“You’re Cami, right?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you be in the Underworld with the other bride candidates?”
“I withdrew from the Selection a while ago,” she said. “I’m royalty. They can’t force me when my cousin has my back.”
The door to the House of Chaos swung wider. Rowan and I climbed the stairs, hands still entwined, and crossed the threshold. All five houses at the academy were sentient, and outsiders who tried to trespass would be maimed or killed.
Barbie and I, however, had never needed an invitation.
An ancient ward pressed against my skin, tasting and testing my magic. This time, it felt different. Barbie wasn’t with me, and I had been reborn through the inferno. The house’s magic pulsed not with resistance but with recognition. With love.
The last drop of old magic. Finally returned.
A blur of motion caught my eye. Before I could fling up a shield of light, Pucker materialized before us, his phantom form flickering.
The House of Chaos used to have two ghost guardians. His female counterpart had sunk into a long slumber due to depression, and Pucker had mostly neglected his duties ever since becoming Barbie’s familiar.
“Sy, you look like shit,” he announced. Barbie had tried to teach him to mince his words, but it never penetrated his century-old ghost brain. “What happened? Who beat the shit out of you?”
Rowan growled low in his throat.
“Webeat the shit out ofthem,” I corrected.
“Good, good,” Pucker said. “My, where are my manners? Welcome to the House of Chaos! Not that you’re a stranger.” He inhaled deeply, giving me a greedy look. “Barbie isn’t with you anymore, is she? Your magic is equally amazing, if not more so.”
“Take a sip from me and I’ll unmake you,” I warned.
He shrugged. “I’m bonded to a goddess. I don’t need scraps from anyone else.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You should’ve followed us to the Underworld. We could have used you.”
“I couldn’t,” he said. “I’m a dead man. If I go there, I can never come back. I don’t think you and Barbie would want that.”
“Come, Prince Rowan and…Princess Sy,” Cami said, turning toward the stairs. “Let’s get you settled. Our house healers can tend to your?—”
“We’re fine,” Rowan interrupted. “Sy healed me on the way.”
Cami’s gaze shifted to me, her eyes sharpening with reassessment. I was sure Killian had told her that Barbie and I had shared a body, but she couldn’t have known about my creation magic. The heirs had seen my white light when we took down the Fury who cursed Cade, but they didn’t understand its full scope. Even Rowan had only seen a fraction of it. Truth was, my own power was still new to me.
We followed Cami up the familiar stairs, but they felt strange under my feet. Each step was a reminder that I was walking them alone now, without Barbie stomping ahead while I hitched a ride in her.
Killian’s cousin led us to her suite and then through to Barbie’s old room. The house magic trailed behind me, twining around my ankles just as it had always done to Barbie.
From the window, we could see the dark forest of Underhill.
“Clean clothes and food will be brought to you,” Cami said.
“Don’t send anyone,” I countered. “We need privacy. The house magic will bring us anything we need, just like it did for Barbie.”
Cami rolled her eyes. “Right. And last time, it stole everyone’s valuables for her with no discrimination. Half the house lost a treasured possession when Barbie lived here.”
Without another word, she left, the door clicking shut softly behind her.
The moment we were alone, Rowan’s composure shattered. He sank onto the bed, burying his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking with silent, suppressed emotion.
“I’m sorry, Sy,” he choked out.
He never would have called me Sy if he weren’t completely devastated.
“Hey.” I climbed onto his lap, taking his face in my hands. “Look at me.”
