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I will not let this break me.

Spoken like a true queen of warriors, Memnon says.

I don’t know if he heard my earlier memory, but I sob now, clinging to his words like they can keep out the evil happening in this room.

The gods gave me the fiercest woman. The fiercest one. I am right here,est amage. Right here.

“Listen closely. This is important,” Lia says, as though I’m in any state to remember anything.

Tears track down my cheeks, and my jaw aches from how tightly I’m tensing it.

Stay with me, Memnon, I beg, even though he’s repeatedly promised as much. I’m afraid of what’s coming next.

I’m not leaving you,he says.I will never leave you,est vexava.

My love.

I close my eyes and swallow, trying to wrap Memnon’s words around me like a blanket.

“You will tell no one that you are bonded to me, nor will you give any hints that you work for me,” Lia says. “Even when you are with your family and friends, you will keep my interests in the forefront of your mind. You will do my work discreetly and absolutely.”

She continues, “You will find me other witches to bond with. You will look for lonely ones and ones who do not have good family relations. Those who seem promising you will befriend. You will be subtle about this, and you will not let them know about me or my intentions.”

My stomach twists at the orders, and I grimace, opening my eyes. This is how Kasey picked me out, and now I’m being forced to perpetuate the cycle.

“You will call me once a week and keep me informed of potential witches as well as what’s going on in the coven,” Lia says. “I will call you from time to time, and if I do, you will answer. If you see a missed call from me, you will call me back as soon as you can. Once a month, we will have in-person meetings, which will take place either here in the city or in the tunnels beneath the coven. Those meetings will be followed by spell circles—you remember how that goes—and I will expect you to recruit at least one witch per circle.”

I want to hurl all over again.

“If at any point I need something from you,” she says, “you are to immediately—and discreetly—stop what you’re doing and come to me. Got it?”

I don’t have the energy to glare at her. I barely have the energy to listen over the pain.

“And,” Lia continues, “if you hear anyone asking questions about the recent murders, I want to know about?—”

BOOM!

A wave of magic ripples across the room, shaking the walls, toppling boxes, and causing more debris to fall from the ruined ceiling. Lia staggers, and my vision darkens as my injuries are jostled. The whole building quakes from the distant explosion.

“What the fuck is happening now?” Lia says.

Despite my pain, I smile.

It’s not what butwho.

Memnon has arrived.

CHAPTER 35

I begin to laugh,though it sounds a bit like a sob. I sound like I’ve lost it, which maybe I have.

Lia’s eyes find mine. “You think this is funny?” She steps on one of my legs, causing me to scream all over again.

From the other end of the bond, Memnon’s warmth has iced over, and I feel his cold-blooded wrath.

There are no more words between us. It’s more primal than that. All that’s left is pain, rage, and vengeance, and it swirls together until I’m not sure what’s mine and what’s his.

BOOM!