Rain lashed the courtyard as Seraphina stared at the figure before her.
Jaxon Vale.Older. Broader. Alive.
No.
He couldn't be. She had seen the coffin. She remembered the blood.
"Jaxon?" Her voice cracked like glass. "You're dead."
He gave a cold smile. "No, Sera. I disappeared. There's a difference."
Levi's stance shifted defensive, calculating. "You faked your death? Why?"
"Because I found out what Crestwood was doing to us," Jaxon said, stepping forward. "And I refused to be their pet project."
Mara crossed her arms. "So you let your sister mourn you? Let your father fall apart?"
"My father knew," Jaxon snapped. "He helped cover it up."
Silence. Seraphina staggered back, heart splitting down the middle. "No. He wouldn't—"
"He would," Jaxon said. "He did. He sold you to them."
Lightning flashed overhead.
Seraphina's hands clenched. All the pieces clicked. The watchful faculty. The special treatment. The constant surveillance disguised as care. It had never been love.
It was control.
"I need proof," she said.
Jaxon nodded. "Then come with me. But know this, Sera once you see it, you can't unsee it. And the academy… they won't let you live long enough to tell the truth."
Behind them, Levi moved quietly, eyes never leaving Jaxon.
"You think you're protecting her," Levi said, "but you're using her too."
"I'm giving her a choice," Jaxon shot back. "Something you never did."
Seraphina looked between the two of them both dangerous, both liars in their own way.
And yet… she needed them both to survive this.
She lifted her chin. "I'm done being the girl in the pretty cage. Show me everything."