Celeste straightened. “She’ll never have mine.”
I kissed the top of her head again. “That’s my girl.”
My eyes scanned her for injuries, and apart from a few scratches, she looked…good.
“You need to stand back, Maeve,” Gideon told me. “And I’ll get her restraint off.”
I nodded.
“Don’t leave me, Mom. The room will shift again.”
“I won’t go far. I’ll keep your hand in mine.”
Those words appeared to calm Celeste down as Gideon stood tall, and Keegan came next to me.
And that was when I saw it. A small mark on her forearm that resembled my shadow mark. The Priestess had marked her too. My heart stopped as the room shuddered as if it disliked every promise I’d just made.
Stone dust drifted from the ceiling as Celeste’s fingers tightened around mine. The chain around her wrist pulled hard against the wall, and she winced before she could stop herself.
That tiny flash of pain nearly unraveled me.
I brought her free hand to my chest and held it there, careful of the iron cuff biting into her other one.
Symbols moved across the metal’s surface in slow, deliberate loops, appearing and disappearing beneath a black sheen that looked oily even though it was dry.
Gideon crouched in front of it, his expression changing into something I hadn’t seen from him before.
Focus without mockery covered his features as his fingers hovered near the cuff, and the symbols flared in warning.
Twobble stood behind me as Keegan stepped close enough that his shoulder brushed mine. “What is it?”
“Old binding iron, as I suspected,” Gideon said, his voice low. “It responds to fear, blood, and grief.”
“Of course it does,” I whispered.
Celeste swallowed hard. “I didn’t cry.”
“I know, sweetheart.” I squeezed her hand. “You did beautifully.”
Her eyes met mine, and even in the cold, awful room, I could see the girl who had once argued with me over whether cereal counted as dinner and who had rolled her eyes every time Iasked for a picture before a school dance. She was older now and braver than I wished she ever had to be.
The cuff pulsed again, and the chain rattled against the wall as Gideon glanced at me.
“You cannot panic.” His eyes stayed on mine for a brief second before switching to Celeste’s.
“Easier said than done,” Twobble muttered.
I let out a tight breath. “I love when people give me impossible assignments.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Our exchange made Celeste laugh nervously.
The pendant at my throat warmed, and Celeste’s grip tightened in mine.
Gideon looked at the moonstone, then at Keegan’s hand holding mine. “The fastest way is if Maeve anchors Celeste, and you anchor Maeve. I should be able to cut the binding without letting it redirect through the bloodline.”
