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I didn’t draw my wand. A charging house wouldn’t require magick from a witch who had come because she had none. Whatever opened the door had to be contained in the words. Clearing my throat, I repeated the motto.

A deep grinding noise came from inside the mausoleum. Dust sifted from the arch as the stone door retreated into the wall, revealing a second gate made of black iron. That gate swung open, granting us access to a chamber blackened by centuries of candle smoke. The scent of dark magick permeated the air, rich with sweetness.

I grinned. I had spent too long without magick. Now I was only a few steps away from reclaiming it. “See. The original ward would admit a Dark Witch. They changed it so the room would admit only people carrying their medallions.”

“What if it’s a trap?” Yves said.

Della fluttered onto my shoulder. I placed the medallion in my skirt pocket. “Then it’s a good thing you came as my guard.”

I stepped across the threshold, and before Yves could follow, the iron gate slammed shut between us. I spun around and gripped the bars, fear rising in my throat.

His sword clattered to the ground, and his fingers tightened around mine. The muscles of his neck pulled taut. “I don’t like this.”

“Della is with me,” I said, trying to reassure him as much as me. “And she has a nasty bite.”

By the look on his face, Yves didn’t find the comment reassuring. “Let me rip the gate out. We’ll find another spot.”

I shook my head. “We don’t have time for that.” I forced a smile, swallowing my fear. “It’ll be fine.”

After a long moment, Yves released my hands. “If anything goes wrong, I will tear this mausoleum down stone by stone.”

“I would expect nothing less.”

I shuffled back a few steps, eyes fixed on him, before forcing myself to turn around. The chamber was larger than the mausoleum appeared from outside. Narrow stone shelves held the remains of hundreds of candles, their wax layered together in black and dark red columns. My attention caught on the golden inlay that formed a circle on the marble floor. Everything I needed was here. It was time to start the spell.

I removed the candles and tinderbox from my satchel and placed one black candle at each compass point. All the while, I could feel Yves’s attention on me as I worked. Once every candle was lit, their flames jumped, and a hissing sound came from the entrance. Black smoke began rising between the iron bars. The smoke thickened rapidly, spreading across the gate until Yves was obscured behind it.

I rose to my feet. “Yves?”

His hand struck the other side of the gate, but the sound was little more than a dull thud. I could just make out the shape of his body moving behind the darkness.

“It must be a privacy ward,” I called. “If you can hear me, I’m fine.”

Despite the smoke between us, I could picture the expression on his face. His jaw clenched, his eyes black. He cared about me. I didn’t know why. I pushed him away at every turn. I wasn’t his mate. But he did. he cared.

Della made a low clicking sound from my shoulder.

“I know. I know.”

She clicked again, louder this time. As if I needed a reminder that he was a good man.

“I said I know.”

I realized she was not looking at the gate. Her feathers had lifted around her neck, and her pale eyes were fixed behind me. A cold chill raced down my spine, and my stomach twisted into a knot.

There was someone behind me.

Chapter 36

Revenante

CORA

Ispun around and found Mama standing on the opposite side of the circle. Her black dress was burned away at one shoulder, and the ruined hem smoked with the last traces of dying embers.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” I told my mother’s ghost.

She gave me the same impatient look she’d given me a thousand times when I was a girl, then pointed at my skirt pocket like she was trying to tell me something. I rolled my eyes. “Really?” She did it again, more adamant this time. Humoring her, I stuck my hand into my pocket and felt two pieces of metal.