Page 146

“I’ve spoken with my brethren,” he says, slowly, like every word is another nail driven into something buried. “And we’ve agreed to let you out.”

My breath catches.

“But not as you were,” he adds, and the hope that flickered for half a second shrivels like paper in flame. “You will return. To contain them. To bring balance again. But this time… it may not be so easy.”

I don’t blink. I don’t breathe.

He goes on.

“It has been years, Luna. Centuries. And you are no longer bonded to any of them. You will need to find them. One by one. Reforge what was broken. Reclaim what they became without you.”

I shake my head once, not in denial. Just trying tobreathethrough it. “You said they destroyed the world.”

He leans back slightly, but the throne doesn’t ease its groan beneath his weight. “They tore it open. In your absence, the Sins unraveled. Slowly, at first. But obsession festered. Wrath bled into desolation. Lust turned into hunger. Their grief became infection. And the world… followed.”

My mouth goes dry. “Why didn’t you stop them?”

He’s quiet a long moment.

“We debated it,” he says finally. “For too long, I think. There was division. Pride. Faith in the natural order. But it unraveled faster than we anticipated. Now it’s past any of us fixing it.”

He shifts forward again, placing both hands on his knees, massive fingers curling against the robe like claws. “It falls to you, Luna. Itmustbe you. They will not hear us. They will not yield to gods.”

I laugh. It’s sharp, ugly, and nothing like humor. “So I’m the leash again. That’s what this is?”

“No,” Brashir says. “You were never a leash. You were the choice they made when they could have burned the world. And now, without you, they have.”

My legs threaten to give. Theo steps forward, not touching me, but his presence is right there, steady as a spine behind mine.

Brashir’s gaze flicks to him briefly. “You were always going to be part of this. You just arrived late.”

“Lucky me,” Theo mutters.

Brashir’s eyes return to me.

“This world will not survive another century. Time folds. Magic tears at the seams. Humanity fractures into shadows. And your Sins, yourlovers, are gods in all but name now. Unbound. Unmoored. They need you.”

His voice softens, but not in kindness. In inevitability.

“You must go. Contain them, Luna. Or the world may cease to exist.”

My throat burns. My eyes sting. But I nod.

Because I’ve already lost too much. And if my men are monsters now, I’ll bring them back.

Or I’ll burn with them.

“Where are they?” I ask, and my voice sounds foreign to me, strained raw and too steady. Like I already know the answer is going to hurt. Like I already feel it bleeding through my ribs before he even speaks. He watches me with the patience of something that’s watched empires rot and still doesn’t blink. Then he stands. The throne doesn’t creak, it groans like something ancient being forced awake.

“You wouldn’t know the names of the places anymore,” he says. “The world has changed too much. The nations fractured. Cities fell and rose again under different flags. Most of it isn’t even charted by the maps mortals once used.”

I take a step forward. Theo stays close, his presence steady behind me. But I don’t need him to speak. I just needanswers.

“Tell me anyway.”

Brashir’s jaw tightens. “They’ve split.” He says it like it’s the worst part. And maybe it is.

“They stayed together for years,” he continues. “Centuries. They searched for you. Tore holes in the world looking. Some believed you were still alive. Some believed you were… gone.”