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Her black eyes hold my gaze steadily, and I can feel power in them that she’s using to pin me in place, like a butterfly on the wall. “I don’t think I’m supposed to be here either,” she says, looking around, mercifully breaking her stare. “I had a hard time getting through the wards. What has happened to this place?”
“Why are you in a bathtub of blood in Ms. Choi’s bathroom?” I ask sharply, surprised at the strength of my voice.
She stares at me for a moment before she sits up in the bath, draping her arms over the sides, blood splattering to the floor. “This is my replenishing. I do this every full moon. Though it seems this time they wanted to keep me out. Thought the wards would discourage me, did they?”
“We’re on lockdown,” I tell her. “The Sisters strengthened the wards a week ago so no one could come in or out. Didn’t you know that?”
She shakes her head. “No. You know I only come here once a month. I suppose I’m lucky they made an exception for me. Or maybe this place just knows me so well. They may have kicked me out of their coven, but it doesn’t mean the school has done the same. It’s probably why you’ve been able to recall what you learn here, your bloodlines are entangled with this place just as mine are.”
I blink at her, trying to understand the horror of it all. “And you come here to sit in a bathtub of blood? Is this what you’ve been doing every month? Whose blood is this?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. After the Sisters are done with the candidates, done with their organs, it’s hard to know what the person originally looked like. I took whoever was left downstairs and brought them to the first empty room. All I need is their blood.”
Left downstairs?
Dear God.
“From the web room?” I ask, feeling sick.
“From Goruun’s den,” she says darkly.
Oh, goodness. I stumble backward until I hit the wall, needing something to keep me upright. “This building is built on top of a demon’s den?” I gasp.
“Most of the buildings are built on top of something,” she explains. “This land held magic long before the first settlers arrived, even before the covens. What my sisters did was build the school directly on top, all the better to draw up the ancient energy into the teachers and students and then back in to us.”
“You mean siphon,” I say bitterly. “Just like you did to my father.”
She narrows her eyes at me, and I feel it inside my brain, like I’m being poked with a hot iron. “Your father served his purpose. He provided me with the energy and magic I needed to stay alive. It was a transaction, nothing more.”
“And you also had me to use as your pawn.”
“Better you than me,” she says coldly. “I would have had to marry Liam Van Brunt. Awful man. Your father was at least kind and entertaining.”
“So then I would be the sacrifice instead of you.”
She blinks at me, drops of blood flecking on the water. “Sacrifice? You would have had Brom’s baby, it’s what you always wanted anyway. I hardly call that a sacrifice.”
“But you would have taken the baby and then killed me and Brom.”
“Don’t be absurd,” she says, as if all of this isn’t already absurd. “I wouldn’t kill my own daughter, and Brom would at least be useful if he were to sire another heir with you.”
“You wouldn’t kill your own daughter, yet you wanted to siphon my magic from me?” I cry out. “You wouldn’t kill your own daughter, yet you would have given me over to your sisters, and they would have killed me?”
“I never had any intention of taking all your power, Katrina,” she says indignantly. “I only needed some here and there. I’ve been taking from you your whole life, and you haven’t even noticed.”
My eyes widen. “What?”
“It’s a mother’s prerogative. I gave birth to you. I gave you the gift of life. In exchange you owe me your soul. Motherhood is a transaction the same as marriage is. But I didn’t want to kill you, dear daughter. I only wanted the best for you. When you give birth to Brom’s baby, you’ll see what I mean. You’ll want the best for that child, too.”
“That child is owed to the demon!”
“And what an honor that is.” She raises her chin. “Your child will usher in a new age. Goruun’s promises will all come true. Witches will inherit the earth, and it will all be because of you. You will be royalty, you the queen and Broom the king, and you will rule alongside your child. You will have eternal life.”
I shake my head. “No. No, that’s not what Sister Sophie told us.”
