Koa was still arguing, Zane was swearing, and Casimir had gone silent, a sure sign he was furious.
I understood their fear. Part of me shared it. But another part, the part that had endured years of Arabesque’s cruelty, the part that had survived her siphoning my magic until I was hollow, the part that remembered Papa’s face…Thatpart was ready.
“I love you all,” I cut through their protests. “Now let me do this.”
Then I dropped my earpiece into my pocket. I would need all of my concentration for what was to come.
I was surprised Foster didn’t try to stop me, but when I glanced over my shoulder, I saw him following me, the glass reliquary in his hands and Brummy at his side.
These men. These infuriating, magnificent men.
Squaring up my shoulders, raising my chin, I headed back the way we’d come, the door still hanging wide open. My nose wrinkled at the stench of Dark magic, and my own power rose to meet it, liquid moonlight flowing through my veins. Maybe it wasn’t enough to match her, but it would be enough to stand my ground.
Striding off the porch, I scanned the yard, the driveway, the…
Ah. There she stood. In the grave of Papa’s orchard. Tall and beautiful and terrible. My stepmother. My tormentor. My enemy.
Arabesque Harrow’s smile carved itself across her face like a wound, and the world seemed to darken around her.
“Hello, Serafina. Been waiting to welcome me home?”
27. Done with Her
Seri
The moon hung high and full above us, silver light pouring down like living armor across my skin, as I stood facing the woman who had stolen so much from me. Arabesque’s cold beauty was unchanged, that perfect face a mask for the monster beneath, butIwas changed.
This time, my power surged beneath my skin like a living thing, hungry and waiting.
This time, I wasn’t the scared girl she’d abused and drained.
This time, one of us wasn’t walking away.
“You should have stayed where I put you, little bitch,” Arabesque said, her voice as smooth as poisoned honey. “Hidden away, playing house with your monsters. Now I’ll have to start over with a new pawn.”
“Your first mistake was thinking I was ever your pawn. I was only waiting for my turn.”
This was it, the culmination of everything she’d done to me. Every degradation, every siphoning, every threat against my baby sister. Every scar she’d left on Brumous. Everything she’d taken from me. I could see it all reflected in those pale green eyes that had once terrified me.
My magic had never felt so potent, so alive. Every breath I took seemed to draw more power into my lungs. My senses sharpened until I could hear the frantic beat of a moth’s wings twenty feet away, until I could smell the metallic tang of burnt hair and rot that always followed Arabesque.
“Your husbands aren’t here to save you.” She took a step forward, her dress fluttering around her in the breeze. “Did they finally tire of you? Realize what a pathetic little thing you are?”
“They’re giving me space to handle this myself. Unlike you, they know I’m strong enough.”
“Strong? You’ve never been strong, Serafina. You’ve beenlucky. And luck always runs out.”
She raised a hand, and a writhing shadow spilled from her fingertips. A hex or a curse, I couldn’t tell which, but I’d been practicing. All those months at Evermere, learning from Casimir’s tactical mind, from Zane’s creative chaos, from Koa’s raw power. I wasn’t defenseless anymore.
I caught the spell with echo magic, feeling it sizzle against my palms like static electricity. The trick was timing. Catch it at just the right moment, at the peak of its trajectory, then push it back with the same force. It wasn’t a skill I’d mastered yet, but I didn’t need mastery. I just needed it to work once.
And it did.
The hex rebounded, slamming into Arabesque with enough force to make her stagger backward. Her arms split open with mirrored wounds, black-red blood dripping into the dirt. The look of shock on her face was worth every bruise, every failure, every moment I’d pushed myself past what I thought I could endure.
“How unexpected,” she hissed, pressing a hand against her torn sleeve.
“You never bothered to learn what I could do.” The moonlight glowed around me as I drew it closer. “You were too busy stealing my power to notice what remained.”
