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My mother was a scavenger. If she didn’t have it, she took it from someone else. She would never love me. She couldn’t. All the love she held in her black shriveled heart was reserved for only one person.

Herself.

“Drop the barrier.”

Evie waved her hand.

My mother bared her teeth at me.

“Yes, yes,” I said. “Look how scary you are.”

And she did. She’d aged more than I’d ever seen her. Minka Belyaev looked like an old woman now. The image brought joy to me as well as sadness.

She’d stolen pieces of me to bring joy to herself, never caring what she took from me.

I should take her head and be done with it. But instead, I crouched and stared.

“How do you break the spell on Ethan?”

Rowan came to stand beside me. Surprised, I glanced up, but he merely stared at my mother.

She laughed, a hoarse, mocking sound. “As if I’d ever tell you.” Her lips stretched in a gruesome smile. “The moment you kill me, that spell will break. Once that woman, his wife, dies, Ethan will hate you, even when his memories are returned. He will hate himself for loving you. Every time he looks at you, he will remember Sarah and the way she looked as she rotted before his eyes.”

My mother was a sick, cruel bitch.

Rowan crouched beside me and reached for my mother’s hand. The loud snap of bone cracked in the silence. My mother let out a shocked screech of pain.

“She asked you a question,” Rowan said quietly.

Gods. Okay. That was hot. Perhaps Rowan was none of the chalant. I glanced up at Evie. Her eyes were glowing.

Huh. She thought it was hot too.

“You both disgust me,” Soren said under his breath.

Evie winked at me. “I know,” she said. “It’s easy to miss what a badass he is underneath all that respect for women and humor, right?”

I fanned myself, making her laugh.

Rowan snorted. “Do you two need a moment?”

I cleared my throat. “Apologies. I’m just very, very happy for my friend and now realize why she got knocked up so soon.”

Evie cackled.

I returned my attention to my mother. “He’ll break your other hand if you don’t answer my questions.” I lifted my eyes to Rowan, who nodded, his eyes glowing that strange mix of gold and watermelon tourmaline.

Cool.

“Tell me how to safely break the spell.”

“Go fuck yourself,” she spat.

I clicked my tongue. “Rude.”

Rowan broke her other hand.

And so it went, on and on, until even I began to grow disturbed. I held up a hand, asking Rowan to stop.