She blinked. “About who?”
“Anyone. Your statistics professor. Your dad’s girlfriend. Or maybe, I don’t know… the Priestess?”
That got the smallest smile and a laugh.
The cuff flickered again, and Gideon lifted both hands.
The blue fire burning in the wall sconces bent toward him, drawn by whatever magic began moving through his fingers. It didn’t look like witch magic, or Fae magic, or even the shadow-twisted force he had carried for so long.
Whatever he was using felt precise and ancient, and the room hated it.
The walls groaned, and Keegan steadied me without letting go. Celeste gasped as the chain pulled again, but I held her hand tighter and brought it against the pendant.
The moonstone flared, and light spread over Celeste’s fingers and mine. The beams threaded down toward the iron cuff in delicate streams.
Gideon’s magic met it, and the room filled with brilliant colors. We watched in awe as blue fire, silver mage light, and the glow of the moonstone grew to match my golden green hedge magic rising from the cracks in the floor beneath us, curling around Celeste’s ankle and mine like roots choosing who belonged.
“Beautiful,” Twobble said softly. “I just hope it works.”
The chain thrashed against the wall.
“You’re safe,” I whispered. “I’ve got you.”
“I know.” Her voice cracked. “I knew you’d come.”
The words punched through me, and the cuff fought harder as the symbols raced across the iron.
Gideon murmured under his breath, each word making the air vibrate. The magic around his hands moved into thin strands that wrapped around the cuff without touching Celeste’s skin.
Keegan’s hand in mine became the only steady thing in the room.
I felt him breathing, his strength, and the promise he wasn’t saying aloud because the Priestess would probably try to steal that too.
The wall behind Celeste began to crack, but it wasn’t where the chain was anchored. The fractures spread above it, spreading slowly outward until dark dust sifted onto her shoulder.
“Gideon,” Keegan warned.
“I see it.”
The cuff flared black and pain shot up my arm so suddenly I nearly screamed.
Keegan felt me jolt and immediately stepped closer. “Maeve.”
“I’m okay.”
“You’re lying.”
“Badly, apparently.” I eyed him as energy attempted to back into me.
Celeste tried to pull her hand away from mine. “Mom, let go.”
“No.” I shook my head.
“It’s hurting you.” She frowned and pulled her arm back, but I wouldn’t let go.
“I’ve had worse,” I said between thinned lips.
“That is such a Mom lie.”
