Chapter 166

I sat on the edge of the baptismal pool, cradling my head in my hands. Behind me, Josiah and Harper raged at each other, their shouts filling the old chapel louder than the choirs that once crowded this room with joyful noise. I clasped my hands over my ears to muffle the commotion, but I couldn't drown out that one voice that screamed loudest of all. And the louder she screamed, the more I realised she sounded just like me, yet she couldn't be, could she? The voice wanted Caelan dead and seethed because she had been cheated. The voice wanted a way out and she knew she'd just lost her one chance, all because Caelan had found a reason to live. The voice fumed at the utter injustice of it all. How could that be me? How could I have become so monstrous that I yearned for the death of another just to save myself? Glancing up, I looked straight into the unwavering gaze of Lucius who sat opposite me, his knees drawn up into his chest and his arms wrapped tightly around them. His eyes buried