Cerina and Seraphine gasped; so did I, but I forced myself to calm down.

“Seraphine, please get everyone gathered at the altar,” I instructed, then turned to Soren. “Soren, I need to understand the situation more. Follow me. When did you get here?”

“I came with Seraphine and Cerina,” he explained as we all returned to the altar. “But I didn’t want to bother anyone, so I stayed in the woods nearby.” His eyes went to Ethan, and I could tell that he’d kept his distance because ...