He’s right. You’ve lost. You lost the moment you decided to act without thinking. You lost because you’re weak. Because you’re impulsive. Because you didn’t wait.
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the voice, but it persisted, growing louder until it drowned out my own heartbeat.Amabel had warned me not to go alone. She’d told me to wait, to plan, to be patient. And now here I sat, bound and bloody, at the mercy of three dhampirs and their precious bitch.
Dammit! She’d been right all along. And that, more than anything else, made me want to burn the world to ashes.
18. How Madness Breathes
Seri
I wrapped my fingers around my mug, savoring the last of my chamomile tea. My three husbands had disappeared to the basement not twenty minutes ago to “introduce themselves” to Eluned, and I didn’t try to imagine what that meant.
Before they’d left, Casimir had assured me that my stepsister was secured with an enchanted cord that bound her power. He’d also apologized for not having something called a Hexenfänger ready.
I shook my head. We’d lived at Evermere for three weeks. It only made sense they were still organizing things to suit their needs as monster hunters.
Although I surely hope we don’t have Dark witches as ‘guests’ in the basement very often.
The kitchen door swung open with a bang, and I nearly spilled what remained of my tea. My husbands trooped in, two of them looking like they’d wrestled with exactly what they had: A monster crawfish. Mud, lake water, and something slimy clung to their clothes and hair, and I had a sneaking suspicion they were going to skip the hunt they’d originally planned for this morning and wrap me up in cotton for at least the rest of the day.
Then Brumous followed them into the kitchen, that enormous crawfish claw still clamped in his jaws. He pranced around, his tail wagging victoriously as he dragged it with him.
“Absolutelynot!” Mrs. Wentzel appeared from the pantry, wooden spoon raised like a weapon. “That disgusting thing is not allowed in a food preparation area!”
Brumous froze, blue eyes wide with the perfect blend of innocence and mischief. I’d never seen an animal pout until that moment, and I chuckled a little.
“Outside,Señor Lobo,” Addison said quietly.
Coming out of the pantry behind hisabuela, he opened the back door and gestured with his hand. Brumous’ ears drooped for a moment before perking up again. With a happy little bounce, he trotted outside with his prize, Addison following.
With that resolved, my husbands surrounded me like I was the only beacon in a storm. Heedless of the crawfish goo covering him, Zane wrapped me in a bear hug and swung me around in a full circle. Thankfully, I hadn’t changed out of my wet dress and Casimir’s ruined sweater yet.
“That was so ridiculously, brilliantlySeri,” he growled into my neck, the vibration sending ticklish shivers down my spine.
“What does that even mean?” I giggled, clinging to his shoulders.
“Itmeans,” he said, pulling back enough to look at me with eyes that sparkled with pride and something deeper, “that you’re the bravest, most unexpected miracle I’ve ever met.”
Before I could respond, Koa gently extracted me from Zane’s grip. Slower, more carefully, he folded me into his chest, one arm behind my bent knees and the other a solid bar across my back. He didn’t say a word, just kissed my forehead, my cheeks, my nose, my chin, and finally my lips.
The tenderness in the gesture nearly brought tears to my eyes. I’d gone from a place where no one touched me with kindness to one where I received it in abundance, and sometimes the contrast still overwhelmed me.
“Now that you’re both assured she’s alive and well,” Casimir snipped from where he stood with arms crossed, “Seri, what do you want us to do about Eluned?”
I didn’t have to ask what he meant. They would kill her in the end, but they wanted to know if I needed her to suffer first.
“Amabel was cruel by choice,” I said, watching their expressions. “But Eluned? She was shaped by circumstances beyond her control.”
“You can’t be serious.” Koa bristled and sat me back on the bar stool. “After everything she’s done to you, you want tolet her go?”
“No! No, I’m never going to forgiveanyHarrow for what they did. Just don’t draw it out. And I want to see her one last time.”
“For what purpose?” Casimir asked, his tone neutral, but his green eyes were sharp.
“I need to look her in the eyes and remove her from my heart and mind.”
The three of them exchanged glances, one of those silent conversations they’d perfected long before I entered their lives. Eventually, Casimir gave a short nod.
“If that’s what you need,” he said, “then that’s what you’ll have.”
