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“Obey,” Belle murmured, “and everyone dies—you, Aiden, and Redfern.”

I glanced at her. “What other choice have we got though?”

“He’s going to have measures in place to counter your magic, Lizzie. You can’t do it. Not alone.”

“I agree,” Blume said. “Even if he wasn’t planning to kill all three of you, it’s simply unacceptable to trade one life for another.”

“So we do nothing and just let Aiden die?” I bit back. “That’s just as unacceptable in my opinion.”

Not to mention the fact that it would make life here pretty near untenable.

“Reinforcements are on their way,” Blume said. “We will stop this bastard.”

“Are those reinforcements going to be here by midnight?”

“Well, no, but—”

“Then the statement is meaningless. I won’t sit back and do nothing. I can’t.”

“And I won’t let either you or Redfern anywhere near that madman.”

I stared at him for a moment. “You’re welcome to try and stop me, Blume, but you won’t succeed.”

He studied me for several seconds, then nodded, as if in acceptance. “But that doesn’t alter the fact I will not put Redfern into the path of that madman.”

Which left us at an impasse.

“Maybe not,” Belle said slowly. “He’s familiar enough with the feel of your magic after his attack on us here, but I’m thinking he’s not so familiar with mine.”

“No,” I said automatically. “There’s no way known you’re taking my place.”

“Not your place—Redfern’s.”

“Forgive me from pointing out the obvious,” Blume said, “but you will never, ever be mistaken for Redfern. Not under any light.”

“I might if I’m using a glamour.”

“Can a glamour counter the fact that you’re a six-foot-tall, strongly built woman, and Redfern is at best five-ten and a weed to boot?”

Belle grinned. “If it’s built as divinely as me, yes.”

“He’s going to be layering that clearing with all manner of protection spells,” I said. “Even if the glamour does hold, he’ll sense the presence of magic around you.”

“Yes, but he’ll expect at least some sort of protection around Redfern. He knows you’re not a fool.”

“Neither is he. He might be from the Waverley line of witches, but his use of blood magic has increased the overall potency of his spells,” I said. “It’s likely my magic will be restricted the moment we enter his circle.”

“Yours will be, but there’s a good chance mine won’t—”

“Even if that were the case, your magic alone won’t defeat him—”

“Then we don’t rely on just my magic to defeat him.”

I stared at her for several altogether too-fast heartbeats. “That’s a fucking dangerous step, Belle—”

“I know.” She placed a hand on my arm, a light touch that was meant to be reassuring but failed miserably in its task. “But I also know it could be the only way any of us walk away alive.”

So say the spirits?

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