Page 104 of Chaos Carnival

I lowered the letter, my hands trembling. The paper crackled as my fingers tightened, threatening to tear the delicate pages. Through blurred vision, I looked at Tess, my beautiful, broken, impossible mate where she sat cradled in my lap.

“No.” The word ripped from my throat. “You were wrong Tess...”

She shifted in my arms, her movements jerky and strange. “You shouldn't have done it,” she whispered, her voice fracturing like glass. “The price cuts too deeply, stains too dark.” Her fingers traced my tears. “Such perilous beauty.”

I crushed her closer against my chest, burying my face in her hair. The aroma of midnight and lightning filled my lungs as sobs wracked my body. My wings unfurled without conscious thought, wrapping around us both in a cocoon of darkness. The others stepped back, giving us space even as their own hunger gnawed at our shared consciousness.

“The chords are screaming their warning song,” she whispered, her own tears falling to my shirt. “I tried to protect you from this, tried to write a gentler ending.” Her voice drifted like feathers in the wind.

“You were mine to protect, Tess,” I choked out. “Still are. Whatever the cost—“

“Oh, my precious shadow,” she murmured, tracing patterns in my wings. Her fingers danced across my chest. “Why trade your freedom for my broken soul?”

“Because you're worth any price,” I growled into her hair. “All of us knew that.”

Her eyes trained on something beyond us, that familiar awareness taking over. She blinked away tears. “The paper birds are growing restless.”

Stone made a sound of frustration, pacing again as dirt scattered in his wake. “Then let's hear them.”

“Addie holds the cipher,” Tess said, her voice taking on that quality that made the air shiver. “The letter that speaks to all, that paints in words of tears and shadows.”

Addie's hands shook as she opened one particular envelope. The paper seemed to shimmer in the aftermath of the ritual's power, and the hunger that gnawed at all of us quieted, as if even it wanted to hear these words.

“Read it,” Tess urged, her fingers weaving patterns in the air. “Let the truths dance on your tongue.”

Lux steadied Addie with a gentle hand on her shoulder as she unfolded the pages. The rest of us drew closer, forming a tight circle around where Tess and I sat. Even Baphomet and Lilith leaned in, their ancient eyes gleaming with curiosity.

Addie took a deep breath, and began to read.

My dearest family,

If you're reading this, I've already died. The strands showed me a thousand possible futures, and in every one where our family survives, I had to sacrifice myself. I chose this path. Remember that. It wasn't only fate or destiny. I knew every option, and I chose this one.

The circus must continue. This isn't a suggestion or a wish, it's the cornerstone of your survival. The threads I've woven into every tent, every act, every moment of wonder and fear we create, they form a shield. As long as you keep performing, as long as you keep moving, the hunters won't be able to see you. The magic is tied to the show itself, to the energy we create, to the darkness we embrace and transform into art.

I have other letters with specific instructions for each of you. Follow them. I've seen what happens if you don't, and trust me, this was the better path. I've seen all possibilities. They were impossible dreams.

Don't waste time grieving what must be lost. Keep performing. Keep traveling. Keep creating beautiful nightmares.

And know that even in death—or whatever comes after—I love you all.

—Tess

Addie's hands trembled as she lowered the letter, her voice failing on the final words. The hunger that clawed at my insides paused, as if even it understood the significance of this moment. Tess shifted in my arms again, looking up at me.

“You knew.” Stone's voice fractured like bones. “All this time, you knew?”

Tess's laugh echoed strangely, as if coming from multiple places at once. “The strands danced with a thousand broken tomorrows, my love, but they never whisperedthistruth.” Her fingers traced the air between us, her voice carrying a note of wonder and confusion. “The void existed beyond even their sight. Such a fiendish blind spot in all my careful creation.”

I tightened my arms around her, wings curling closer as if I could somehow shield her from the truth of her own words. The mate bond hummed between us, changed but unbroken, carrying echoes I couldn't comprehend.

“You should have told us.” Lux's voice was gentle, but his eyes blazed with intensity.

“You've paid for what I tried to spare you,” Tess whispered, her voice carrying that shattered-glass edge. Her fingers continued their strange dance through the air. “But your stubborn hearts. Such a terrible, dazzling defiance of fate.”

I buried my face in her hair, breathing in the fragrance that clung to her changed form. Grief and relief warred inside me—she was alive, but we'd damaged something fundamental in the process.

Addie's voice caught as another wave of hunger rolled through our shared consciousness. “What is thisneed?”

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