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And however he tried to deny it, Malachi was hers, too

Chapter Eleven

It was getting harder and harder to avoid her Malachi sat in the corner of the library, watching Rhys and Evren interview Ava about her faain He’d trusted his brother to look after her, even if Rhys’s behavior had irked him, but Ava’s collapse in the hallway had been unnecessary Rhys should have known Irin scribes still struggled to talk about the massacre that had taken most of their families How did he think Ava would react?

So Malachi was back to guarding her, this time from his own people He didn’t knohy he was so attuned to the woiven hi her new reality well, but he knew she was still stressed at times Like when they asked her about her family…

"Listen… Yes, I have a lot of cousins on ht "But no, as far as I know, none of them hear voices My mom doesn’t hear voices Her mom didn’t either I don’t knohy you don’t understand this There is no history of mental illness--"

"Not mental illness," heup at her "Stop calling it that You’re not mentally ill, Ava"

She rolled her eyes "Fine Whatever Angel blood Irin blood Call it what you will I’irls all over my mom’s side, and none of them hear voices Or souls Or whatever this is"

The rest of the world lared only at each other

"Are you always this sarcastic?" he asked

"Are you always this taciturn?"

He picked up a book again and pretended to read

Ava said, "I’ll take that as a yes" She turned back to Evren "Okay, next question"

Evren cleared his throat "It seeenetic possibilities and look at your father’s side"

"Now that could be difficult"

"Because?"

"I barely know ical father"