“What did she find?” I ask.
Rhea exhales—a blend of excitement and real fear. “The Bellamy curse isn’t limited to Christmas.”
Ice pours into my veins. “Explain.”
“It wasn’t just Veda,” she continues. “There were five sisters. Five bloodlines.” A rustle of papers. “They tied themselves—willingly or not—to the old pagan rites.”
“Which rites?”
“All of them,” she says sharply. “Lupercalia. Ostara. Summer Solstice. Samhain. Yule.”
A cold, heavy truth settles in my chest.
“Five pillars,” I say quietly. “Five rites. Five sisters.”
“Yes.” Rhea lowers her voice. “And every sister reacted differently to the original… event.”
Event. That word does not comfort me. “What event?”
“That’s what we don’t know yet.” Rhea’s voice tightens. “But the curse wasn’t a single spell gone wrong. It wasn’t an accident. It was a pact. A ritual. A sacrifice. Something they bound themselves to.”
I pace the living room, fingers flexing, magic simmering just under my skin.
“And Veda?”
“Veda wanted power,” Rhea says. “More than the others. Enough to sever her intended bond—with your ancestor. Enough to choose something darker.”
I stop pacing. Because darkness has a cost. It always has. “What did she choose?”
Rhea hesitates—waytoo long for my liking.
“Rhea,” I warn.
“We don’t know… yet,” she finally admits. “But whatever Veda bound herself to—it didn’t stay with her. It spread. It tied itself to every Bellamy born from those original sisters.Allof them.”
The living room lights flicker.
Piper reacts even in sleep—her magic flaring, pulsing up through the floorboards, brushing against the edges of my senses. Rhea hears the silence. “Oh gods,” she whispers. “Slade. She’s reacting, isn’t she?”
“Yes. She’s reacting,” I admit quietly.
Rhea swears under her breath. “Slade, this isn’t just a Christmas curse. Or some holiday cycle. This is the entire wheel of the year. Every season. Every rite. Every ancestral thread that’s tied to the original sisters.”
My jaw tightens. This curse is bigger than her. Older than her. Hungrier than anything a mortal-born witch should ever have been asked to carry.
“What about Veda’s disappearance?” I ask. “Any record?”
“Just fragments,” Rhea says. “But one thing is clear… Veda didn’t simply vanish. Something took her. Or she willingly went to something no one else would follow.” She takes a shaky breath. “And Piper is thefirstBellamy of our family to find her true mate.”
The lights surge. A low hum vibrates through the apartment. Piper shifts behind the closed door—half-asleep, sensing the rise in magic.
I force my own power down. “You cannot tell her all of this at once,” I say. “She’s not ready.”
Rhea scoffs. “She’s more ready than any of us.”
“No,” I snap. “She’s powerful, but she’s untrained. And if Veda’s darkness touched every sister’s bloodline, then the thing Piper awakened last night is not just ancient—it’sadaptive.”
Rhea goes silent. Then, softer, “She needs you, Slade.”
