“Well, uh, yes,” Ramona stammered, thrown off by the High Priestess’s directness. The High Priestess she had known had always moved in silence, her wisdom feeling more like a riddle than an answer. Last night at the ritual was the most they’d spoken in years, even before Ramona had been exiled from the coven.
“The Magical Council found the convergence point two weeks ago. Your signature was all over it. I asked Iris for answers, and she told me the truth.Allof the truth. I’ve exiled witches for less,” the High Priestess said.
Ramona shifted her weight between her feet, her eyes defying all of her internal self-control to glance toward the High Priestess’s ears. “I know.”
“Of course.”
“Did Iris tell you about last night, then?” Ramona asked.
“No, a first-year witch could have told me to watch for the new moon, Ramona. I’ve had it on my calendar for weeks,” the High Priestess said.
“Weeks.” Ramona gulped. “And you didn’t think to maybe… help before that?”
“My help was not needed before.”
“I would beg to differ, but?—”
“We were there last night. We assisted when it counted. And if you want to return to Thornwood Coven, you have a place again,” the High Priestess said, her light eyes unnervingly watching Ramona with intensity.
Ramona ducked her head in a strange mixture of gratitude and shock and the heavy realization that she’d spent two years dreaming of this moment and now that it was happening, it wasn’t what she needed after all. She cleared her throat, blinking back the surge of emotions in her body. “I am honored and grateful, High Priestess. But I’ve found a new coven where I belong.”
The High Priestess nodded, her eyes moving beyond Ramona. Ramona glanced over her shoulder to where Felix, Kashvi, Posey, and Cammie were standing, watching them with blatant interest like four bodyguards ready to defend her honor at any moment.
The High Priestess added, “And although I do welcome you at Thornwood Coven, the Magical Council has made it clear that your previously held position at Thornwood Academy will not be?—”
“I understand.” Not that she’d be accepting that role, either.
“Please do let me know if you plan to summon any more demons,” the High Priestess added, blinking quickly in a way that made her look inhuman.
Ramona realized with shock that she was… teasing. Had the High Priestess just made a joke? She’d never heard of such a thing happening before. “No more demons,” she promised.
Ramona watched the High Priestess return to the Magical Council’s dais and realized a lot had changed in two years. She turned back to where her friends were waiting and shrugged. “I’ll explain all that later.”
A floating tray materialized at elbow height with champagne. She took a glass. Her coven did the same. Felix raised his: “To the Exile Coven, and to making everyone here deeply uncomfortable.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Kashvi said. Her fingers sparked faintly at the tips.
“Even ourselves,” Posey said, eyeing the flowers at her feet.
They drank. The champagne was perfect — cold, with a secondary warmth that spread through Ramona’s chest and had nothing to do with alcohol.
She scanned the room without really meaning to. An old habit. She found — without surprise, but also without being totally prepared for it — Simone.
Near the windows. Wearing a silver dress that looked like dripping mercury against her skin. Still beautiful. Still effortlessly everything Ramona had spent years feeling inadequate next to. Beside her was Kate, her hair chopped into a blunt bob that made her look severe and sharp. The two of them were visibly arguing about something, glancing toward Ramona and then looking away, their voices low but posture tight, the particular choreography of a fight that was trying not to be a scene.
Ramona waited to feel something about it, taking a mental calculation of her own emotional reaction.
Instead, she feltnothing. Not even the distant bruised ache she’d been carrying for two years. The whole thing felt likelooking at a photograph of a place she used to live. Something happened there, once. It just wasn’t hers anymore.
“Is that your ex?” Cammie asked.
“Yeah.”
“She looks miserable.”
Ramona couldn’t help a small smile tug at the edge of her mouth at that.
Simone glanced up and saw her watching.
