“I saw it,” I said under my breath.
Something in her expression darkened. “Then she’s closer than she should be.”
The words settled in my chest in a way I didn’t like.
“It doesn’t feel like her…”
She cocked her head and nodded. “No?”
I shook my head.
“I'll handle the crowd,” Keegan said.
Around us, the crowd was starting to move again, people talking over each other, fear and anger tangling together until it felt like the whole street was winding itself tighter.
I drew in a breath and raised my voice.
“Everyone,” I called. “Listen to me. I’m asking you for one thing tonight. Not forgiveness. Not friendship. And not some sudden rewriting of the past. Believe me, I get it.”
That caught a few of them off guard. I saw it in the way shoulders eased, and people blinked like they hadn’t expected honesty.
“I’m asking you to give us one night,” I continued. “One night where we don’t tear each other apart in the street while something else is busy trying to tear down our Wards. This is the work of the Priestess. She’s bringing us together so she can tear us apart.”
A shape at the far end of the street, near the bend that led toward the bridge out of town.
Tall. Cloaked. Still.
Watching.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
Gideon?
The crowd didn’t seem to notice—too busy dispersing, too caught in their own adrenaline.
But Keegan went rigid beside me.
Ardetia’s head snapped up.
Bella’s posture shifted, fox-alert.
Twobble sucked in a breath like he’d swallowed a pebble.
And the shape lifted one hand, slow as a greeting.
Not to the crowd.
To me.
We all saw it.
“Maeve…” Keegan began.
“It’s fine. It will be fine.”
But then something wonderful happened. Stella stepped out from the direction of her tea shop, with Lady Limora at her side, and behind them a quiet procession of vampires I recognized from countless afternoons spent over chipped teacups and honey scones. Their movements were unhurried, almost regal, even under sunlit tension.
Each of them carried trays full of porcelain cups, carrying the smell of chamomile, lavender, and something warm and spicy, maybe cardamom, out into the street.
