Chapter 68:

Out in the Rain

Noah’s

I paused halfway up the grand staircase, the metallic warmth of the blood on my split lip chilling quickly in the static air. I watched my mother descend the remaining steps. Her silver hair was immaculate, but her face was pulled hard and tight, a portrait of someone pushed past their limit and ready to shatter. The tension was suffocating.

“Wait!” she shouted again, her voice cutting through the heavy silence left by the recent fight. “If you truly ...