Page 191 of Caelum

“When you graduate, you will be assigned to a certain territory. You must know the nearby nests better than you did your own families when you were home. If you can’t do that, then you are no use to your Pack.”

The girls were too young to hear news like that, and their faces and posture reflected it. I thought it was a cruel way to introduce them to this side of their life, but then, Caelum, I was coming to learn,wascruel. It was just far less evil than most of these children had experienced in their past.

“The Gallagher Nest is a clever one,” Deren explained next, and he pressed a button revealing a map of a slot of territory south of the border, just around Dublin. “They were an integral force in the IRA back in the day, aligned their cause with the nationalist front.”

Pictures were flashed next of high-ranking bules, and we even saw a small, grainy image of the ductor, an apparently evil woman called Claudia.

My Pack hadn’t been wrong when they told me that most Ghouls were female. All the important members of the Gallagher nest were female, and there were only a handful of males.

I wasn’t certain why, but that knowledge put me on edge. Severely so. It felt like there was a connection there to something I didn’t really know yet. Which, I knew, made zero sense whatsoever.

Sometimes, I wondered if I had old souls inside me. As though they’d been recycled in me. They seemed to know things I didn’t, seemed to be more mature than I was, more capable in many ways. It was unnerving, especially at moments like these when I felt certain there was a gap between what Deren was saying and what I knew.

It put me on edge for the rest of the day.

“You’re Sin Eater today, aren’t you?” Frazer asked me just after I got out of the shower. I released a scream, not having realized someone was in my room, and then pressed a hand to my throat when I saw him lounging on my sofa.

When his eyes cast over me in a towel that didn’t show much, but still revealed far more than I was comfortable with, his gaze clashed with mine and held. I got the feeling it was hard for him not to look down, not to tilt his head and stare at me some more, but instead, he went out of his way to show me that he wasn’t gaping at me or trying to make me feel uncomfortable.

“What are you doing in here?” I demanded on a huff after my heart slowed down.

“Eren said he thought you were Sin Eater today. You and I have a training session.”

I blinked at him. “I do?”

“Yes. Meet me in the gym when dark hits.”

With that, he disappeared, and I grunted in irritation. The last thing I wanted was to work outagain, but Nestor was right. These one-to-one sessions were important. Not just to get in touch with my souls, but with the men who housed them too. I was busy, tired, and a little stressed over the sudden change in my schedule—all with the threat of discovery hanging over me too. Still, Frazer was pretty to look at…

Maybe the day wouldn’t be ending too poorly, after all.

TWENTY-THREE

FRAZER

“Frazer?”

Eve’s soft voice drifted over to me as I carried on pumping iron over by the free weights. Once I’d hit the count of fifteen, I put the dumbbell down and called out, “Over here.”

Her tread was soft as she wandered over to me, carefully skimming around the padded mats lining the floor, as well as the workout equipment.

“Why are you in the dark?”

“Because I prefer it.”

I didn’t have to see her scowl to know that was exactly what she was doing.

“Why? Doesn’t it make it harder to concentrate?”

“No. I like it. It calms the Sin Eater.” To be honest, I wasn’t sure why all the Sin Eaters hadn’t picked up on this like I had. Not that there were many at Caelum though. Incubi were far more common as Pack leaders than my kind.

“How come?” she inquired, her tone interested as she stepped over to the two-shelf table that supported everything from half-pound dumbbells to forty-pound behemoths. I saw her eying the weight I was lifting, then study the shelves.

“I’m not sure,” I told her honestly. “I just like it. It’s almost as if… you know when you have a really bad headache and you don’t want to be in the sun?” Her nod was hesitant. “Well, it’s like that. Constantly.”

“Does that mean you’re in pain constantly?” she asked, and her forehead was puckered with concern.

For me.

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