Legacy (Anathema #2)

by Nick Roberts

Be the Light. “Maren, I forgive you.” The bald creature in front of him grimaced and then picked up the scalpel from the floor. Fear not. “I forgive you for everything.” In a flash, Maren swiped the blade across Wrenley’s cheek. Derrick almost reacted but remained focused on her eyes. She turned the scalpel upside down and let it hover above Wrenley’s eye. He had to intervene. “I forgive you because I recognize you for what you are.” That caught her attention. “I don’t know if you’re human or some kind of demon, but to me you’re just a disease, passed down from generation to generation. It ends with me, though. You won’t infect May because I’m breaking the cycle.” Maren lowered the blade an inch away from Wrenley’s eyelid. She looked at him, but he didn’t flinch. “I thought I had made peace with my past because I believed you were dead. But when you came back, I felt completely powerless again. Maren, look at me. Yeah, look at me with those cold, pathetic, desperate eyes. I’ve accepted that you’ll always be a part of my story. You’ll always be a part of me, but you don’t have any power over me anymore.” Maren’s eyes widened, and for the first time, Derrick saw what he thought was fear in her eyes. She knew she wasn’t running the show. The master manipulator had been exposed. He knew the lethal blow she was about to deal as a measure of last resort to get him to break, but he’d prepared for that. “I forgive you,” he said. “But I don’t think she does.” Maren jerked her head ...