I drop my hands to my knees and lean forward, steeling myheart. Pain bites into it, eating at me, ripping me apart piece by torturous piece, but I curl my fists against it. Every cell in my body screams at me not to do this, to stop, to think. But if I stop and think, I’ll change my mind, and this isn’t the time for weakness.
Because I want to destroy her like she’s destroyed me.
One day ago, this would have been unthinkable. But not anymore. I spent weeks shifting, softening to her, but that’s gone. The old me is back—the me who wants revenge.
She and her entire family are going to regret what they did.
“I called you here,” I tell Trawick, “to tell you that the council’s arriving soon.” I glance at my watch. “Should be here in a few minutes. I want you to witness what I’ve wanted since Tess died. This is beginning of the end of the Thornrose family. Because when I’m through with them, none of them—not even Addison—will know what hit them.”
41
Try as I might, I can’t send my mother into a book again. She smiles and tells me it’s no big deal, but the reason’s obvious—my family’s magic is failing, and quickly.
When the rest of the employees arrive, Mama tells them that the bookshop’s back on track. The magic’s connected to me, and business can proceed as usual.
That should offer me some comfort, but it doesn’t. While Mama stays, I feign fatigue and head home, managing to sneak into the house without anyone seeing me. Soon as I close my bedroom door, I’m under the covers and trying to get some sleep.
But sleep won’t come.
That’s when the tears do.
I didn’t want to cry over Feylin. I didn’t even cry when Edward broke up with me, and I thought that I loved him. But an ugly cry takes me over until my nose is stopped up so fiercely that I become a mouth-breather, and my eyes are so red that there’s no way I’m going out in public anytime soon.
I don’t go downstairs for lunch or dinner. I’m not hungry. My stomach doesn’t growl once.
It’s when the sun’s sank into the horizon and the moon’s high in the sky that faint knocking comes from the door.
If I don’t respond, maybe they’ll go away.
“Addie, we know you’re in there.”
It’s Blair. She’s probably got Chelsea with her.
“We’re coming in.”
No point trying to stop them.
The doorknob turns slowly, and Blair peeks in, a feeble smile on her face. Chelsea’s right behind her, waving a tub of Tillamook Mudslide ice cream.
This is so unfair. They know I can’t say no to Tillamook.
“We brought you a gift.” Chelsea pulls a spoon from her back pocket and sits on the bed, as does Blair. “We had to go a couple towns over to find it, but we managed. It was the last one in the freezer case.”
“Chelsea had to promise the man who was also reaching for it a date,” Blair informs me.
“He was hot. We might have fun.”
“If you don’t ghost him.” Blair rolls her eyes. “But you probably will.”
Chelsea shrugs because she probably will ghost him. She opens the lid. “We let it sit out a few minutes, so it should be melted enough to eat.”
When I don’t move, Blair frowns. “Sit up. You’ve got to eat something.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Fine, then I’ll eat it.” Chelsea starts to dig the spoon into the half-gallon of chocolate bliss. “I’m going to love every bite of this.”
