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Shock rippled through the room.

“This does not erase what I have done,” she continued. “Nor does it require forgiveness.” Her fingers closed around the locket. “But it ends here. These reforms apply to everyone. Not only my daughter.”

Delia exhaled. The sisters in the second row clasped hands. No one cheered. Some wounds were too old for applause.

But the room felt different.

Not healed.

Open.

I threw my arms around her, burying my face in her shoulder, and she hugged me back without hesitation. Really hugged me. Like a mother. Like a woman who loved her daughter more than her pride.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“Don’t thank me yet,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “I still think he’s beneath you. I still think you’re making a mistake. But...” She pulled back, her expression softening. “But I’d rather have you happy and wrong than right and alone.”

I laughed, crying and smiling at the same time.

“Go to him,” she said, releasing me. “Tell him the good news. And Carolina?”

“Yes?”

“Bring him to dinner. Sunday. Formal.” She lifted her chin. “I want to know the man my daughter has chosen, not merely the vampire I made my enemy.”

I stared at her. “Dinner without curses, threats, or attempted murder?”

“I make no promises regarding the quality of the conversation.”

A laugh escaped me, echoing through the chamber.

“We’ll be there,” I promised.

And I ran.

Logan was pacing when I burst into his apartment. He spun toward me, his face pale with worry, and I threw myself into his arms before he could speak.

“She relented,” I gasped against his chest. “She’s ending it. She’s formally dissolving the curse at dawn. She accepted us.”

He pulled back, his eyes wide with disbelief. “What? How? And are we sure dawn isn’t High Priestess code for ritual murder?”

“I told her I loved you,” I said, smiling through my tears. “I told everyone. And she...” I laughed, the sound wild and free. “She remembered what it was like to be young and in love. She remembered losing her own love because she was too afraid to fight. And she didn’t want that for me.”

Logan stared at me, then laughed. The sound was warm, genuine, and so full of joy that my chest ached.

He planted his feet carefully before sliding one arm around my waist. His balance wavered, but he steadied himself and drew me firmly against his chest. The curse might have demanded caution from his body, but it had no control over his kiss.

His mouth claimed mine, hard and deep, with all the emotion he couldn’t put into words.

“So I’m going to be free?” he asked when we broke apart. “Really free? No more curse? No more stumbling?”

“At dawn,” I confirmed. “Formal dissolution first. Then formal dinner on Sunday with my mother.”

He groaned, but he was smiling. “Freedom and seven forks. I knew there’d be a catch.”

“Still clumsy until dawn,” I reminded him. “Never broken. Just... mine.”

“Just yours,” he agreed, pulling me close.