Vega didn’t answer right away. Her eyes—Bridget’s eyes—lingered on Finn a moment too long.
Bridget’s blood turned to ice.Don’t you dare hurt him,she hissed inwardly.
But Vega only turned back to the guard and smiled again, this time with a hint of mischief. “I’ll check on him. You should go warm up. You’ve done more than enough.”
The guard hesitated, but the smile worked again, just enough to send him walking back toward the fire.
As soon as his footsteps faded, Vega turned back to Finn.
And Bridget screamed again inside her own head.Is he going to be alright?
Probably. He won’t remember what happened, though. Unfortunately for you.
Seconds later, Bridget felt the shift in her posture, the smooth grace of her movements as she turned away from the tree and Finn. She didn’t rush. She didn’t check if Finn was breathing. She didn’t look back. She simply started walking.
Each step through the brittle grass and soot-blackened snow felt like a betrayal Bridget couldn’t stop. Her limbs moved with easy purpose, like she belonged here. Like she wasn’t wearing someone else’s life.
The tavern loomed ahead, its warped silhouette caught in the fading gold of the sun. Smoke curled upward from the fire pit nearby, where thesoldiers gathered. They stayed seated as she pushed the crooked tavern door open.
Cade was the first to see her.
His head snapped up, golden eyes locking on hers. Bridget felt the crackle of tension that passed between them, even from yards away. He stood quickly, a question rising to his lips. His eyes searched her face.
Look closer, Cade. Please. You know it’s not me.
She wanted to scream as Vega’s gaze slid right past him like he was nothing. Cade’s brows pinched together as she walked by without a word.
Deckard stood a few feet behind, eyes narrowing as he noticed the blood at her side and the dried smudge on her cheek. His fingers flexed once at his side, but he didn’t speak.
Stellan straightened near the edge of the fire, face unreadable. She felt his magic stir faintly, tasting for something. But Vega slipped past him.
Even Archer, who always saw more than he let on, simply gave her a sideways glance and offered a casual, “You okay?” as she moved by.
But Vega never broke stride. Shadows stretched long across the warped floorboards as her boots clicked softly against the wood of the stairs. Bridget wanted to claw her way out of her own body.
If you have Nylah and Bloodstone…she thought, the words echoing inside the prison of her mind,why did you bring us back inside? Why not run straight to Cavamyne?
A bitter thought surged up Bridget’s spine. One she didn’t want to share with Vega, but she was sure she already knew.Cade wouldn’t be far behind once he realized you had us both.
Vega didn’t answer.
She climbed the stairs with slow, deliberate steps. The rotted railing scraped against Bridget’s palm, but the sensation felt far away. Her foot pressed into a board that groaned beneath their weight.
Bridget strained against the invisible wall inside herself, desperate to stop. At the top of the stairs, Vega paused in the darkened hallway, lettingBridget’s eyes adjust. Dust floated in the still air. Doors stood half-open, their hinges warped with age. Moonlight slanted in through a cracked window, revealing faded wallpaper and a splatter of black mold creeping up the corners. It smelled of rot and memory.
We need the grimoire to break the curse. I wrote that spell centuries ago,Vega said lightly, fingers trailing along the rusted doorknob to her left.I wouldn’t want to mess it up.
The tone was casual, almost joking, but Bridget felt the sliver of unease pulsing beneath it. Vega was confident. But not invincible. The moment her hand landed on the knob, Bridget felt the whisper of magic ripple across her skin like static.
I ripped those pages out.
Bridget hoped the reveal was enough to distract from going into the room where Cassia and Delphine slept. Had Stellan left the grimoire with them?
Luckily for me,Vega’s voice was syrupy,Bronwyn put them back in.She practically spat the name.She was always putting her nose in places it didn’t belong. She thought she was helping by putting the pages you gave to Stellan back together and that no one would find them if they were in my old spell book. But why she left it with Stellan, I’ll never understand.
As Vega’s hand closed around the knob, a memory surged to the front of Bridget’s mind, unbidden and unwanted. A cold, damp cell. Her fingers shaking as she tucked the page deep into a cracked stone along the wall, sealing it with blood. She’d hidden the curse, the one she’d forced on the crown, where no one could ever find it.
What was that?Vega’s voice sliced through the silence.
