I was done being defined by other people’s fears, silences, or twisted lessons. Free will wasn’t about their judgment: it was about mine.
“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.” Despite my tears, confidence carried my voice all the way to the back, where I’d polished glasses for hours for someone else's lies.
Cayden’s forest green and Everly’s blood red burst to life at my back.
I wasn’t looking for a fight, but I wouldn’t back down either.
At last, even the big enforcer stood. “Commander Ezra will hear about this.”
I grinned. “Good luck with that.”
They exited, some quickly with the enforcer sauntering at the rear. The moment he slipped into the doorway, a gruff curse slipped out of his mouth.
“Why, ah, ladies,” he said.
“Oh, fuck off.” Seth and Hero’s boo, for lack of a better way to think of her, swished her finger through the air. “We just saw who you really are.”
The tension in my body eased. He looked back at me, and I jabbed my finger toward the door. He got my message loud and clear and turned left, probably to write his scathing report. I couldn’t imagine him running off to help.
I closed my eyes. A shiver of fear ran down my back. McDonalds and body snatchers packed The Pit, but they’d all been focusing on getting to us, and now we were gone. What was happening?
With the building now empty, the women rushed forward, claiming seats and exclaiming over everything that had just occurred. Everly took control, while I slid into our favorite booth at the front, Cayden at my side.
“Have you ‘talked’ to Rowan?” I asked.
Cayden rubbed my back, careful to avoid the little dragon perched on my shoulder as the shallow slash began to throb with the fading adrenaline.
“Yes. He’s with Brit and Joe. They’re helping Ravana secure a stronger hold,” he said quietly. “Silas, and half the Westwaters, had no idea the fourth trial would put you in danger. I don’tthink even the body snatcher fully understood what he was setting in motion.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Teivel didn’t know his own plan?”
Cayden exhaled. “I don’t know. But Morgan did. And she could have killed you.” His grip tightened. “The same faction that set the bomb has broken away. As far as Rowan can tell, they used the trial as cover—to fracture alliances and throw everything into chaos.”
He didn’t soften the next part.
“It’s a civil war now.”
Guilt clawed at my ribs, sharp and unwelcome, but I shoved it down. The Westwaters had been tearing at each other long before I entered the picture. Xan stole the castle seven years ago, which had to have split opinion. Before that, they cast Ravana aside—and she’d come back hard, carving out her own branch with Silas at her side.
Generations of them had been at war.
My tests might have nudged a stone, but the avalanche had been waiting long before me.
I sank into our booth and folded my hands together, bringing them to my lips, and forced myself to take a deep breath. Cayden’s healing magic eased my lingering pain. A wooden mug was pushed into my vision, and I automatically picked it up.
Although my gaze took in Everly flitting from table to table, I didn’t see anything. I didn’t think about anything. As my adrenaline eased, bone-deep weariness took its place, along with a slight twinge in my lower back. Something felt off. I took a sip of my cider and wiggled, trying to understand what felt different.
Goosebumps erupted along my arms.
Where three tethers had always stabbed, now there were only two.
It had been so long since I’d felt anything else that I almost missed its absence, but clear as day, only two dull stabs ached. For the first time in months, I allowed myself to hope.
“Quinn.” Cayden put his hand on my lower back, having felt it as well. “Is…?”
The cider in my hand shook, and I carefully set it down and turned to Cayden. “Teivel’s dead. His tether’s gone.”
“Yes! Well done, XanRa.” Cayden hit the table.
