Chapter 426

XENOIS "I got you killed in another timeline," Riley said flatly. "No, Sophia got him killed," I corrected. "And me. And Lumina. We all failed in that timeline because we were being manipulated by someone who'd spent years perfecting her control techniques. But this isn't that timeline, Riley. This is the one where we got it right." "Because Mom died and came back knowing what to look for," Riley said. "Because someone gave me a second chance," Lumina agreed. "And that brings us to the part of this conversation you really need to understand." She explained about Janice—the necromancer who'd sent her back, the promise she'd made and broken, the debt that was now coming due. I watched our children's faces as they processed increasingly impossible information. Lake looked confused but accepting—he dealt with dimensional portals daily, so time manipulation probably didn't seem that far-fetched. Ollie seemed scared but trying to be brave. Riley's expression was calculating, his tactical min