THE HEART THEY STOLE: Rebirth of the Scapegoat Bride

way mirror, my heart in my throat. I turned my head. There it w

dead. I

porch. His voice was full of a joy he had nev

e over in her haste to get to the door. She d

ripping the edge of the doorframe so hard the wood b

he threshold. It was Elena. She looked exactly as she had in the hospital-

" My mother wailed, thro

g his "long-lost" sister into a hug. My father stood over them, h

oo. I had cried. I had apologized for "letting" her be taken. I had spent the next few months doing her laun

eyes scanned the room until they landed on

girl who had been suffering in the slums for years. She looked at me with a sha

ke everything,

Instead, I felt a slow, wicke

stand there like a statue. Come give your sister a h

uld have hurried forw

y looked at her-and then at the thermal bag she was clutching. The one containing the special soup

ady and terrifyingly calm. "I've been waiti

fraction of a second. She s

lara," she murmured, her

fferent,"

the kitchen. As I passed Leo, I caught the scent of

rance called 'Innocence' that smelled more like a funeral shroud to me. My mother was still weeping, her hand

atrical grief that had been my childhood soundtrack. "To think you

ebony. In my previous life, I would have been on my knees, begging for a sliver of that affection. I would have spent the next

e didn't throb with the phantom ache of a missing kidney. My chest didn't feel hollowed out.

han they were used to. "If she's so fragile, perhaps she should go to her room

oked at me, his eyes narrowing. "Elara, watch your tone. Your sister has bee

rgot her favorite doll, and I was the one who got slapped for 'letting' her go? I've been payin

her's elbow. Those eyes-so wide, so watery-were as calculating as a shark's. She hadn't expected me to bite back. In the

ile reed. "Elara is just... she's always been a bit d

l flask sitting on the cof

is for you. While I was... away... I met an old woman who taught me the secrets of health. This soup is full of r

grinned. He was twenty-five, the male heir, and the most pam

t," I