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“My dear, I believe you already know why.”

She did. But that didn’t mean she was happy about it.

“That man loves you very much,” the Widow said. “His sacrifice should come as no surprise to you.” It didn’t surprise her—not at all. From the moment she’d met Darien, all he’d done was give. He had given her everything.

Now, it was her turn to give back to him.

“I want them back,” she bit out. “The years he gave you—every extra year, I want them back.” She sucked a shaky breath in through her teeth and added, “Please.”

The Widow took a moment to consider what she was asking for. And then she said, her voice hardly more than a whisper, “What are you willing to give me in return?” Something about the creature’s tone told Loren she already knew what she was about to offer—and had perhaps been waiting a very long time for this day to arrive.

It was all the reassurance Loren needed. That what she planned on offering would be enough.

So she told the spider, “I offer you your freedom.”

A pause—heavy and peculiar.

“And what makes you think freedom is something I lack?” It was not a real question, Loren knew. The Widow was testing her. Feeling her out to see how much she knew.

Loren had learned plenty. With Sabrine’s help, she had unveiled a great deal of mysteries surrounding the Nameless beings. She was all but armored with knowledge, and she would damn well use it to her advantage.

Spirit beings like the Widow had been trapped in the In-Between for hundreds of thousands of years, since the day Helia split the world into two realms—the realm of the living and the realm of the dead. The split had resulted in a gap—in the trapping of creatures like the Widow within a strip that would eventually be referred to only as theIn-Between.Theunintentional imprisonment of creatures that had once been free, and were now forced to live out their eternal years in solitude, their only company the daring visitors who sought them out in hopes of striking a bargain.

Freedom was something they very much lacked.

“When was the last time you left this room?” Loren challenged.

Her question seemed to stump the spider. The area descended into a thoughtful silence, interrupted only by the dripping of moisture from the ceiling and the crackle of a cold, blue flame no one could see.

“I cannot remember,” the Widow said, “what it looks like.” She tipped back, peering skyward.

Loren shared a glance with Lace.

The world. She could not remember what the world beyond these walls looked like.

Loren waited as the Widow thought it through.

“I will accept your offer, Liliana Sophronia,” she said, lowering her gaze from the unseeable sky. “I will give Darien Cassel back his years, in exchange for freedom.”

The fact that she was accepting the offer meant Loren had a way of following through—of giving the Widow her freedom. Maybe not now, but eventually. Had such an offer been beyond her capabilities, the Widow would have never agreed.

Loren took out her pocketknife?—

She paused, the edge of the blade glinting with bluish light as she tipped it from side to side, thinking. “I have one more request, before we seal the deal,” she declared, staring at her reflection in the knife. “I want you to show me what happened—the day Darien came to see you. The day he bargained for the life of my dog.” She lowered the knife and lifted her head. “Will you show me?”

After a brief pause, the spider said, “Look into the fountain.”

Loren braced herself with a deep breath.

She stepped forward, gripped the rough stone edge of the fountain, and peered into the water.

Into the past.

“What areyou willing to trade for the dog’s life, Darien Cassel?”

Deep in the Crossroads below the Wishing Fountain, Darien Cassel crouched on the edge of the basin, the cut in his palm burning. The spider, ancient and hungry, was smothered in supernatural darkness, her eight eyes peering at him through the gloom.

“What’s your price?” he countered.