Page 9 of Twisted Truths (The Sunburnt Hearts #4)

Chapter Seven

HADLEY

A knock raps against the cabin door. I share a look with Gianna—no one should be knocking this early on a Sunday morning—and we climb out of our beds to rush over to our bedroom door, listening as Ascendant Sierra answers.

The murmured voices are too low to make out, and Gianna’s hand moves to the handle. I shake my head, scared of getting caught, but she only motions for me to stay quiet.

As Gianna eases the door open a couple of inches, we spot Brielle and Samantha hiding behind their door across the hall. Gabriel’s voice drifts down the hall, and my eyes widen. The guardians have never visited our cabin; they usually send messages via the sentinels.

Thoughts of my run in with Gabriel two days ago flash through my mind, causing my heart to race. Surely, he doesn’t know. I’m so focused on the possibility of being found out, I miss what he says.

“Hadley’s duties don’t extend to the market.” Ascendant Sierra’s response is calm but firm. “She’s responsible for other tasks today.”

“I’ll send you a replacement,” Gabriel insists. “I require Hadley’s presence in town.”

Gianna tenses beside me, her hand finding mine with an encouraging squeeze. Rumours are becoming rampant that with his last Chosen leaving the commune, the next Awakening will be Gabriel’s, and considering my twenty-first birthday is in three days, this does not bode well for me.

“You know the roles are defined for a reason, Gabriel. It helps to keep the order.”

“Do I need to remind you of your place, Ascendent?”

There’s a pause before Sierra’s clipped response. “No, Guardian.”

“You will have Hadley ready for me in ten minutes.”

“Yes, Guardian.”

“Good. I will not be kept waiting.” Heavy footsteps sound across the floorboards, and the front door creaks open. “Ascendent Sierra?”

“Yes, Guardian?” Her voice is wary.

“Do not question my requests again.”

I flinch as the front door slams shut.

Brielle and Samantha close their door softly as the slight creak of Sierra’s footsteps head in our direction. Gianna and I scramble back to our beds just as she pushes open our door.

“Hadley, you are joining the market crew this morning,” she announces in a harsh tone that leaves no room for argument. The words hang in the air, and I feel the weight of them pressing down on me. “Get ready! Guardian Gabriel doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

Swallowing my fear, I nod, but Sierra doesn’t miss the flicker of hesitation in my eyes.

“Move,” she snaps. “I will not be punished for your insolence.”

Without another word, she turns and leaves .

“Hurry,” Gianna hisses, gripping my arm and pulling me over to our shared wardrobe.

She pulls my nightgown over my head, and my antique silver locket falls to the ground, snapping me out of my stupor.

I bend over to pick it up, slipping it around my neck as Gianna passes me a white long-sleeved sundress that falls to my knees.

It may be the end of winter, but the weather is unseasonably warm.

I dress quickly, then Gianna’s deft fingers braid my hair while I flick open the clasp on the locket and stare down at the last photo of me and my sister, taken on my sixteenth birthday.

Why is Gabriel requesting me? As Ascendent Sierra said, our roles are defined for a reason, and I don’t know why he’s making allowances for me. Does it have something to do with Madeline? There was something about the way he looked at me on Friday that makes me wonder exactly what she meant to him.

When I’m ready, I hug my roommate and murmur a soft, “Thank you.”

“Stay safe.” Her smile is tight as I leave our bedroom. We both know what this means—I’m on Gabriel’s radar, and my chances of being chosen at the next Awakening have increased.

I lower my head as I walk towards the front door.

“Be careful, Hadley,” says Ascendent Sierra from her place beside the living room window, her warning low. “Keep your head down. You are representing the Circle. They won’t take kindly to unwanted attention. Gabriel is calculating. He doesn’t do things on a whim.”

My stomach twists at her words, then it hits me. Sierra was one of Gabriel’s Chosen, but she couldn’t fall pregnant. She knows him intimately. I wonder what she thinks about him seeking me out.

“Am I in danger?” I whisper .

“Do as you’re told,” she says, her face and tone expressionless. “And don’t speak unless spoken to.”

I nod, forcing a calm expression despite the storm brewing inside. Leaving the commune, even for the briefest time, is going against my promise. Does Gabriel know what I was doing when I ran into him on Friday? Is that why he chose me for the market crew?

“Go, Hadley. Don’t keep him waiting.”

Releasing a deep breath, I rush out of the cabin, skidding to a stop when I spot his silhouette in the dim light.

The sun has not yet risen, and the shadows swirl around us, dark and nefarious, stretching long and eerie in the stillness of the early morning.

The cool air bites at my skin, but it’s nothing compared to the way my heart races at the sight of him leaning against the tree, waiting for me.

He straightens when he sees me, and I force my eyes to the ground as he pushes away from the tree, stepping into the faint light creeping across the horizon.

Closing the distance between us quickly, I draw in a sharp breath as his presence looms large, and I fight the urge to look into his intense grey eyes.

“Are you afraid of me, Hadley?” he murmurs, his warm breath brushing over the shell of my ear. Goosebumps erupt over my skin, making me shiver.

“N-no, Guardian,” I whisper.

“Why won’t you look at me?” There’s no malice or contempt in his tone; he’s simply curious.

“It’s not proper for me to meet your gaze, Guardian.” My voice is barely audible, the words trembling as they leave my lips. The weight of his presence is almost suffocating in its intensity.

He steps closer, and my heart skips a beat. His scent wraps around me, dark, woodsy, and undeniably him .

“You didn’t seem to have a problem in my father’s home.”

I fight the instinct to retreat. “My apologies for my disrespect, Guardian. I was not expecting you. It will not happen again.”

Gabriel makes an indistinct noise at the back of his throat and steps back. But instead of relief, I feel a deep sense of unease. His gaze is still heavy on me, and I stand frozen to the spot.

Finally, his smooth voice breaks the silence, low and steady. “Don’t mistake my restraint for kindness, Hadley. I’m watching you.”

I stay silent.

“Come on, we’re late.”

Gabriel stalks towards the orchids, where the truck is waiting to take us into town. I follow a few paces behind him, my gaze firmly fixed on the ground until we reach the gate where the truck idles, its engine humming quietly in the still morning.

He opens the door to the backseat of the cab and snaps, “Get out,” to the blonde girl seated closest to us.

“G-guardian?” she stammers.

“Get out,” he repeats. “Find Ascendent Sierra in cabin twenty-seven. She will redirect you to complete Hadley’s roles for the day.”

Her blue eyes flick to me before she hastily unbuckles her seat belt and climbs out of the truck. “Yes, Guardian,” she says as she slips past him and hurries towards my cabin, knowing if she’s late for whatever my role is, she will be punished.

Unfortunately, when she finds out her role this morning is to feed the animals and muck out their pens, she might consider that a punishment within itself.

“Hadley,” Gabriel barks my name, and I flinch.

He points to the vacated seat, and I climb in, ignoring the curious gazes of the two other girls already settled in the truck.

I’ve no doubt they’re wondering what the hell I’m doing here.

Well, that makes three of us. I don’t know what game Gabriel is playing, but I do know I need to be careful.

Seraphina won’t be happy if she finds out about this.

I’m glad she and Guardian Solomon are in Sydney for the weekend, and I pray that means she won’t hear of it.

Gabriel climbs up next to his brother, Isaac, who is driving, and the tension in the cab only intensifies. It’s thick with unspoken questions and the weight of silence. No one utters a word as we drive into Barrenridge, and in the silence I get lost in my memories.

I haven’t left the property since I arrived here three years ago, searching for my sister.

After our father left, Madeline did her best to look after me—stealing food to feed us, finding shelter on the scary Sydney streets—but we only lasted a week before the authorities picked us up.

They put us into emergency care, and thankfully, kept us together.

It may have had something to do with Madeline kicking and clawing at the man who tried to separate us at the police station.

It took six months to find a family willing to take both of us, and a week before my seventh birthday we moved in with Jack and Dianne. Their eleven-year-old son Brayden became our biggest protector.

I always wondered if something happened between Brayden and Madeline, because they spent a lot of time together, but anytime I asked, she laughed it off.

She changed when he moved up north for university, became moody and distant, spending more and more time locked in her bedroom.

Two weeks after my sixteenth birthday, she left without a word. No note, nothing.

Jack and Dianne did everything they could to find her, but it seemed she didn’t want to be found.

Four months after she disappeared, Brayden took his own life, overdosing on a lethal combination of oxycodone, fentanyl and alcohol. There were no signs. His roommate found him and the note beside his bed that read, “Everything hurts. I can’t take the pain any longer.”

Jack and Dianne divorced soon after Brayden’s funeral. Fuelled by my own grief, I developed an eating disorder, and Dianne withdrew me from school, choosing to home school me in between dragging me to therapists and specialists.