Chapter 3

"Our wedding night," Eliza' s voice whispered from the locket, soft and clear.

Marcus stumbled back, the locket falling from his numb fingers but a Warden caught it.

The voice continued, filling the dead air of the Outlands.

"My parents... they drugged you, Marcus. So you wouldn't know."

Abigail gasped, a hand to her mouth.

"Abigail... she wore my veil. She took my place."

Marcus' s world tilted. He remembered confusion, a strange taste, then darkness.

"Your devastation when you found out," Eliza' s voice went on, laced with old pain. "My pain. But I still loved you, Marcus. I always loved you."

He looked at Abigail, truly looked at her. She wouldn't meet his eyes.

"My parents called my quiet ways a flaw," Eliza said. "My 'sensitive nature.' They wanted to marry me off to old man Hemlock, for status. He was cruel."

Mr. Hayes coughed, his face turning red. Mrs. Hayes looked away.

"You stopped them, Marcus," the voice softened. "You declared your love for me. You gave me this locket. You promised to protect me."

A memory hit Marcus, sharp and clear: Eliza' s face, shining with hope. His own words, fierce and true.

"You defied the elders to marry me. You even gave me the Covenant Medallion. You said it meant I was protected. Safe."

The recording clicked off.

Silence.

Marcus stared at the locket, then at Abigail, then at the Hayes parents.

His face was a mask of dawning horror.

Willow, holding her cheek, watched him. "Did you protect her?" she asked, her small voice cutting through him.