Chapter Text
‘Only you
Can make this world seem right
Only you
Can make the darkness bright
Only you and you alone
Can thrill me like you do
And fill my heart with love for only you’
Sarah lightly swirled her wine glass, closed her eyes, and let the sweet music from her phonograph carry her thoughts away. Slowly, she brought the glass to her lips and took more than half the contents in one swig. The bitter red she had chosen was a delightful contrast to the sweet sound filling her empty office. The troubles brought on by recent events had her savoring this particular indulgence even more than usual.
She’d dismissed the Biddies some time ago, she didn’t even remember how long. The events of the day had left her with the overwhelming desire for isolation. At least, as isolated as she could be given the nature of her prolonged existence. How has it come to this? The stray thought was as bitter as the wine, and she chided herself on not following her instinct to down whisky this night. Like every other. She felt the burn would be a much more appropriate sensation for her current mood. After all; Everything she had fought, bled, and suffered to create would be on the line until Batan was dealt with. Not because of Petra’s painfully transparent schemes for power and prestige. Not because of Wade’s incessant crusade to see Sarah ousted from her position. Not even because of Nicte herself. No, everything was on the line because of the most audacious, arrogant and entirely too insubordinate cadet she had ever come across in over 300 hundred years of command.
Tally Craven.
Never had another witch simultaneously earned Sarah’s vicious ire and deepest admiration as Craven had. Despite the traits that vexed her; she would not hesitate to praise Craven’s determination, bravery, honor, and commitment to her ideals. She was everything Sarah could have hoped for her people to be.
‘When you hold my hand, I understand
The magic that you do
You're my dream come true
My one and only you’
Sarah laughed humorlessly as she finished the last of her wine, before an all too familiar yet foreign feeling creeped around her. She steeled herself and pushed it down, away, again. She’d been forced to do this more times than she’d care to admit in the months since the surgery that unbiddied the young witch. Each time it cropped up it had seemed to strengthen, in spite of Sarah’s best efforts to stifle any such thing.
Three witches had been removed from the link before Craven since it existed. All had lingering side effects for a short time but nothing like what had manifested between her and the cadet had ever happened before. The old witch in her would be fascinated by the occurrence, eager to study its every facet and secret. Test its limits and its potential. The hardened general in her knew that wasn’t an option, for Craven’s sake as much as hers.
After a few strained intakes of air Sarah let out a heavy breath, the connection suffocated once more. She stood from her seat and took several languid steps across her office. She stopped in front of the fireplace and stared aimlessly into the crackling flames.
“How has it come to this” Sarah whispered the thought. Do they not understand what I have sacrificed!? Do they not understand why I will do anything to keep them safe!? How and when did so many of my soldiers lose faith in me? What has led me to this…dead-end? She knew the answer to her last query all too well.
Craven’s unyielding quest for the truth was what had led them here. It had given the girl the gall to barge into Sarah’s’ office in the middle of the night to demand answers she had no right to know. As if that wasn’t enough; she even dared to disobey Sarah’s orders by bringing Nicte in alive. Though she couldn’t lay blame on the cadet for that entirely, Petra has always been a mutinous influence. Ultimately it was her own inability to act against all of it that angered her the most. Action, however; would have required her to acknowledge the connection between her and Craven openly. An equally undesirable course as doing nothing.
Yet, a part of Sarah couldn’t help but be moved by the genuine nature of Craven’s chosen mission. She wasn’t guided by personal gain, or ambition like the Army’s head of intelligence and others. Tally was a true Knower and Sarah, out of fear and selfishness, denied her the answers that could have avoided all the turmoil between them. She had set Tally on this path. When she allowed the girl to leave the biddies. When she approved the Bellweather units transfer to War College. It had become maddening and Sarah desperately needed Craven’s search to end, for both of them. Yet she still lamented the reality of having to take such a drastic route as enlightening Tally.
She had told herself that lying about the connection served to protect the girl. Offer her an easier and unabated chance to have her own life, not one tied to Sarah and her demons. In truth, it only served as a flimsy denial to calm Sarah’s own uncertainties and fears. The walls and boundaries that she had built had been pierced by Tally. No being had wormed their way into her space, her life, like this. Tally was uncomfortably disarming and the mere thought of reprisal for perceived slights left Sarah felling cold and hollow inside. More than usual at least. If anyone else had challenged her the way Tally had, let alone a no-name cadet, they would have been reduced to a bubbling grease long ago. Yet Tally Craven still walked the hollowed grounds of Fort Salem, bones still solid and flesh still firm. Untouched by a wrath that Sarah had not hesitated to bring down on others in the past. The young witch enraged her as much as she intrigued her.
The thoughts brought a familiar sting to her body and mind that she willed down once more. Even the briefest wandering thought or lingering gap in her concentration could give it room to surface it seemed. It infuriated her to no end that she allowed this to happen.
“We are connected!” The cadet’s words shot through her head like a carronade. A wave of guilt pounded her mind and body. She heard the confusion, anguish, and fear in Tally’s voice and still sent her away with no answers or comfort. Nothing to quell the conflict over what Tally admitted so openly to seeing, feeling, and being haunted by. Sarah knew all to well how terrifying her past was and she allowed Tally to suffer with it alone. All because she was afraid of what it meant for her. Now the rift she had created in refusing to do anything about it threatened to tear her world apart anyway. An all too fitting punishment, she loathed to admit.
I don’t have much time. Tonight, would be her last chance to change the game. Her last chance to get in front of the storm brewing over her head. If she did not, then tomorrow only held the promise of uncertainty. A state her mind was already steeped too deep in for her liking. Not just around her future, but the future of every witch she fights for.
Sarah had made so many decisions in her time as a commander, choices that affected the lives of hundreds of thousands, and yet she had never felt so conflicted. This would be the most dangerous gamble she had made since…Salem, she realized. The uncertainty she felt now, was the same she felt when she decided to throw away all she knew to be right, to save herself and all who came after her. A choice that had cost her so much in so many different and painful ways. She wondered what this new one would cost her. Her position? Her life? Tally’s life? she thought bitterly. Is that possibility not enough reason to let it rest?
“No more lies!” She flinched, ever subtly, at the voice that sounded in her head again. She realized that excuses and easy-way-outs would do nothing for her now. Against all reason and sense Sarah knew that telling Tally the truth was the only potential way out of this now. And if it doesn’t change anything? She asked herself as she failed to suppress a timid breath. Then…I can face the mother knowing I wasn’t a completely black hearted monster.
‘Only you
Can make this change in me
For it's true
You are my destiny’
The next words Sarah uttered were low, barely audible over the music, and hoarse in a way she had not heard in a long time.
“We are…connected.”
“I know you felt it…I felt it. That connection.”
Tally hadn’t stopped thinking about the words since they had gotten back to Fort Salem. Even with all that had transpired between her dream and now. Was that what she wanted from Alder, after everything the woman had done? Is that not what Nicte’s work tortures people with? Their dreams and desires. she wondered. She had heard the horrible details of Abigail and Raelle’s hallucinations. How could they not talk about what they had seen? What they had said to each other in that cabin? Or in her case, what she hadn’t said.
It was the first thing they had done after their respective debriefs and trips to the infirmary. The three of them had planted themselves on the edge of Raelle’s bed as soon as they all had reached their room; Raelle in the middle, Abigail to her left, and Tally on her right. It didn’t take long for the apologies and shared pain to flow unfiltered after that.
Abigail had gone first. Tally suspected it was partially from a sense of guilt at having not only nearly ended her own life but her units’ as well. Though no part of Tally blamed Abigail for it. She couldn’t imagine what it felt like to see your family destroyed like that. To reach all the expectations set on you and in the same moment have it all ripped away. Tally couldn’t think of any words to ease that kind of hurt. Especially not for someone like Abigail, pressured since birth to be the best and carry a legacy. A legacy she was forced to see herself destroy, root and stem.
Raelle had gone second and broke what remained of Tally’s destitute resolve not to cry. Goddess, has Rae not suffered enough? Raelle had experienced the loving family she had always desired and then had it turned on her in the most sickening and torturous manner possible. To lose the mother she had so desperately wanted and then, so soon after her death, see her like that. Twisted into some Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde nightmare. It horrified Tally likely almost as much as it did Raelle.
What kind of monster would make work that does this? Taking a life was a part of war, Tally wasn’t naïve enough to dispute that. At least, not anymore. What Nicte had created was cruel and far too vicious for Tally to understand. To take a person’s deepest fantasies and turn them into their darkest nightmares, all to create the conditions for the victim to brutally end their own life. Tally shivered just thinking about it.
“Tally?” Raelle’s voice was strained and yet still full of concern and warmth.
Tally turned and looked at the faces of her unit mates, both beset by tear-stained cheeks with red eyes to accompany them. Tally assumed she must have looked quite similar. When neither spoke, she realized that they were waiting for her. Of course they were, but what was she supposed to tell them? That while they had dreamed of their families, she had dreamt of General Alder leaving her breathless, in the most exciting and terrifying ways possible!? Tally didn’t even fully comprehend what that meant for her, let alone what her unit would make of it. She had to say something but couldn’t even begin to think of where to start.
“I-I don’t know-” the feeling of Raelle’s hand sliding into her own and the reassuring squeeze that followed silenced her before she continued.
“You don’t have talk about it if you don’t want to.” Raelle said, as she gave Tally the warmest smile she could muster.
“Yeah, you’ve been through more than enough today, Tal.” Abigail chimed in as her right arm rose behind Raelle so her hand rested on Tally’s shoulder. Before she could give any appreciative response or reciprocate their gestures, three hard knocks had sent all their eyes to the door.
“Who the hell thinks knocking on our door is a good idea after all the shit that’s happened?”
“I’ll get it.” Tally ignored the venom filled comment from Raelle as she stood from the bed and moved to the door. She stopped only to wipe her eyes with the comforter of her bed.
Behind the door was second lieutenant Farris, one of Alders staff. Tally didn’t know her well; in fact, they had only crossed paths twice in her time at Fort Salem. Farris had been one of the people that helped move her things, the few she was allowed, to and from the biddies’ quarters over the few days Tally had lived in them.
The lieutenant was fair-faced and sported short dark-brown hair. She was just barely shorter than Tally, but more than surpassed the red-head in physicality. The other woman’s uniform hugged the muscles around her arms, and thighs tightly. Her hard-earned definition was more than clear. Most would probably mistake her for a bodybuilder or professional fighter rather than a soldier. Tally estimated that she couldn’t be much older than herself but she carried a harsh maturity for someone so young.
“Craven, I need to have a word with you.” The address was quick and stern.
“About?”
“General Alder request your presence at once. I have been asked to escort you.”
Tally chastised herself for not knowing as soon as she had opened the door. What else could it have been after what happened today? She stiffened slightly at the thought of facing the general alone at this hour, but recovered quickly and relaxed, as if she had any choice. This “request” was without a doubt an order Alder wouldn’t let her disobey. Even if Farris had to drag her kicking and screaming across the grounds, she suspected.
“Okay, can I have a minute?” She asked, as she wiped at her eyes and cheeks. Both, unsurprisingly, were wet with the remnants of tears.
The lieutenant only gave her a quick nod before moving to stand next to the doorway, her back almost touching the wall of the dorm’s hallway. Whether she noticed or cared, Tally was grateful the officer made no comment about her slightly undignified appearance.
She turned to face her sisters, still on the bed, and was met with two concerned and fearful looks. She appreciated it more than they could ever know, but they all knew she had no choice. Some small, hopeful part of Tally thought that maybe Alder was finally going to give her answers. That maybe Alder would acknowledge the connection she knew they shared. The connection that persisted despite being untethered from the link and in spite of the horrid potions she was made to consume by Izadora. That maybe all she had done and stirred up would finally force Alder to tell her something other than a lie. Do something other than obfuscate and evade. As unlikely as all that was, it was a comforting thought that would get her there. And back if I’m lucky.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” Tally said, as she buttoned her jacket and pulled at the bottom to straighten it. She tidied the rest of her appearance, gave them a reassuring smile and was out the door. She did, however, catch the nervous looks their faces sported as she crossed the threshold.
The journey to the general’s office was mired by the light winds and growl of an unnaturally gathered storm. There had barely been a cloud in the sky over Fort Salem when the unit had returned. Now a writhing dark mass blocked the stars and moon that had been so bright earlier. Tally didn’t need an elusive metaphysical connection to know it was Alder’s doing. Her main concern was what provoked its appearance. Was it a threat? Was she finally worth Alder’s attention and effort? Was it even conjured because of her at all? The thoughts sent her mind tumbling back into another set of exciting and disturbing memories.
“Your willingness to speak your mind is a measure of your strength.”
“But our connection was very unique. Very powerful.”
The memories of her delusion hammered in her head as she approached Alder’s office. The journey from the War College dormitory had felt like the longest walk of her life. To top it all off, she was taken aback by a strikingly familiar feeling to the one she’d had during her hallucination. A brutal, addictive combination of fear and excitement. She briefly thought the Goddess was trying to tell her something, or warn her. The bouts of memories from her dream only made it all worse. She was excited and terrified of what she was about to walk into. Worst nightmare or…deepest fantasy?
“Craven?” The Lieutenant’s voice yanked Tally out of her internal dilemma. She hadn’t even noticed that they stopped in front of the door. I don’t even remember walking through the administration building. “The general is waiting.”
Tally gulped but nodded to Farris anyway. She took one more sobering breath and pushed through the threshold into Alder’s office. She took a couple steps into the room and waited, silently, at attention until she heard the doors shut behind her.
“You wanted to see me general?” It came out as calm and collected as she could say it.
The office was dimly lit, with only the fireplace and a single lamp providing light. The notable absence of the biddies left her feeling equal parts unnerved and relieved. At least there won’t be any hissing. The General herself was at the liquor bar across the room, with her back to Tally. Her superior’s appearance had Tally’s breath catch in her throat. The general’s hair was down, free from its usually tight braids. It flowed down her back in beautiful dark waves. Her posture was more relaxed and from the loose fit of her uniform, Tally could tell her jacket was unbuttoned. It was the Sarah Alder of her hallucination and their late-night confrontation combined into one. Shit.
“Would you like a drink?” Alder asked, flashing a crystal decanter full of whisky in Tally’s direction but not bothering to look at her. The general finished off the whisky in her current glass and quickly poured another. Even as a Biddy Tally had never known Alder to drink in such a way.
“No, thank you Ma’am.”
“Hmm, take a seat Craven.” Alder turned, fixed her with a cold stare, and gestured to the pair of chairs in front of her desk. The strength of the order had Tally in one of the chairs in an instant. Alder downed most of the fresh glass in one go before setting it down on the table behind her. The general’s gaze never strayed from Tally during the whole action. It burned, like Tally suspected Alders’ aged whiskies did. She also just noticed the absence of Alder’s medal broach. “Fascinating, so you can follow orders.”
It sounded like an accusation to Tally. “General Bellwea-” she tried to respond, get a leg in the conversation, but a guttural noise from the general stopped her.
“Oh, I’m well aware! I see her involvement all too clearly. Tell me, what did she offer you? What grand prize was promised for your aid?”
“The truth!” Tally shouted, finally finding her voice. “You…you lied to me, after everything we…” Tally inhaled deeply trying to steady herself. There was no backing out now. “After everything I did for you, everything I sacrificed, all the belief I had, and you couldn’t give an ounce in return.” Tally could feel the tears pushing against her eyes, but she willed them back. She couldn’t break so early.
“I understand that your faith in me has been shaken.” Alder replied solemnly. “My actions have left you with resentment and uncertainty towards me.” The General took a deep steading breath that at least let Tally know she wasn’t the only one off balance tonight. “I have deemed that to be…unacceptable. I need you Carven, this country needs you, your sisters need you. So…no more lies.” Tally’s eyes were wide even before Alder had finished. Unfortunately, her mind had no time to catch up to Alder’s words and their implications.
“Let’s start with what I suspect will be the easiest for us both. Tell me, did Izadora’s potion help you in stifling the effects of the surgery?”
“No” She’d hoped her response sounded less meek to Alder than it did to her, though she suspected not. Nevertheless, it was mostly the truth. The dreams had stopped but she knew…felt that their connection was still there. Buried beneath a mountain perhaps, but she knew it had not been severed completely. Whatever bound them now could not be undone by a mere potion, Tally was certain of it.
“I thought not.” Alder exhibited a timidness that she didn’t think possible. All it took after that was a look. She knew what Alder’s next words would be before they were uttered.
“We are connected.” They said in unison. An eerie quiet filled the room for several moments after that, both put off by the occurrence.
“I wish I could give you some answers or certainty about what this is or what it means for you but I can’t. All I can say for sure is that this is more than a…lingering effect of your sacrifice.” Alder’s features starkly reminded Tally of how the woman had looked at her after the surgery. When she had come to her, with eyes full of care, concern, and something else she couldn’t pin down. “But I promise that you won’t be alone in trying to understand it from here on.”
Tally’s heart swelled at the admission and promise. Even with everything driving them apart she couldn’t stop the feelings that had sprung to life in her chest. All to quickly though reality come careening back to her. This was what she had wanted so desperately, and it was amazing, but it was not the truth she needed. Pandora’s box had been opened now, and Tally was going to make the most of it.
Alder’s face shifted to a deadly serious expression almost as if she read Tally’s mind. Then softened to what Tally could only interpret as an invitation. One to ask for the truth; the truth that Alder had worked so hard to hide and forget.
“What happened in Liberia, General?”
“I killed Valda Esterbrook and her remaining followers after they had made an offer of surrender. I stole Nictes’ work and used it to murder them in cold blood.” Alder said, straight faced, devoid of any emotion. “But you already knew that, didn’t you? Are you sure that’s what you want to ask me, Cadet?”
“W-why?” It was all she could say. She wanted to force out more, scream every foul name in the English language, but she couldn’t. As always Sarah Alder rendered her speechless.
“Because I was ordered to.”
“That’s not an answer! No one orders you to do anything.”
“Hmph, I wish that were true. I was ordered by the sitting President at the time to ensure that none of them returned from Liberia alive. That is the truth. The hard, cruel, and ugly truth.”
Tally slumped in the chair. She could hear the nerves and fear in Alder’s voice. Tones she’d never thought to hear from a woman like Sarah Alder. This was no lie, this was the pure, unfiltered truth. Tally could hear it in her voice and saw it written all over the general’s face.
“Why did they order it…a-and why would you go through with it?” She asked, desperation laced into every word.
“Perhaps it will be easier if I show you.” Alder stood as she spoke and rounded her desk to stand in front of Tally. The old witch bent down, planting herself on her knees in front of her subordinate and held out her hands. “Link with me and I will show you what you want to see.”
Tally could see the vulnerability in the General and she appreciated this act more than she could vocalize. This had been all she wanted from Alder and now she would finally have it. Her hands found the Generals’ and Tally couldn’t help but think about how well they fit together. Her mind involuntarily drifted to images of those hands around her neck, fastening a leather restraint, and Tally had to shake them away.
“Craven?” Alder said, so full of concern that Tally didn’t need right now but appreciated, nonetheless. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.” She said sternly. Alder only nodded in response and began the linking seed. Tally joined her and soon felt their minds intertwine and a vicious bright light took over her vision forcing her eyes shut. As quickly as it appeared the light was gone and all that remained was an unnatural quiet.
“I’m not quite sure I understand Madam President?” A voice, Alder’s voice, shattered the stale quietness and had Tally opening her eyes fully to an office that was not the one she had been in. Alder was no longer kneeled in front of her but standing to her right in front of the large ornate desk, adorned with the presidential seal. Seated behind it was a woman, around her fifties if Tally had to guess, with golden-blonde hair and deep green eyes shielded by a plain set of glasses. It took Tally a moment, but she recognized the woman as Emma Smith, the thirty-ninth U.S. President. Around her desk was a small group of men and women. Some old, a few young, but all had their eyes on the general.
“You’re three hundred years old General, do I have to spell it out for you?” The president, in truly animated fashion, removed her glasses and tossed them onto her desk as she replied. Out of nowhere Tally felt a searing irritation and faint anger at the president’s theatrics. She looked around in a panic, terrified that something had gone wrong until her eyes landed on Alder. It was subtle and Tally was sure that if she didn’t know Alders’ face and expressions so well, she’d have probably missed it. Her eyes widened when she realized the nature of the situation. That, in addition to seeing Alder’s memories, she felt the emotions Alder had during them.
“Give us the room.” President Smith said with a huff. The scattered group in the office shuffled about making their exits. One of the younger men turned to the President and handed her a file. Amidst the noise she heard a ‘thank you’ from Smith but missed his name. Something with an ‘h’ she thought. The man scurried off like the others. “Them too.” The president looked just behind Alder’s left, towards the wall. Tally didn’t have to turn to know she meant the Biddies, likely lurking as they do.
The faint anger, Alder’s anger, turned to a boil. She glared at the president for a couple beats before the Biddies made their exit. The general hadn’t said a word or moved an inch in ordering them out. Just stared at the president with that menacing scowl of hers. President Smith only returned a self-satisfied smile.
She dropped the file given to her on the end of the desk closest to Alder. “Have you read that one?” she asked as she pointed to the yellow folder with “Classified” stamped across it in red ink. “Gatherings of dodgers, dozens of them, throughout the Cession.” The President hadn’t even let Alder answer and Tally felt her own anger rise with the generals. “Whispering amongst themselves about Esterbrook and her ‘fighting the good fight’ no doubt. How long till they follow her example, or even run off to Liberia to join the traitors.” The President sneered. “I want you to take care of this problem Sarah, permanently.”
“I believe this is an…overreaction Madam President.” Alder said, clearly trying, and failing, to keep her tone in check.
“Oh, I think this is an entirely appropriate reaction given the circumstances” The President sneered. Tally could see Alder trying to gather herself for another response.
“So, you would martyr them?” Alder had reigned in her anger but it still coated every one of her words.
“Better they be martyrs than brought back here to spew their venom at a public trial!” As she shouted, the President shot up from her seat and slapped her palms on her desk. “This isn’t a negotiation, Sarah.” Smith fixed Alder with a cold and hollow glare of her own. “Your mission to Liberia is strictly one of elimination. Under no circumstances is Valda Esterbrook or any of her compatriots to be brought in alive.” Almost as quickly as she was up Smith had reigned in her show and seated herself calmly. “It would be terribly unfortunate if my party’s support for the matrifocal settlement expansion in California was to say…disappear wouldn’t it?” The President gloated. Tally froze at the implication. N-no this…how could anyone do such a thing. “So close to breaking ground on the new sites after so long, wouldn’t it be a shame for it to fall short now?” Smith said in a mocking sing-song tone.
“What?” Alder said through gritted teeth, devoid of anything resembling courtesy and respect. The word was spat out with disgust and hatred. Tally couldn’t blame her with her own anger rising by the second at the revelations of this memory. The fact that the U.S. President could bring herself to leverage what could very well have been Tally’s home, not to mention the homes for thousands of other witches, was utterly despicable.
“Don’t make me repeat myself Sarah.”
Tally watched the expressions on Alder’s face shift from rage to fear to sadness and finally to an eerie, cold acceptance that made the young witch shiver. That boiling anger cooled so quickly Tally was sure Alder’s blood had become ice.
“Of course not Madame President.” Alder straightened as she spoke. “Will there be anything else?”
The President’s smile was wicked. A master pleased with the tricks they likely beat out of a dog. Tally wanted to wipe it clean off her face, but this was memory, and she couldn’t change anything.
“No, General.” The President said through her cruel grin. “Dismissed.”
Sarah nodded and turned to leave but hesitated for a moment. Tally could see her fists clenching and her breathing get harsher. Tally could feel the desire in Alder to do something, stop this the only way she knew how. With a stern glance and a windstrike, but it didn’t happen. The General took one step, and a sense of shame overcame her. Alder was ashamed and all Tally wanted to do was hold the woman and tell her not to be.
As the General reached the door the memory began to collapse, and Tally could feel herself coming back to the present. Her eyes shot open and she could feel a hand gently touching her face.
“Are you alri-”
“Was mine one of them?” Tally interrupted.
“What?’
“Was my home one of the expansion settlements she blackmailed you with?”
The look on Alder’s face was all the answer Tally needed. Tears welled in her eyes again and she had no will to keep them back this time. She let them flow freely down her face and threw herself into Alder’s chest, abandoning all decorum and reason. Her head nestled into the crook of Alders neck as she sobbed. She expected to be pushed away but only felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and a hand press against the back of her head.
“I’m so sorry.” She cried and she was. Sorry that Alder had to choose what she did, sorry that she felt entitled to answers about it, sorry that she had put Sarah at risk to get to the truth, and sorry for the trials this world forced on their kind.
“No, no you have nothing to be sorry for.” Sarah held Tally close before pulling back from her to look the girl in the eyes. “My Actions are my own, I’m just sorry that we live in a world where I must take them. Our people deserve better, you deserve better Tally.” Alder brushed a stray hair from Tally’s face. “But know that none of this is your fault.”