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“She enjoyed making me feel ugly. Ashamed of wanting to take care of myself. As if loving beauty was some kind of sin.”

My brows pull together.

I think of my own mother choosing my dresses and applying my makeup. Deciding which version of me was acceptable and which version needed to be hidden.

“What did you do?” I ask.

“I became a woman she could never compete with.” She says it with pride.

“People act like beauty is vanity,” she continues. “But no one can resist beautiful things. Flowers. Music. Sunrises.” She blows across my fingers. “I wanted to be that sunrise that made everyone stop and stare.”

Everything about her is curated and intentional, as though she built herself from every wound she survived.

She continues with the next coat of red polish, brushing it on my nails, each stroke smooth and even.

“Beauty is power. It’s worshiped,” she says. “People forgive beautiful women for almost anything.” She glances at me in the mirror. “Especially as you get older.”

She pauses, smiling to herself.

“Take Vanessa Crotavere, for example. The only good thing about that evil family. She carried herself with grace that survived decades. The whole town adored her.”

Edwin lost his mother first, and the grief still sits heavy in his eyes. I don’t think he expected sorrow to gut him this deeply. It left him with an unsettling intensity.

“All that influence over men.” Evelyn’s smile turns wry. “They bent for her, and she turned them away.” A touch of amusement slips into her voice. “I would have built myself an army.”

She shakes her head. “They destroyed her.”

“The Serpents?” I ask before I realize what I’ve said.

Her eyes snap to mine, concern tightening her features.

“What do you know about the Serpents?”

I shrug, shrinking inward. “Nothing really. I’ve just heard people mention them.”

“They’re dangerous,” she says. “But through Christ, we’re going to change that.”

“How?”

“We’ll flood this town with enough light that there won’t be any souls left for them to take.” Conviction brightens her eyes. “Especially the young ones. They’re so easy to influence.”

Good and evil. Light and dark. She makes it sound simple. Was Asher part of the wrong side? He would never be in a group that harmed the vulnerable.

“Are they really that bad?” I ask.

Her mouth tightens. “Sin is seductive. That’s why it spreads easily. It promises freedom while sneaking chains around you.”

It sounds like she’s delivered this warning a hundred times. I sit perfectly still, afraid that if I move, she’ll somehow sense my hidden guilt.

“Good families in this town have fallen under their influence,” she says. “People think it means they’re protected. Then those men come asking for unpleasant favors. Deny them, and the Serpents tear you apart.”

My stomach knots. “What do they do?”

“They murder people,” she says without hesitation. “They take what they want and no one stops them. Not the police. Not the government.” She holds my gaze. “That’s why the church matters.”

I nod because I don’t know what else to do. Guilt presses into my chest. I didn’t mean to unsettle her and bring up this subject.

She covers my hand with hers.