SAGE

Darius knocked at my mind like someone afraid to break glass.

I felt him before I answered. The brush of his presence, layered with urgency. I opened the door to him slowly, letting him in, and in the same breath, I reached outward—touching his thoughts, his awareness, the thread that linked him to Adam.

And I knew. He was with Adam.

Adam had felt my distress. Adam had come for me.

The knowledge warmed me. A tear burned at the corner of my eye. I refused to let it fall.

Not now. Not here.

Not in front of people who had driven a wooden stake into my body with...