Jameson saw it then, laid out before him in all its glory—Alice’s plan.Avery. Eve. Nora.Jameson’s mind whirred.And Zella.Alice had mentored Zella, too.
Sisters, of sorts.
Alice’s heirs.
A phoenix, rising from the ashes.
The Gilded Blade reborn.
There would be no killing this time, Jameson knew. No Crucible. And the women of the web—some of them, like Avery, might be ready to own their power and step into the light, to mark themselves as forces in this world. But for those who couldn’t, for those in more precarious positions…
Eve would be the one who moved through the shadows. The one who made contact. The one who, if she needed to, could bring people to Nora for protection.
Jameson had trained his mind to see possibilities, and now, he saw it all. Before Nora said a single word to Avery or Eve or they to her, before any of it unfolded the way Jamesonknewit would, he saw it all: Zella, the Proprietor of the Devil’s Mercy; Avery, Eve, and Nora at the helm of something new. Not Ascendants. Not bound by old rituals or old rules.
A force for good.
But even though Jameson could see exactly how this would play out, even though adrenaline flooded his veins at the sheer possibility of it all, he also knew: This wasn’thisstory.
So he handed Toby’s book to Avery, and Jameson went to wait for her on the cliff.
Years earlier, Jameson had been told that, in comparison to his brothers, his mind was ordinary. And all of them had been raised to believe that nothing was ever enough, that they weren’t. For years, Jameson had felt, on a bone-deep level, like the old man was right about that, had felt like he wasn’t yet the man he was supposed be. Jameson had told Avery as much in Prague, when he’d given her the infinity ring and promised that someday, hewouldbe that man. That he’d be ready. That he’d be worthy.
But now, more than ever, Jameson was realizing that Xander had been right when he’d said that no one was ever reallydone.
Done changing.
Done growing.
Done becoming.
Just look at Avery. Jameson had thought she was already who she was meant to be in this world, but now? Who knew what glorious thing she’d be five years from now, or ten, or twenty? Who knew what she might do, the impact she might have?
What Jamesondidknow was that five years from now, and ten, and twenty—he wanted to be there at her side. And maybe it was how close he’d come to losing her, or maybe it was the fact that he was standing so close to the lighthouse and thatforeverhad come only in death for Toby and his Hannah…
But whatever it was—Jamesonknew. He was done waiting. He was going to ask. Heads, Avery would say yes; tails, she’d be sensible and say that they were still far too young, but either way, Jameson was done waiting for some hypothetical moment when everything would be perfect, whenhewould.
He didn’t have to be anything more than he was right now to love and be loved.
It was nearly sunset before Avery joined him on the cliff. Jamesonwatched as Avery laid a light hand on the cracked, aged exterior of the lighthouse. A phantom wind caught in her hair, and Avery smiled slightly, like she’d heard something in it that no one else could hear.
“Heiress.” Jameson’s voice came out low and aching, a tender whisper that had Avery looking right at him. “I haven’t picked out another ring yet,” he said, his heart suddenly beating viciously against his rib cage. “But…”
He got down on one knee, and Avery shot him one of those looks that said,I know you, Hawthorne.One of those looks that said,You never learned how to stay out of trouble, but also,You make me bold.
“I don’t want another ring,” she said.
“You’re going to be sensible about this,” Jameson inferred.
“You sound awfully sure of that.” Avery smiled a wicked little smile, and then she slipped the infinity ring off her right ring finger, moved it to her left, and reached out to pull him up off his knees. “No regrets.”
EPILOGUE
AVERY
I have a secret,” I told the baby girl in my arms. She had Nash’s eyes and Libby’s cupid’s bow lips and the solemn air of an old, old soul.
“A secret?” Thea Calligaris said. “In Hawthorne House? Never.”
