The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 186

The Truth 11-2

Sonia’s laughter echoed off the dungeon walls, hollow and sharp like breaking bones.

“He didn’t tell you, did he?” Her voice slithered through the dim light, dripping with spite. “He didn’t tell you what he really is. You got mated to a cold-hearted killer,” Sonia spat.

“An abomination. Do you know what he did to the last person who crossed him? Do you know what he’s capable of? How he executed the northern tribes?”

Behind Iva, she felt the shift.

Caleb’s aura changed. The temperature in the corridor dropped. The shadows seemed to deepen, to reach, to whisper. His power pressed against her back like a living thing-dark and ancient and restrained by nothing but his will.

But Iva didn’t turn around.

She kept her eyes on Sonia, ignoring her words.

“Why did you do it?” Iva asked, her voice steady despite the trembling in her hands. “Why did you impersonate being his mate, in this case? If he is so despicable?”

Sonia’s laughter cut off abruptly.

Her eyes flickered-something shifting behind them, something calculating and wild. Then she threw her head back and laughed again, louder this time, the sound scraping against Iva’s nerves.

“The plays of power,” Sonia said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, “are more than any of you imagine.”

Iva leaned closer to the bars. “What does that mean?”

But Sonia wasn’t looking at her anymore.

Her gaze shifted to a fixed point on the wall-empty space, nothing there-and her expression went blank. Her lips began to move, forming words in a language Iva had never heard. Strange. Guttural. The sounds twisted in the air like smoke, like something that shouldn’t exist.

Iva’s skin crawled.

“What is happening?” she whispered.

r

Sonia’s body began to sway. Back and forth, back and forth, her eyes unblinking, her mouth still forming those impossible words. She didn’t see Iva anymore. Didn’t see the cell. Didn’t see anything.

She was gone.

Caleb stepped closer to Iva’s side, his presence solid and warm despite the cold radiating from his aura.

“This is what happens,” he said quietly. “Every time. No matter how much we try to interrogate her. When we press for her accomplices. When we ask for the truth.” His jaw tightened. “She becomes like this. We’ve tried everything.”

1.4

< The Truth -2~~~~

Iva’s stomach turned.

More Rewards >

The bile rose in her throat-hot and acidic and impossible to swallow. The smell of the dungeon, the sight of Sonia’s swaying body, the sound of those horrible words still echoing in her ears-it all crashed over her at once.

Her knees buckled.

Caleb’s arm caught her around the waist before she could fall.

“I’ve got you,” he murmured. “Let’s get out of here.”

He guided her away from the cell, away from the corridor, up the spiral staircase. Each step took them further from the darkness, closer to the light. Iva focused on breathing-in through her nose, out through her mouth-trying not to be sick on the ancient stone steps.

They emerged into a small courtyard.

Fresh air hit Iva’s face like a blessing. Cool and clean and free of the metallic stench that had coated her throat. She stumbled toward a stone bench and sat down heavily, pressing her palms against the cold surface, trying to ground herself.

Caleb sat beside her. Close but not touching. Giving her space.

The sun was beginning to set, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink. Birds sang somewhere in the distance. It was beautiful and normal and completely at odds with what she had just seen.

“Iva.” Caleb’s voice was gentle. “Are you okay?”

She took another breath. Then another.

“I got sick for a moment,” she said, her voice steadier than she felt. “I’m not used to the dungeon sight. Probably.”

Caleb was quiet for a moment. Then his hand lifted, and his fingers brushed her cheek-feather-light, tender, tracing the curve of her jaw.

“You don’t have to be strong for me,” he said softly.

Iva closed her eyes.

“I know.”

But she had been trying anyway. Trying to hold herself together. Trying not to fall apart in front of him. Trying to pretend that what Sonia said hadn’t burrowed under her skin like a splinter.

*Abomination. Cold-hearted killer.*

She opened her eyes and looked at him. At the man who had held her through the night.

“I don’t know what to think,” she admitted.

Caleb’s hand stilled on her cheek.

“About what Sonia said?”

214

The Truth 2

“About any of it.”

More Rewards >

He withdrew his hand slowly, giving her space. His eyes searched her face, and through the bond, she felt his emotions-a mix of patience and pain and something that felt almost like fear.

“You want to know if I’m a cold-hearted killer,” he said. It wasn’t a question.

Iva swallowed.

“I want to know the truth. All of it. No more shadows, Caleb. No more things you hope to keep hidden from

me.”

He was silent for a long moment. The sunset painted his face in gold and shadow, making him look like something out of an old painting-beautiful and terrible all at once.

I

“The truth,” he said slowly, “is that I have killed. More than once. More than I can count.”

Iva’s heart clenched, but she didn’t look away.

“Majority of them deserved it. Others…” He paused, his jaw tightening.

“Did you enjoy it?”

The question hung between them.

Caleb’s eyes met hers. And for the first time since she had known him, she saw something raw and vulnerable in his expression. Something that looked almost like shame.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify