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“We might not have a choice, especially with the ashes,” I said. If it was between using something Luciana had touched one time or not doing the spell at all, I was going to try it. “Maybe we can cleanse them?”
“It doesn’t work that way.”
I blew out a breath. If she wasn’t going to give on anything, then I wasn’t sure what to say. “Let’s at least look to see what we have before we make any decisions.” It was time to see what we grabbed from Luciana’s craft room.
Dastien was already getting up, grabbing the box that held all of the ingredients we’d taken from Luciana’s lair. After taking a first glance at everything, we’d quickly decided to look at the books first, and put everything else back in the boxes until we had a plan.
“It says we need a candle that has rendered fat from a fey,” Adrian said, with a shudder. “I’ve never seen a fey with enough fat to spare, and I sure as hell don’t know where we’d find one willing to part with their flesh.”
I blew out a breath. That not only sounded disgusting, but impossible. “We’ll just have to improvise with something else.”
“You’re doing a lot of improvising.” Claudia’s frustratingly snippy tone got under my skin.
“Seriously? What is with your attitude?” This was so not like her.
Lucas shot me a look like he’d be happy to skin me alive, but I ignored him. If we were going to make this work, then she had to be on board. The one thing I’d learned about witchcraft was that it was mostly intent and willpower. The words in the spell weren’t as important as the intention and the power given to you by how much you believed them.
This whole thing was going to be held together by grit and determination, but one seed of doubt could turn the spell into a dumpster fire.
Claudia finally met my gaze. “I’m just mad.”
“At me?” She had to be kidding. “What did I do?”
“Nothing.” She winced. “You’ve done nothing wrong except be the unlucky one that’s trying to problem solve. You’re talking about all these crazy solutions, and the thing is—I don’t want to do any of this.”
“The spell? You don’t like it? I thought it was divine intervention?”
“I don’t like any of what we’re talking about. I don’t like using Luciana’s leftovers. I don’t like looking at a book that has her writing in it. The idea of it…” Tears welled, but she quickly blinked them away. “I thought all of this was over. I’d survived against everything Luciana had done. And so had my brother and a few others, but the rest of the coven died. Everyone I knew and loved died. But for whatever reason, we lived. And I ended up with Lucas. And I was done with Luciana and her stupid blood oath and black magic. I could finally live my life. Everything was great. But it’s not over, and I’m not sure it ever will be.” She slouched in her chair, head bowed, silent sobs shaking her.
I hated that this was happening as much as she did. Even if it wasn’t exactly Luciana messing with us from beyond the grave, it felt like it was. This all started because of her, and we were still dealing with the fallout.
“I get it.” I really did. “I was on my honeymoon and then everything changed. I’ve almost died a few times over in the last couple days. But you have to let that go or we don’t have any hope of fixing this.”
“I know. I do.” Claudia squeezed her eyes shut as she swiped her tears away. “I’m mad that this is happening. That Luciana is dead and she’s still messing with my life. And seeing her stuff here? Reading her handwriting? Somehow it makes it worse.”
I went around the table to Claudia, and leaned down to where she was sitting in her chair, giving her a hug. “We’re going to fix this,” I told her softly. “It will be over. Say it in your head a million times, but don’t you dare let a seed of doubt enter your mind.” I pulled away but held onto her shoulders. I needed her to hear this part. “I can’t have you in this spell if you don’t truly believe it will work.”
“It will work. I’m just…” She wiped under her eyes again. “I’m frustrated and I’ve been taking it out on you. I’m sorry, prima.”
“It’s okay.” We were all having a rough time, but this was going to pass. We were going to get through it. Not because we knew how to or had it all figured out. But because that was what we had to do.
Chris came into the room, and I straightened. “Please tell me you heard from Cosette.”
“Better.” He moved aside, revealing her.
A grin spread across my face, and I felt as if I was floating. I ran to her and nearly tackled her to the ground. She wasn’t big on hugging and neither was I, but in that moment, I felt like my plan was coming together.
Her being here meant everything.
I had a real shot, and in that moment, that’s all that mattered to me.
This was so fucking happening.
Seventeen
A little while later, I had a pile of notes, some missing ingredients, and a pretty solid idea of what we needed to do. I had a minute to revel in the fact that my shitshow of a plan was coming together before we were put to the test.
Mr. Dawson stuck his head in the library. “It’s time.”
