Twice Born

Chapter 9

I stand on the side of an abandoned street leading to the villas in southwest Belveer, waiting for Eve to emerge. Even though nobles drive their carriages through these parts, this neighborhood is far enough from these villas that the coin of the wealthy hasn’t reached it.

Next to me is a derelict structure that used to be a blacksmith’s shop. Its soot-covered door is boarded up, its windows shuttered. Other than two shops that are also falling apart, there’s nothing here but the dirt road and a flat landscape covered in short yellowing grass.

I always begin the evenings far away from the inland. Less risk the Trackers will manage to box me in by coming at me from all sides.

Eve taught me this. She’s taught me a lot of things over the years.

And I’m about to fight with her.

I’ve never been able to stomach conflict. Not even as a little girl. I’ve never known how to puff my chest out and make myself bigger and intimidate people with words. Fight back, Eve would always say when she’d sift through my memories in the evenings.

I’m not strong like you, I’d reply, distraught.

You don’t have to be strong like me, Bree. You just have to make people believe that you are. They won’t know you’re afraid unless you let them see your fear. So don’t.

No amount of bravado will work with Eve now.

The sun’s last rays disappear on the reddish-orange horizon. I wince when I feel that familiar pressure as Eve comes alive. Sweat coats my forehead when the process ends. I wait while Eve probes my mind, my thoughts and memories at her disposal.

You’re furious, she says. That’s new.

I start walking. Trackers will swarm this area soon enough. I can walk around Belveer until the flare fades, and I can do so while Eve and I talk about what happened.

You lied to me. All these months—maybe for years. Why would you withhold something so important from me? Why didn’t you tell me you’re able to control my body while I’m asleep at night?

You’re not the easiest person to talk to, Bree.

A fresh wave of anger surges through me. Don’t pretend this is my fault. I’ve been asking you for years to share your feelings and your thoughts with me.

Asking isn’t the same as accepting.

She speaks too calmly. I make a frustrated sound. A passerby in a busy street glances over at me, but I ignore him. You betrayed my trust, Eve. You used my body for your own—

Your body? Now I sense the rage she’s been masking from me. This isn’t your body. Everything Tristan told me reaffirms what I’ve always suspected. That I have a right to this body. It was by mere chance that you ended up as the dominant. I won’t spend the rest of my existence as your shadow, Bree. You’ve had seventeen years to experience life. It’s my turn now.

I don’t realize I’ve stopped walking until someone bumps into me. So what are you going to do? You’re going to kill me? Just like Tristan did to Lucan?

The silence is too loud, too telling. 

Eve!

Don’t get in my way, Sabrina.

I can’t breathe. This is the darkness Tristan spoke about earlier. She’s willing to do whatever it takes to gain full control, even kill me. So much for caring about me.