The bond lurches. His pain, not mine. The hollow where the Cauldron used to be, wide open, and Vanessa just stuck her finger in it.
“Nessy—”
“It’s fine.” Orion’s voice is steady but the bond says otherwise. “She’s right. Something was taken.”
“You should get it back. You’re leaking.” She tilts her head. “Magic. Out the hole. Like a bucket with no bottom.” She pats his chest once and walks inside.
Orion stands very still.
There was no way to warn them what they’re like. And maybe, looking at us four from an aerial view—we really are four terrifying women.
“Your cousin just told me I’m leaking like a bucket.”
“Is she wrong?”
“No.” He looks at his chest. “She’s not.”
We follow the others inside and the doorframe is narrow enough that Orion and I brush shoulders going through. The bond sparks at the contact, brief and electric, and then I’m inside and the tavern is full of people I love and I can’t breathe for a second.
Not panic. The opposite. Like walking into a room that’s been empty your whole life and finding it furnished.
Pepper’s already behind the bar because of course she is. Sabina’s running her fingers along the wood grain like she’s reading its history. Vanessa has disappeared toward whatever smells like meat. And my guys are filing in behind me, their magic pressing against the walls alongside my cousins’ magic, and the tavern groans under the weight of all of us.
Both halves of my life. One room.
It’s all so different now.
Finnian’s book is gone and I don’t know when he lost it, but he’s at the bar with Sabina now and his hands hover over her forearm where the arrow tattoos shift and ripple under her skin.
“These are Artemis-forged sigils,” he says, not quite touching. “Third generation inheritance markings. The lattice structure alone?—”
“Yeah, yeah.” Sabina flaps her hand. “Magic arrows. They go where I want them. The divine lineage stuff, you know.” She squints at him. “You’re the one who memorized her heartbeat.”
Finn blushes and my gods, it’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.
“Ash told you.”
“Ash told us a lot of things.” Sabina leans against the bar. “Including that you,” she points at him, “committed treason. For her.”
“Treason is a strong word.” He looks at me almost for help.
“It’s the right word, though.”
He doesn’t look away. “Yes.”
The nod. Same one she gave Kieran. Two for two.
Pepper has found the alcohol. She’s behind the bar because Pepper always ends up there, pouring something amber into glasses with the efficiency of a woman who’s been tending since she was old enough to reach the taps. Which she has, even back when she was too young to legally be there.
Her fingers spark purple against the bottle neck and the glasses slide toward their targets on their own. She doesn’t even notice she’s doing it. The Fae wood hums under her palms, responding to the chaos magic the way the forest floor responded to my thorns. Kieran’s shadows twitch at his feet. He clocks the same thing I do.
My cousin’s magic talks to Faerie. That’s going to be interesting later.
“The big guy.” She nods toward the kitchen. “Dagda?”
“That’s him.”
“He gave me a beer the size of my head and told me my chaos magic is—and I quote—delightfully unhinged.” She looks almost offended. “I think I like him.”
