Blood Like Fate by Liselle Sambury

Author:Liselle Sambury
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: 2022-08-09T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

The meeting ends soon after that with the Matriarchs agreeing to gather data on the movements of their affected people so we can find any commonalities, and me and Eli agreeing to continue the investigation of Luc.

As we’re walking out of the condo, Ilana gives my coat a tug. I stop and turn to her, where Eli is standing at her side with his hands in his pockets.

Ilana regards me for a moment before saying, “I noticed that in your story you didn’t really talk about your connection to the boy. Only his sponsor father.”

I splutter for a moment. “I… We were matched, in that genetics thing NuGene did. It was a way for Justin to get information from me. That’s all.”

“He cried for you in that vision.”

I feel Eli’s eyes on me, but I can’t look at him. “He’s not a killer.”

“Or maybe he is, but he didn’t want to kill you.”

I swallow.

Ilana reaches out and adjusts my scarf, tucking the ends into my jacket. “You said Mama Jova Called you. I know her. One of my ancestors was there at that plantation. She escaped because of her.”

My eyes go wide. I didn’t know that. I knew Mama Jova was separated from the rest of the Thomases, but it hadn’t occurred to me that she would have been around other witches.

“She wasn’t a Mama, my ancestor. Just a woman, separated from her Matriarch like your Mama Jova. Learned to write and noted it down in her memoirs. About that sad girl and boy. How that girl was made to betray him because of an enslaver’s whip.” When Ilana looks at me, it feels like she’s digging past every layer of fabric and covering that I have. “I’ve wondered ever since your showcase why she might Call on you. Now… I’m thinking maybe I get it.”

I can’t make my mouth form words. I don’t know what to say.

Ilana’s eyes narrow for a moment. “Mama Jova saved a lot of lives that day. Maybe it’s cruel, but she saved more with that boy dead than she did with him alive. Sacrifices for family, those are the only ones worth losing love. Because sometimes, you have to lose love. You have to suffer to survive. Isn’t that your family motto?”

My heart beating in my chest feels like the only sound that I can make. I hate that motto. The more I hear it, the more I can’t stand it. Ilana pats me on the shoulder and starts to walk past.

She pauses when she notices that Eli isn’t following. “You coming?”

He scuffs the toe of his boot on the ground. “Yeah…” He looks at me. “In a second.”

“Mm-hmm, you’d better be by in five minutes or I’m leaving without you.”

Eli nods, and only when she’s out of earshot am I able to relax. “That was intense,” Eli says. “You okay?”

I bark out a laugh. “Yeah, it was, eh? I’m fine.” I rub at my face, her words still in my head despite it.

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