Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
┏━━━━━━𖤐━━━━━━┓ chapter fifteen: thelma & louise ┗━━━━━━𖤐━━━━━━┛
"They will do no wrong; they will tell no lies. A deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths. They will eat and lie down and no one will make them afraid."
— Zephaniah 3:13
It was like a dam had collapsed, and water poured out in crashing torrents, shattering all the lies in its way. Marlene told him everything. About Gabriel, about the curse on her family and the truth about her father. She watched Sam closely through all of it to gauge his reaction, but his face remained inscrutable, a single crease between his brows to signify deep contemplation. He didn't ask questions, never made an attempt to interrupt her — he just listened. Closely and silently.
Even after her story had been finished and there were no secrets left to unravel, even then Sam didn't hurry to speak his mind. He just sat there, on the edge of the bed, elbows resting on his thighs, like the statue of the Thinker.
"So your father freed Lilith?" Sam finally asked after the prolonged silence. It wasn't even a question, really. Just a very grim statement.
Marlene wet her chapped lips, "Y-yes. He...um, he gave Zachariah the last key to her cage."
"The emerald?"
She nodded hesitantly. Why didn't he get angry? Marley wanted him to hate her, to yell at her — anything but this quiet, pensive daze. At one point she'd even thought that, perhapsm her father's mistake would somehow alleviate Sam's. That maybe, just maybe, he would stop blaming himself for what he'd done so harshly, knowing that it was Arthur who'd flipped the first tile.
But looking at Sam now, Marlene wasn't sure she'd alleviated anything. She only made things worse.
"Marlene, I...that's — "
"I know," she said quietly.
Sam looked over at her, "Why didn't you say something?"
"Do you even need to ask?"
He lapsed into an unnerving silence again. The one that made Marlene wonder what was going on inside his head, beneath that luscious main of chestnut hair.
"Does this mean you're Gabriel's...daughter?"
"No. No, God, no," Marley spluttered. She wouldn't wish that on anyone. Yes, Arthur wasn't father of the year, but Gabriel? Perish the thought. "It's...very complicated. I mean, technically, his blood is running though my veins...sort of," she considered it a little longer, "A little bit of it. I guess what...what happened that night might've triggered it somehow. The same must've happened yesterday. When Tim fed me the blood? My body tried to fight it, like...like a virus."
