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“Logan.” She stopped swaying, her eyes serious behind the silver mask. “Stop talking. Please. Just... be here with me. For one song. One moment where we’re not thinking about her or the curse or what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

I closed my mouth. Nodded. Pulled her closer.

She came willingly, her body fitting against mine like she’d been made for it. I could feel her heartbeat through the thin fabric of her dress, fast and nervous and real. I could smell her: jasmine and ozone, wild and electric.

The bond hummed between us, warm and insistent, pulling us together like gravity.

“Do you feel that?” she asked quietly.

“Always. Every time I’m near you.”

“It’s stronger tonight.” She rested her head on my shoulder, her breath warm against my neck. “I think it’s because we’re not hiding. Because we’re actually... together. In public.”

“After Dean’s introductions, these masks aren’t fooling anyone,” I said.

“I know.” She lifted her head, her eyes meeting mine. “And I don’t care anymore. Let them see. Let them tell her. I’m tired of hiding.”

“Carolina...”

“I’ve spent my whole life being careful,” she said, her voice fierce. “Being perfect. Being the daughter she wanted. And you know what? It never mattered. She’s never happy. Nothing is ever enough.” Her hand tightened on my shoulder. “But when I’m with you, I don’t have to be perfect. I just have to be me.”

I stared at her, this fierce, beautiful woman who was risking everything to stand in my arms, and I felt something crack open in my chest. Something I’d kept locked away since I was turned.

“You’re perfect to me,” I said, the words rough and honest. “You don’t have to earn it by pleasing her. I just care about you.”

Her breath caught. Her eyes went wide. The bond flared between us, hot and bright, and I knew, and she knew, that this was it. The moment where everything changed.

I leaned in.

She leaned in.

Our lips were inches apart, her breath warm on my skin, and I could taste her already, could feel the kiss that would break the curse or seal my fate or both.

“Well, well.”

The voice was like ice water. Like a knife. Like every nightmare I’d had for a year.

We sprang apart, spinning toward the sound. Jacqueline Fortman stood at the edge of the dance floor, her elegant frame draped in crimson silk, her face uncovered and furious. She hadn’t stayed across town. She’d come looking, and she’d found us.

“Mother,” Carolina breathed, her voice shaking.

“Don’t ‘Mother’ me.” Jacqueline’s eyes were fixed on me, cold and deadly. “I know what you’ve been doing. I know about the library. The grocery store. The midnight meetings.” She stepped closer, and the crowd parted around her like water around a stone. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out? Did you think you could hide from me?”

Carolina stepped in front of me, her body shielding mine. “Leave him alone.”

“Leave him alone?” Jacqueline laughed, a sound like breaking glass. “This vampire insulted me. Dismissed me. Treated me like I was nothing. And you think he deserves mercy? You think he deserves attention from anyone in our coven?”

“He was scared,” Carolina said, her voice gaining strength. “He was new and overwhelmed, and he made a mistake. A year ago. He’s suffered enough.”

“He hasn’t suffered at all compared to what I could do.” Jacqueline’s eyes flicked to me, and I felt the weight of her power like a physical force. “I could strip him of everything. His mind. His will. His very existence. I could make him wish he’d never been born, let alone turned.”

“And then you’d be a monster,” Carolina said quietly.

The words hung in the air. Jacqueline went very still.

“Excuse me?”

“I said you’d be a monster.” Carolina straightened her spine, facing her mother without flinching. “He’s suffered for a year. He’s apologized. He’s tried to make amends. And you still want to destroy him?” She shook her head. “That’s not justice. That’s cruelty. And I won’t be part of it anymore.”