Sophia." I looked at Xenois, seeing the same guilt and pain I'd been carrying reflected in his eyes. "Once I understood that," I continued, "I couldn't leave him alone,. Couldn't abandon him to that manipulation or let Sophia win, . So I stayed and fought for it.. Exposed her magic. Bro