Rue breathes deeply, leaning his head into her touch before she drops her hand and he walks towards the Rexilium brothers. ‘A final portal, it seems. A fitting end.’ Then, as I reach for Eli’s hand, gripping it, Rue sketches out a portal, a doorway into another world. Their world. I see a glimpse of a city, of a cloud of darkness, slowly dripping over bent and crooked buildings.Then Rue flicks his wrist towards his three brothers, smoke and shadow wrapping round their wrists, attached to him like a rope. They gasp, trying to resist, but Rue pulls them forward and, with a final longing look at Brielle, he removes the Rexilium brothers from our world.
The portal closes, leaving us in silence. Then Hillary claps her hands, the sound like a bell. ‘It is time for us to form a new ruling council,’ she says, eyes blazing as she searches our faces. ‘A new age is upon us. One of witch, creature and human. Who will be the chosen three?’
‘did you only side withus so you could gain power for yourself?’ Lowri says, not hiding her disgust as the truth dawns on her. ‘You stayed on the isles to ensure a place on the new ruling council, didn’t you? For a moment, I thought you might have changed, that you might have grown a heart, that you came here to protect us, that yourememberedyou have three children of your own.’
‘You think I don’t consider you, Caden and Brielle in this arrangement?’ the Malefant hisses, narrowing her eyes. ‘You really and truly believe I would work against you in these times? I ally with you for the good of all witches, and for the good of House Tresillian. Thatincludesthe three of you.’
‘Spoken like a true Malefant,’ Lowri says, shaking her head. ‘Not a mother.’
She spins on her heel, needing to get out of the oppressive walls of the watch’s prison. Her heart fractures inside her chest, even as she tells herself she doesn’t care. She has her own coven now, her ownhome. Shedoes not care.Even if her mother only stayed to ensure her own interests were secure, even if she doesn’t love as a mother ought to love.
‘Lowri, stop!’ her mother calls after her, rushing to catch up. Lowri ducks through a doorway, pulling the door closed in her wake, stepping back into the entrance courtyard of the prison.
Hillary utters a witch word, the door flying open on its hinges as she marches through it. Lowri turns to look but doesn’t stop. ‘I don’t need a lecture about how the coven doesn’t involve itself,’ she calls over her shoulder, barely breaking pace. ‘By not interfering, by standing back because it suits you and the coven, you werecomplicit! You have blood on your hands, same as them.’
‘I know,’ her mother says, and Lowri hears her sigh before she says again, quietly, ‘I know.’
Lowri pauses in the courtyard, whirling on her, pulse throbbing in her ears. ‘And now you’re only here to further the interests of the coven and yourself. You choose to side against the ruling councilnow, when your own interests could be compromised by this vacuum of power, as you call it. You tried to kill Amma! The only protection Eli and Caden ever had!’
Hillary’s lip trembles, but she stands firm. ‘I was wrong. I can see that now. When you left, then Brielle …’ She looks at the floor, as though trying to find the words. ‘One moment, I was so sure of my path, of my role as Malefant. But when you both defected, when you stole from the coven so blatantly, I began questioning everything.’
‘So this isn’t just about what Lessifur discovered in those factories in the north? Or about the law the ruling council were planning to put in place?’ Brielle asks from behind her, coming into the courtyard. She folds her arms across her chest, staring Hillary down, Caden standing beside her.
‘Or about you making a play for power if we successfully opposed them? If we won?’ he adds. ‘As clearly now we have done …’
Hillary looks at all three of her children and throws her hands in the air. ‘That you believe I would be so short-sighted, so devious—’
‘I believe you would dress it up in your mind as doing it for the good of the coven,’ Lowri says. ‘Like you always have. As you always will.’
Hillary says nothing for a moment, pinching the bridge of her nose. ‘I owe you all an apology. Sincerely. I have put the coven before everything, before all of you. And I’ve lost too much, sacrificed everything. And for what?’
Caden glances at Lowri and raises his eyebrows. ‘Do you expect us to be a happy family now? To believe you’ve suddenly changed?’
‘No,’ she says with a small smile. ‘But I offered up my coven to protect Ennor, and all of you, in the aftermath. I stood with you against the tyranny of the ruling council, as I should have done all along. And I ask that I have a seat on the new ruling council to ensure that witches are represented. So that our kind are never at risk again.’
‘What about Eli?’ Lowri says. ‘What abouthisapology?’
Hillary raises one precise eyebrow. ‘What exactly do I have to apologise to my nephew for? Have I not kept him safe, clothed and fed with the contracts I offer him and his crews?’
‘His mother, yoursister, died,’ Brielle says quietly. ‘You offer less to him than you do to me. And he’s blood.’
Hillary tightens her fists at her sides. ‘That is untrue, Brielle. You are witch, and adopting you was the honourable choice, therightchoice.’
‘I know it wasn’t out of love. I don’t need to hear your reasons,’ Brielle cuts in. ‘But you should reflect on your relationship with your sister’s son. And how you kept him from walking through worlds to find his father by withholding the very pendant he needed to find his way there.’
‘Another thing I did for his own good.’
‘I’m afraid none of us view it that way,’ Caden says stonily.
Hillary shrugs. ‘I can see my journey here may have been wasted, but we will be here. Coven Septern will stand beside you. And, Brielle?’
‘Yes?’
‘Lowri has made her choice clear. But if you ever wish to return to the coven, you would be welcomed back. Lowri, the door is always open to you as well.’
‘Thank you, but we have formed our own coven.Coven Ennor. One based on trust, and integrity,’ Brielle says, staring down at the woman who adopted her, not out of love, but out of a recognition of potential. In that moment, Lowri is so proud of her sister, the young woman she has become, that her heart strains against the cage of her ribs. ‘But I thank you for the offer.’
‘Fine,’ Hillary says, voice clipped and devoid of emotion. ‘Then all that is left here is to form the new ruling council. I will speak with your leaders, and we will convene. But, mark me, there will be a seat for a witch on the ruling council of Arnhem. And it will be mine.’
