“Absolutely not,” Kashvi said immediately.
“This was your idea—” Posey started.
“It was Felix’s idea,” Ramona corrected.
“You agreed to it,” Felix said. “You can’t back out now.”
“I said it was insane.”
“Same thing,” Felix argued.
“You should come,” Cammie said gently. “Zara would want you to go. Would want you to show everyone what you’re capable of.”
That hit like a knife. Ramona’s chest tightened. “That’s not fair,” she said.
“It’s completely fair,” Felix said. “Come on, Ramona. We’re doing this together. The Exile Coven’s first official appearance.”
Posey looked at Ramona. Her voice was soft but firm. “Please come with us. We need you there.”
“We’re not doing this without you,” Kashvi added. “You’re the reason we’re all here. The reason we even have a coven.”
“That’s not true?—”
“It is,” Felix interrupted. “You brought us together. Your curse, your ritual, your fight. We’re not showing up at that gala without you.”
“Besides,” Cammie added, a slight smile on her face. “Your mom will beso madif we crash her event.”
Ramona lifted a brow, considering.
“She might even disown you,” Felix added.
“I mean, that is very enticing.” Ramona smirked.
Eleanor would hate it. Would be mortified that her disgraced daughter showed up at a Magical Council formal event with a ragtag group of outcasts calling themselves a coven.
Ramona looked at all of them. At her found family. Her coven. The people who’d stayed. Who’d helped. Who were here even though Zara wasn’t.
The grief held firm. Still crushing. But underneath…
They were right. Zara would want her to go. Would want her to walk into that gala with her head high and her magic clean and show everyone exactly who she was.
“Okay,” Ramona said. Her voice was rough. “Fine. I’ll go. But if I have a breakdown in the middle of the gala, you’re all responsible.”
“Deal,” Felix said, grinning. “Now let’s go find you a dress that says ‘I broke a twenty-seven-year-old curse and all I got was this lousy formal wear.’”
“That’s not a thing dresses say,” Kashvi pointed out.
“It should be,” Felix said.
Gerald did a loop-the-loop in agreement.
Despite everything — despite the grief and the loss and the empty space where the tether used to be — Ramona felt the corners of her mouth lift into a small smile.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Ramona stoodin front of the full-length mirror in her childhood bedroom, wearing the dress they’d found at the vintage shop in Thornwood.
It was perfect. Deep emerald green, the kind of color that made her skin look luminous instead of pale. The bodice was fitted, the skirt flowing. It was elegant but not trying too hard. It was exactly the kind of dress that saidI belong herewithout a question mark.
