Page 131 of Thunder's Reckoning

Gabrial’s rage snapped back jagged as the knife at my throat. His eyes flared as they turned Zeke once more, and then his voice twisted into poison. “You’d kill your own brother?”

The words cracked the hall like a second thunderclap.

Zeke froze. His gun stayed steady, but his eyes flickered—raw, startled, a wound ripped open without warning.

“You’re lyin’,” he growled, but the words strained at the edges.

“I never lie about blood,” Gabrial whispered, pressing the knife tighter. “Same father. Different mothers. Your mother stole you from your birthright. You’d point a gun at your own blood brother?”

The congregation gasped. Even the fire seemed to lean forward, hungry for the answer.

My stomach turned. The room tilted.Brother.The word knifed through me. My mind leapt to Miriam, the way she had gone pale when we talked days ago, the silence she’d cloaked herself in. I’d known there were secrets in that family, but this? The truth rang wrong, monstrous, and yet… possible.

Zeke’s chest heaved once, hard. His voice when it came was low, burning. “Blood don’t mean a damn thing when you use it to chain and break. You hurt my momma. You hurt those kids. You hurt Sable. And that makes you dead to me.”

Fury surged through me, breaking loose at last. I drove my elbow back into Gabrial’s ribs with everything I had. He staggered, the blade slashing shallow across my shoulder, hot and sharp, but I twisted free.

I stumbled forward—

And Zeke was there.

One arm caught me, pulled me behind him. His gun barked three times, each shot thunder splitting the air.

Gabrial staggered back, eyes wide with disbelief, mouth open like he had one more scripture left to spit. He toppled against the dais, red robes flaring like a wound, and then the flame swallowed him whole.

He burned. Screamed. Still reached for me with a hand that refused to learn.

I collapsed against Zeke, face buried against his chest, my body shaking from the terror, the blood, and the word still echoing in the air:brother.

Around us, the hall erupted, panic, shouting, the congregation breaking apart like a dam bursting. Chain and Ash shouted orders for them to get out of the building before it burned.

But all I heard was Zeke’s heart under my ear.

Still beating.

Still mine.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered, voice frayed but fierce. “You’re safe now, darlin’. We’re goin’ home.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

THE NIGHT AIRhit me like a fist. Cold. Wet. Stormclouds rollin’ heavy overhead, wind cuttin’ through the trees like the world itself was holdin’ its breath. I staggered out of the hall with Sable in my arms, her weight pressed tight against my chest, and for a second all I could hear was the echo of that blade at her throat. The way her blood dripped down her skin.

Goddamn near lost her.

I forced the thought down hard. Couldn’t let it root. Not here. Not now.

I staggered out of the hall with Sable in my arms, her body limp against me, her veil half torn and dress streaked with soot. She stirred faint, her lips brushin’ my throat.

“Zeke…”

Her voice was so soft I damn near thought I imagined it. My chest cracked wide at the sound, but I kept movin’, boots hittin’ hard against the stone. Couldn’t stop. Not yet.

Chain was waitin’ at the edge of the courtyard, rifle slung across his chest, eyes sweepin’ every shadow. Soon as he saw us, he gave a sharp nod. “Kids are clear. Got your momma too. They’re movin’ through the tunnel. Safe.”

Safe.

The word hit me like a hammer, but I couldn’t let it land, not with Sable shakin’ in my arms and the fire still roarin’ behind us. I pressed my lips to her hair, whisperin’ low, “You hear that, darlin’? Zara and Malik are safe. Momma too.”