Chapter 23 #2
I turn away from the laboratory, from the evidence of years of calculated manipulation, and face my sister directly. "Tell me about the survival odds. Seventy-three percent—what does that mean?"
"Based on your genetic markers, blood chemistry, and power affinity tests, there was a seventy-three percent chance you could survive the divine transformation that has killed other candidates."
"And the twenty-seven percent chance I would die?"
"Was... acceptable risk for the potential scientific gains."
"Acceptable risk." I laugh, and the sound carries enough divine power to make several of the magical instruments in the laboratory chime in response. "You gambled with my life—your own sister's life—for access to Fae magic and research opportunities."
"I believed you would survive!" Sarah's composure finally cracks, and I see tears streaming down her face. "Your genetic profile was stronger than any of the previous candidates. I thought... I hoped..."
"You hoped I was expendable enough to risk and valuable enough to succeed.
" The brutal summary hangs between us like a death sentence, and I wipe angry tears from my cheeks with the back of my hand.
"Tell me, Sarah—if our positions were reversed, if you had the genetic markers instead of me, would you have volunteered yourself for goddess transformation? "
"I couldn't. I'm not... I'm not virgin. The ascension requires—"
"That's not what I asked." My voice drops to a whisper that somehow carries more menace than shouting, my whole body trembling with fury. "If you could have undergone this transformation yourself, would you have done it?"
Her silence tells me everything I need to know, and something breaks inside my chest—something that might never heal.
"You sacrificed me because you couldn't sacrifice yourself. You delivered your sister to potential death because the scientific opportunity was too valuable to pass up, and you were too cowardly to take the risk personally."
"I love you, Maya. I never wanted you to be hurt—"
"You've been lying to me for three years.
Testing my blood, analyzing my genetic markers, planning my potential sacrifice while pretending to care about my career and my happiness.
You've used our sisterly bond to manipulate me into trusting you completely while working with the very people who might kill me. "
I move through her secret laboratory, studying the charts and diagrams with my enhanced understanding.
Research into fertility goddess magic, detailed analyses of divine transformation processes, medical notes about previous candidates who died when the power consumed them.
She has documentation about all of it—the risks, the failure rate, the symptoms that precede magical burnout.
She knew exactly what she was sending me into.
"The Fae access," I observe, noting the advanced magical equipment that no human institution could afford. "Your payment for delivering a suitable candidate."
"Maya—"
"How much?" I turn to face her, and I can see her flinch at whatever she sees in my expression. "How much access to their divine magic did you gain by trading your sister's life?"
"It's not just about access. The applications could revolutionize human-Fae relations, could help bridge the gap between mortal and divine magic—"
"Could help you become the foremost authority on goddess transformations, you mean."
The accuracy of my guess is written across her guilty face.
I stare at my sister—brilliant, ambitious Sarah who has always been everyone's favorite, everyone's first choice.
The sister I've looked up to and competed with and loved desperately despite always feeling second-best. The sister who viewed me as acceptable collateral for her scientific advancement.
"I need to know," I say quietly, my voice hoarse from crying and shouting. "Based on your research, based on all the data you've collected—how much time do I have?"
"Maya, please, you don't want to know—"
"How much time?" I demand, my hands clenched into fists at my sides.
"If the pattern holds..." She takes a shuddering breath. "Four to six weeks from the onset of symptoms. You've been showing signs for approximately three weeks."
The words hit me like a physical blow. I stagger backward, one hand flying to my throat as if I can't breathe.
Three weeks. If Sarah's calculations are correct, I may have as little as one week left before the divine power kills me.
One week to decide whether to return to Thorian and attempt to complete a transformation that might save or destroy me, or to stay in the human world and die slowly as the goddess magic burns through my mortal flesh.
"Thank you for your honesty," I manage to say through numb lips, my voice barely a whisper. "Finally."
"Maya, wait—where are you going?"
I'm already moving toward the door, toward the stairs that will take me away from this place of betrayal and calculated manipulation. "Away from you. Away from everyone who views my life as an acceptable risk for their greater good."
"Please, let me help you. Let me try to find a solution—"
"You've helped enough." I pause at the threshold, looking back at the sister I thought I knew.
"For what it's worth, Sarah, I understand why you did it.
I've spent my entire life being second-best, second choice, second priority.
I suppose it was inevitable that eventually someone would decide I was second valuable enough to sacrifice. "
I leave her standing in the wreckage of our relationship, surrounded by the evidence of her calculated betrayal.
The steam-powered cab I hail carries me through the familiar streets of a city that no longer feels like home, past gas lamps and mechanical marvels that represent the human world I'm no longer entirely part of.
Behind me lies three years of sisterly manipulation disguised as love. Ahead of me lies an impossible choice between trusting the alpha who lied to me and dying slowly in a world that has already decided I'm expendable.
But at least now I understand the full scope of the conspiracy that brought me to this moment. At least now I know that my entire life has been shaped by people who viewed me as useful rather than precious.
The question is: what do I do with that knowledge?