Elizabeth’s eyebrows shoot up. “So you do feel remorse.”
I say nothing, unwilling to put a name to this feeling.
Elizabeth waves her hand, releasing me from her magical bonds. I rub my throbbing wrists, though they bear no marks.
“Letting yourself feel these emotions will save you from this curse, Julia.”
I sigh. “If you mean to convince me that I can overcome my nature, you’re mistaken.”
Elizabeth stands. “Then I suppose you’re going to prove Rebecca right about you.”
“Unless we find another way to break the spell,” I challenge, standing too. “Surely you’ve found something in the grimoire?”
She studies me for a long moment, a slight drop in her shoulders, like she was hoping I would come to a different conclusion. “I remember when you first joined us, Julia. 1866. You were so young. So angry.”
“The world gave me reason to be.” I still recall the sensation of my magic guiding me to the coven after my mother died. Like my power was protecting me by taking me to the only women who could keep me safe.
“It gave all of us reason.” Elizabeth’s gaze goes distant. “I don’t know what would have come of me if I hadn’t met you all. Alone with my power, making plants sprout, being labeled a freak.”
I scoff. “I know exactly what would’ve happened to you. You would’ve had the same fate as my mother.”
“None of us ever regretted helping you exact revenge on those men, Julia. That’s what sisters are for.”
I almost smile at the memory. Their fear, their screams…the first hint that my life was about to change now that I’d found my sisters.
“The others have missed you,” Elizabeth adds, watching me closely. “I know they’ll love to see you again, if you’ll stick around.”
I know what she’s doing, trying to get me to remember the early days of our sisterhood before this rift fell between Rebecca and me. Trying to get me to feel something. But that will not help me get out of this mess.
“Have you found any unbinding spells or not?” I ask shortly.
She studies me for another moment, then sighs. “I might have. Two potential paths, actually.”
Her serious expression doesn’t reveal how good or bad these options are.
My chest squeezes with desperate hope.
“Then why are we standing here?” I cannot keep the edge out of my voice.
“They’re dangerous, and not the solutions I wanted to find. It’s safer to break the spell the way Rebecca intended instead of trying to find a loophole, Julia.”
“I tried to break the spell the way Rebecca intended, and it didn’t work,” I say through my teeth. “A loophole is all we have left.”
She studies me, then rolls her shoulders and smooths her nightgown as if to compose herself. “Meet me in the parlor. I’ll fetch the grimoire.”
She opens the door and leaves the room, and for a moment, I stand there in the heavy silence.
The guest room feels hollow. My reflection stares back at me from the darkened window—a woman who hasn’t aged in a century, permanently unchanged.
I turn away.
Elizabeth’s words echo in my head.You care for her.
Ridiculous. Even if I could care, I can’t afford to. Not when I’ve proven what I’m capable of.
She thinks I was just young and inexperienced? Ha. I’d been feeding for long enough to know better. I just couldn’t stop. In that moment, with Charlotte surrendering everything to me, I felt powerful enough to transcend my nature.
And then she was gone, and I was exactly what everyone always said I was. Exactly what I’ve always known I am.
