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“Can we be rebels and order the Sauvignon Blanc instead?”

“Of course. I fully plan on rebelling against a lot more than that.”

I smiled. So did he, and it almost unraveled me.

“You should have warned me before you did that,” I said, breaking eye contact for a few seconds while I squeezed my legs together.

“What?”

“Smile. Like, really smile. I wasn’t sure you knew how.”

“I know how to do all kinds of things.”

For a moment, I forgot about the bartender and the coven and the bone-deep fear I’d lived in for four days. I just thought about the bloom of heat swelling inside me. But then I remembered how many times he’d done this before.

“I see why you’re good at this.”

“I’m performing being normal with you, not the part about wanting you,” he said, then squeezed my hand.

My craving for more of him rose like a sneeze. I inhaled it back into my core, curling my tailbone in as I tried.

We ordered, entirely distracted. I chose a few things to graze on, crackers and olives, because the thought of a full meal felt like lead in my stomach. He did the same.

“Aurora probably told you to take care of yourself,” he said. “On the phone.”

“Yes.”

“But are you?”

“I’m trying to. But I’m more worried about who might be in my rearview mirror,” I said, just a hair above a whisper.

The bartender was busy serving customers, but now and then, I registered his attention at the edge of my vision.

“I’m not going to let them hurt you, Marlowe.”

I glanced at the black drop to the crashing surf beyond the deck. “I feel like I’m already in Aurora’s crosshairs.”

“You’re already fighting it. You just haven’t realized that yet.”

“Fighting it?”

“What you did at the side of the road with me. What you did with Aurora’s peonies.”

I frowned instead of asking him to elaborate.

“You said you ripped the head of one from its stem and pushed it down the garbage disposal.”

“Yeah?”

He smiled again. “That was a counter-sacrifice. When you start putting more intent into things like that, there’s power in them. That’s all that any of this is. Highly organized intent.”

Something swelled in my chest. For the first time since I’d sensed that terrifying force breathe behind me at the fire, I felt like I had some agency. Like it had been hiding in me all along, and he’d just shown me where to look.

“Thank you,” I said. “That helps.”

“Did you feel rough after drinking that tea?”

“Damian, it was an exorcism.”