Page 82 of Incoronate
But then I thought of my dad.
He’d done everything they were suggesting. Used a cloaking spell. Moved us far from Hollow Hills, from the Order, from anyone who might recognize what I was. He’d spent sixteen years of his life keeping me hidden, keeping me safe, making sure I had as normal a childhood as any Descendant’s daughter could hope for.
And it hadn’t mattered.
They’d found us anyway.
They’d sent Revenants to our door. Murdered him in the middle of the street while I watched, helpless and powerless to stop it. Orchestrated my return to Hollow Hills with surgical fucking precision, pulling strings I hadn’t even known existed until it was too late.
If the Order could find a man like my father. A powerful, highly trained Descendant who had spent nearly two decades perfecting the art of staying invisible. What chance did two ordinary, powerless humans have?
What would the Order do to Ares and his unsuspecting adoptive parents when they finally tracked them down? Because they would track them down. It was only a matter of time. They had resources I couldn’t begin to fathom. Connections that ran deeper than blood. A network that spanned continents. No one could hide from them forever.
No one could protect him the way I could.
I might not know how to change a diaper without consulting YouTube, or how to soothe a screaming baby at three in the morning, but I knew how to fight. I knew how to kill. I had power they couldn’t account for, abilities they couldn’t predict, and a stubborn refusal to let anyone I loved be taken from me again.
My hands curled into fists against my thighs.
They wanted me to believe I was too young, too inexperienced, too overwhelmed to protect him. That the smart choice—the rational choice—was to hand him over and walk away. To let someone else shoulder the burden. But that was exactly what The Order would want me to do, wasn’t it? For me to give up on him.
To make it easy for them.
The Order had been controlling Descendants for centuries. Deciding who lived and who died. Who deserved protection and who deserved extinction. They twisted the rules to suit their narrative. Blurred the lines between justice and murder. Convinced themselves and countless more that they were the heroes of the story.
And I’d almost believed they were too.
Until they tried to kill me.
Until I learned they’d killed my father.
Until they forced me into a ritual that anointed me as the Fourth Horseman and expected me to murder an innocent child because his bloodline scared them.
My jaw tightened as the last of my doubt burned itself out and turned to something harder underneath.
Running wouldn’t solve anything. Not really. It would only delay the inevitable. Sooner or later, they’d find us. Sooner or later, they’d come for Ares. And when they did, I’d be right back where I started. Fighting for his life. Fighting for mine. Fighting a war I couldn’t win because the enemy had all the power and I had none.
Unless I changed the equation.
My gaze lifted slowly, moving from the table to the bassinet where Ares slept on, oblivious to the storm brewing around him. His tiny chest rose and fell in even-tempered rhythm, his miniature fists curled near his face. Innocent. Helpless. Entirely dependent on me to make the right choice for him.
And I would.
Just not the one they expected.
I looked up at Gabriel, then at Jaqueline, my voice calmer than I felt. “No.”
Gabriel’s brow furrowed. “Jemma—”
“I said no,” I repeated, firmer this time. “I’m not giving him up. I’m not handing him over to strangers and hoping they hide him well enough. I’ve seen how that ends. My father tried that. He did everything right, and they still found us. They still killed him.” My voice cracked, but I pushed through. “What makes you think it would be any different for Ares? What makes you think the Order won’t tear through whatever family takes him in, just to get to him?”
“That’s different—” started Jaqueline.
“No the fuck it’s not, Jackie,” I cut in, my exhaustion giving way to something sharper. Something dangerously close to clarity. “It’s exactly the same. You’re asking me to trust that distance and anonymity will keep him safe. Butit didn’t keep me safe. And it won’t keep him safe either. Especially not when they already know who and what he is. They won’t hesitate or wait the way they did with me.”
Gabriel ran his hand down his face as though he could wipe away the picture I’d just painted in his mind. “So what is your plan then?” he asked gently. “Keep the child here? Wait for them to come for us all?”
“No.” I met his eyes, my resolve hardening with every passing second. “The only way any of us get out of this alive is if we stop letting them dictate the terms. We need to stop playing defense and bring the fight to them. And I know what you’re going to say,” I added quickly before he could interrupt me. “You think I’m being reckless. That I’m letting emotion cloud my judgment. That I’m not thinking this through.” I shook my head decisively. “But I am thinking it through. Maybe for the first time in my life.”
