Goddess Of The Underworld (Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 118

Chapter 118

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We waited until both kids were sticky–faced and lost in a movie. Layah stayed curled at the foot of the bed, eyes half–closed, pretending sleep.

I touched Noah’s wrist and jerked my chin toward the hall. “You too, Levi.”

We stepped out and let the door ease shut on the purr of the wards. The corridor outside

Elliot’s room holds its own hush, a gentled echo the palace keeps for its smallest

residents. I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until I heard it bounce and thin.

“We need a family meeting,” I said, voice low but steady. “Today. Us, Xavier, Haiden, Dad,

Mum, Aleisha, Tommy. No delays.”

Levi nodded once, no argument, just a quick, assessing flick of his eyes as if he were already placing chairs.

I didn’t sugarcoat it. “Twice now we’ve heard the word ‘kin.‘ Once from a rogue’s mouth that wasn’t his to use, and again from the seeker–weave at our door. This isn’t random scavenging. Someone is looking for Elliot. Not to devour. To claim.”

Levi’s jaw tightened. “The weave’s construction fits that: follow, taste, wait. No bite. It

doesn’t want to break the door. It wants the door to open itself.”

Noah’s gaze slid to Elliot’s lintel, to the faint gleam where his vines braided through Levi’s lattice. “We don’t open doors we didn’t choose,” he said, easy and iron at once. Hawk agreed, a silent thud. Mine–to–guard.

I rubbed a thumb under my ring, an old habit when a decision scraped. “We present this to the family together. We say the word we’ve been circling: these are Soul Eaters. Maybe

not his blood, but his species. They’re testing our fences without leaving fingerprints.”

Levi folded his arms, thinking in that neat, precise way he does. “There’s a chance they’re not unified,” he said. “The thread’s flavor wasn’t the same as the hands that rode the

rogues. Same craft, different caster. One faction scouts; another uses wolves like gloves.

Both want the same thing. Methods diverge.”

“Ends don’t,” Noah said. “They want our boy.”

I felt the barest tremor under my palm where it rested on the wall. The kingdom listens

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Chapter 118

when you decide something; the corridors tighten like muscle, ready.

“We keep our circle small,” I said. “Just family and the senior leads. We tell the pack there was a seeker on the wards, that we’ve increased protection, that the orphans are safe. No panic. No rumor mill that might drift across borders.”

Levi tipped two fingers against his temple. “I’ll anchor a secure gate between the war room and our council chamber here. Ward–locked on both ends, keyed to our voices. We can meet as one room with no one moving through public space.”

“Good.” I let the word sit. “And Elliot?”

Noah answered before Levi could. “He’s earned a seat,” he said. “We tell him as much as

we tell anyone. He’s wiser beyond his years and this does involve him.”

Something eased in my chest I hadn’t named, even as the protective part of me snarled at the thought of sitting our boy down and saying your kind is at the fence.

Levi’s eyes softened, empathy threaded through analysis. Flint moved in him like a shadow agreeing. Teach, don’t terrify.

“Speaking of,” Levi went on, back to business, “I want to compound what we started this morning. Masking can’t be a trick he does when we remind him. It has to become reflex. Breath in, dim. Breath out, brighten. Like a heartbeat he controls.”

“Drills,” Noah said, already mapping them. “Short. Frequent. Woven into play. Layah can cue him. Hawk will ride the corridor with the cadence.” He glanced at me. “And your gentling charm on his dreams every night until the threads give up.”

I nodded. Pregnancy makes you an altar to small superstitions; I’ve learned which ones are spells and which ones are just breath. The gentling charm is both.

he’s under our protection. If there is a lawful envoy, they will request audience under our conditions.” The words tasted like strategy and ash in equal measure. “If they refuse the

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them bleeds if they lie.”

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