over fire. "Love?" he echoed, stepping down from his s

derfoot as he stepped toward her, f

" she said, steady despite

oved faster. Her torch swept across the space, fire licking across the creature's face. It shrieked, stagg

d it instinct.

ce. "You think this ragged li

"We don't need to unmak

stepped insi

still as breath.

epping forward, but the war

ith something unreada

y domain. You forfeit the

," sh

hy

lost," she said. "I've

faltered. "Yo

a pact to never feel again. But you still feel, Casian. That's why you wa

embled behi

when love is buri

ilver chain burning her skin

e ward whispered. A heartbeat later, it ope

moke curled from his sleeve

crush you

on't," she

bitter and cold, and ful

mother's daugh

eart stopp

back. "Ilsa n

orld

ldn't have. Thought she could contain it. She lost e

echoed like thunder. "The fir

ir like a crown of silver threads,

Evelyn asked

ly one who could end it. Because you were bor

t her free you, or she'll

in centuries, Casia

lsed. The

orward, united behind Evelyn,

above the box. Smoke b

na. She wore a violet ribbon in her hair. Sh

palm up. "Then let her

laced a single, smoki

old. The vampires behind him shrieked a

hamber-old, sacred, violen

still

ed to her knees, torch hissing out. Lena wep

His eyes-once black-were

what I've be

Evelyn. "Then it's

Ilsa vanished, as she always did-int

nder her apron. Mara stayed close, sharpening knives

s each morning, hands clasped, the c

ed in the cry

at he'd broke

er apo

und a single violet ri

up. Held it

"We're still

he slow unfurling of a season turning. There were still clouds-still the threat of old monsters, o

y someone might test the edge of a memory or the seam of a scar. It meant something. It wasn't

dreams he wouldn't explain, and mornings where he traced Evelyn's sleeping form as if to reassure himself

he said one night as they la

whispered, tracing the

pa

e asked. "What you w

ze how hollow I'd become until I s

head to his. "I'm sc

"Nothing does. That's

de, its magic quiet but endless. He spoke little when they visited.

ffering of herbs and salt beside the entrance. "My Elena. Sometimes she's stil

at man anymore

sure wh

egin

true one, this time.

t the dried blood on the crypt

rhood forged in truth. Lena learned the wards faster than anyone, her instincts sharpened by fear and faith. Mar

lls. She kept a journal full of scrawled diagrams and rude

elyn. "It's for safe passage," she said. "For when you g

pt it in

ent no

hedral of light, her eyes full of stars. She was both young and anc

r Evelyn woke breathless from one of thos

, a lette

old ink, sea

r

at war. Come if you're willing. The ni

ature, but Evelyn

et her eyes, reading the decision o

" she said. "W

we w

tims. Not as fugitives. But as bearers of somet

chalked runes on Evelyn's apartment walls.

Quarter, where jasmine hung heavy in the air

me back,"

time," Evel

d-a second sigil. "For the people y

usk, fingers twined, h

city, sha

did the

d her ribs-that whatever came next, they would face it

o

gest magi

always, wo