Chapter 26: [Sin signature: integrating.]
Dinner went the same.
The room negotiation with Tessira went the same. Same lines, same promise about the market, same look back at the door.
I lay down. Didn’t sleep. Called for Luna.
"Luna."
Nothing.
"Luna. I need you."
She flickered in at the foot of the bed.
"What’s the situation," I said. "I’m dying. Repeatedly. I need to know why."
"I can’t help you with this."
"Why not."
She hesitated.
I’d never seen her do that before.
"This is above what I’m allowed to touch," she said. "I’m sorry."
Gone.
The blue screen replaced her.
[Lady Luna is unavailable.]
[The System can provide information on the current threat.]
[Cost: 1200 Power Stones.]
Nowhere close.
"...Of course."
[Insufficient funds. Partial information available.]
"Give me whatever you’ve got."
[Threat Classification: Affiliated with Sin.]
That’s it. Nothing else. I gave up and went to find Sebastian.
"Guard the room tonight," I said.
He looked at my face. Didn’t ask.
The estate went quiet at some point. No wind. No footsteps from the servants. Just silence.
I went to the door.
"Sebastian."
Nothing.
Kekeke.
I was on my feet before I’d finished opening my eyes, sword already in hand, and I threw the door open into a hallway lit orange by something burning two rooms down.
Sebastian was on the floor.
On the floor, on his back, one arm bent beneath him, a dark stain spreading fast underneath his ribs and still spreading,
"Sebastian—"
His eyes found mine. His mouth moved. Nothing came out but air and blood.
Something laughed from the dark at the end of the hall.
I didn’t see what hit me. I felt my collarbone give first, a wet snap that traveled straight up into my skull, and then the floor came up and my vision tunneled into a single bright point and the point was a blade, already through my chest, already twisting.
I looked down at it.
I remember being almost curious about it.
***
I woke up four hours into the journey from Moonshade.
The plains rolled past outside the window. Tessira’s head rested against my shoulder.
I sat up too fast and my hands went immediately to my chest, my leg, my throat.
Body reset along with everything else.
I sat with my back against the seat and breathed.
Didn’t tell Sebastian anything.
Second time, I planned. Had Sebastian double the patrol, told him I’d had a feeling. Kept Tessira in my room instead of letting her go to hers. Sat up with a blade across my knees that I had no real confidence in.
Midnight.
It came from the corner of the room this time, not the hall. I swung at the sound and hit nothing, and something took my wrist from behind before I’d even finished the swing.
My hand simply wasn’t where it had been. The understanding arrived slower than the fact.
Tessira screamed.
I tried to turn toward her. My legs went out from under me.
I hit the floor and couldn’t get back up and she was still screaming and there was nothing I could do about that.
The laugh got closer.
I tried to say her name. I don’t know if I managed it.
***
Third time.
I made it to the window before anything came up, which wasn’t much. Dinner from a meal I’d apparently eaten twice. Tessira’s hand on my back.
"You are sick."
"I’m fine."
"You are not fine."
I wiped my mouth. Kept the wrist that had been taken pressed against my leg the rest of the ride just to feel that it was there. Didn’t examine why I needed that. I didn’t have the energy.
I got Tessira into a car before dark.
She fought me harder than I expected, gripping my sleeve, and I lied to her face to do it. Didn’t have time to sit with what that cost.
Barricaded the door.
Midnight.
The laugh came from inside the room.
The barricade hadn’t mattered. I’d spent an hour solving the problem.
I didn’t even see it. One moment I was against the door and the next something went through my stomach.
Then it arrived.
I remember the sounds I was making didn’t feel like they were mine. I remember thinking, with total clarity, this isn’t fair, I sent her away, I did the right thing and then not thinking anything at all.
***
Fourth time.
I made it two hours further than the previous loop.
I kept moving through the night. No stop at the estate. No explanations.
Around the second hour after midnight, the laugh came from beneath the carriage, slipping through wood and wheels as if they weren’t there.
The horses screamed.
Then the carriage broke apart.
The world tilted. Wood exploded around us. Something tore across my side, hot and deep.
Tessira was thrown clear.
That was the last thing I saw before everything went black.
I never found out what happened after. Died before I could.
***
Fifth time.
I sat staring at the back of Sebastian’s seat.
"You keep coming back different," Tessira said. "Like every time takes something with it."
I looked at her.
Maybe she was right.
I didn’t know what to say to a version of her I’d already failed more than once, so I just pulled her closer and watched the road.
The fear felt different now. Not overwhelming anymore.
My hands hadn’t been steady since the second death. I’d stopped checking.
This time I wasn’t making plans.
No weapon. No trap.
Just watching.
Waiting to see what killed us.
And when it came, I’d go back again.
Because whatever happened if I stopped felt worse.
Same gates. Same rows of servants. My father at the top of the steps, studying me the way he had the first time like a stranger wearing his son’s clothes.
Now I understood something he didn’t. I’d already lived this exact moment six times.
Each version of me walking up these steps was carrying more wreckage than the last, and none of it showed, and he’d never know the difference.
I didn’t tell him anything.
Went to my room. Sat on the edge of the bed. Rehearsed which mistake I would try not to repeat.
I’d stopped expecting it to go anywhere.
The system flickered.
[Synchronization in progress.]
[Host... resonance detected.]
[Sin signature: integrating.]
[Warning: foreign consumption pattern accelerating.]
[Host is being consumed.]
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