CHAPTER 27 — BLOODLINES
Julian stared at Gabriel.
“No.”
Gabriel remained behind the glass.
“Beatrice and I were young. Daniel discovered the affair and used it against both of us.”
Julian looked at Beatrice.
“Is he telling the truth?”
She nodded.
The answer seemed to remove something from Julian’s body.
His anger.
His posture.
His identity.
“For thirty-eight years, you called me weak,” he said. “You told me I was unworthy of the Thorne name.”
Beatrice’s eyes were cold.
“You were never supposed to carry it.”
Gabriel spoke gently.
“I tried to protect you.”
Julian laughed.
“You watched her destroy me.”
“I believed Daniel would kill you if I interfered.”
“You always have a reason.”
Evelyn understood that feeling.
Gabriel had called manipulation protection for so long that he may have believed it.
Nathan approached the glass.
“Who is Choir Member Zero?”
Gabriel looked toward the hidden door.
“The person who created Nightingale before Daniel took control.”
“Name,” Evelyn demanded.
Beatrice answered.
“There was no name. Only a title.”
A symbol appeared on the glass.
A black crown surrounded by seven wings.
“The Architect,” Beatrice said.
Wren began shaking.
“They told us the Architect was dead.”
“No,” Gabriel replied. “The Architect disappeared.”
The floor opened beneath the glass wall.
A platform rose.
Daniel stood on one side.
Celeste stood on the other.
Both were restrained.
Between them sat a woman wearing a white veil.
The Architect.
“You gathered beautifully,” she said.
Her voice was the one Evelyn had heard in the Nightingale archive.
The voice warning her to stop searching.
Celeste stared at the veiled woman.
“You.”
Daniel’s face showed something Evelyn had never seen before.
Fear.
The Architect turned toward Evelyn.
“Every empire requires a family myth. Yours has been especially effective.”
“Who are you?”
The woman removed her veil.
She looked exactly like Evelyn.
Older.
Perhaps sixty.
But the eyes, cheekbones, and mouth were unmistakable.
Wren dropped to her knees.
“Mother.”
Evelyn could not breathe.
The Architect smiled.
“Beatrice gave birth to your body.”
She touched her own chest.
“But I gave birth to your mind.”
Evelyn raised her weapon.
The woman did not flinch.
“You cannot kill me.”
“Why not?”
“Because I am the only person alive who knows who your biological father is.”
May you like
She looked at Daniel.
“And it isn’t him.”
