Pray for the Wicked | ATEEZ

17.

Whatever book San and Seonghwa had found it was obvious by its cover, not to mention the enormous golden lock keeping it closed, that whatever information it held was supposed to stay inside its pages, supposed to stay secret and unheard of.

I once again noted, as we finally came to a halt in one of the library's most remote corners, shelves and books and old painting shutting out all of the light which flowed through the rows of windows everywhere else in the room, that it seemed as if the demons were naturally fond of the darkness, drawn to it.

I chose not to comment on it, though, as I touched a hand to my cheek which was still flushed from before and simply shuffled over to stand next to the others, pushing myself in between Hongjoong and San as all four of us huddled around the book.

"It almost seems too easy, too convenient that it's the only one with a lock on it," Seonghwa mumbled to which the son of Satan simply hummed, nodding his head a little.

"I'm still putting my money on it being this one," San said, furrowing his brows a little which only seemed to sharpen his already fox-like features, "Secrets are meant to be hidden away, and any information we don't already possess about Illenium, about any of this, is helpful."

Seonghwa's hand looked melanin compared to the white cover of the book which seemed leather-like as he traced his hand across the letters on the front, impossibly smooth-

I barely thought twice before reaching out to touch it as well, immediately pulling my hand back and gasping a little as the lock sprang open.

Hongjoong, almost instinctively, reached out to support me, and I felt my cheeks burn even fiercer as the warmth of his hand at the small of my back seeped through my clothes only for my heart to sink as Seonghwa began to flip through the pages.

The air grew impossibly silent, almost to the point of it being suffocating, as my eyes grew wider and wider and horror settled at the bottom of my stomach with every word I read, forgetting all about the comfort of Hongjoong's touch as I felt guilt and disgrace washing over me.

Because this was going to change everything.

〄

"We were right all along," Yeosang mumbled, staring into the horizon where Illenium loomed like a distant threat with a look of disbelief on his face, "It would have been easier if it had been in the palace rather than at the very heart of Heaven though."

"What is that even supposed to mean?" Jongho mumbled, his auburn hair glowing like copper in the light from the setting sun, "That we'll have to go into the city and look for it? Being here is already dangerous enough as it is, and now-"

His words trailed off as Yunho mumbled something under his breath and nudged the younger, both of them sighing as the group fell into a moment of silence before Mingi somehow managed to start a new discussion.

I just sat there in silence, contemplating what had been written on the pages of that atrocious book, the truth it held, the consequences it would have.

The Lunar Flame most definitely existed.

It had most definitely been stolen, and it was most definitely here, at the very heart of Illenium, shamelessly hidden away in plane sight as if that piece of onyx didn't hold the power to either save or destroy all of Odeion.

The evergrowing pit of shame within me steadily flourished into something borderline unbearable as the darkness of the evening rolled across the skies overhead and the demons continued to plan, talk, and curse out my entire species.

The fact that whoever had written the book had known about it, about the crimes that had happened during the war, the crimes that my very own mother had committed, and had tried to justify it-