“Shut your mouth,” Ellie snaps.
“Make me.” Kade’s smile is slow and awful. “Please. I’ve been waiting a very long time for you to try. Make me.”
Josiah looks between them, openly delighted. “This is fantastic. Mother Kade and her sister-in-law at each other’s throats. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this upset, Kade.”
“That’s because she’s the worst sister-in-law a woman ever had.”
Mara tugs at my arm, her tail swaying. I look down into those beautiful eyes and sigh. She’s tired. I rub a slow circle into her back, and she leans into my hand.
“There is nothing wrong with using dark magic.” Hella says it into the quiet. “So long as there’s a balance to it.”
“How long have you been using it?” My voice goes hard. She doesn’t respond. “Why are they afraid of you?” I tip my head at the windows. “The ones that manifested. Why’d they run the moment you walked in?”
Josiah laughs, and both witches look his way. He shrugs. “They’re afraid because they’ve already manifested. They’ve become exactly what was waiting under their skin. There’s nothing left in them to change.”
“Yes.” Kade snickers. “My sister-in-law is a purebred evil-ass bitch.”
Ellie starts forward, but Hella holds up a trembling hand. “Enough.” It cracks across the room, and even Kade shuts her mouth. When Hella turns back to me, there’s no venom left in her. Just fear. “Can a Blackwood restore this realm without dark magic?”
I stare at her. “What are you asking me?”
“We can only hold them off for so long.” She gestures at the broken windows, at the dark where the things ran. “Eventually they come back. The Glen was a rich realm once. Then it died.”
“It can’t thrive without dark magic?” Josiah’s looking around the rot with new interest. “How interesting.”
Hella’s mouth thins. “Was this vampire really necessary to bring here?”
“Yes,” I tell her. “He’s necessary. He carries Blackwood magic.”
It confuses her—a vampire with our magic. I don’t bother explaining it. “The answers you’re looking for are with Mother Fate,” I say. “You’d know that, unless you stopped praying to her.”
Ellie and Hella share a look. “You don’t have to help me find Eric,” I go on. “I’ll do it on my own. And you can take it up with King Amir yourselves. Do you even know what he’s planning to do with the Glen?”
Josiah chuckles. “He’s planning to destroy it,” he says lightly. “Such a pity. I happen to believe it could be restored. ‘There is no ruin so total that something can’t be planted in it. Only ground you’ve decided not to bleed for.’ Chapter nineteen.”
“What?” Ellie says.
“That’s just Jo being Jo,” I tell her.
But Hella’s not looking at Josiah anymore. She steps forward, concern etched into her ruined face. “Is that true? Amir means to discard us?” She turns to Kade, and Kade can’t meet her eyes. “You cannot let that happen.” She comes back to me, faster now. “You are a Blackwood. You’d allow this? Your mother would?” She points toward the broken window, toward the dark where the things ran. “The witches and warlocks in here may be lost. But they can be saved.”
“And what exactly,” I say, “do you expect me to do about it?”
“I can help you with Eric.” Her hand closes on my sleeve. “But in exchange, you spare them. They aren’t just my people, Aaron. They’re yours too. Don’t wipe us out.”
I look at Mara. Her ears fall flat, and I can see it in her eyes. She wants to help them.
I groan. “Alright.” I look back at Hella. “But Eric already has dark magic now. Did you really believe he was going to come back here and help any of you?”
Hella grins. “No. I didn’t. I know Eric. I’ve known him a very long time, and he’s always been selfish.” She steps toward me. “But I knew he’d be the key to saving us.” She raises a hand and points. At me. “Through you.”
“Okay.” Ellie’s already moving, pulling her cloak back up. “We’ve been in one place long enough. We keep moving.”
“Or,” Josiah says, “you let me talk to them. I really think I could make them understand?—“
“We are not doing that.” Kade grabs the back of his collar and hauls him toward the door. “Let’s go. I’ve had enough of this realm. I want to go home.”
I take Mara’s hand and follow them out.
