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“Evelyn,” Kade whispered, pulling her in close. His magic nudged hers, his wolf nuzzling against her flame.

“She’s gone,” Evelyn rasped, barely a whisper. She was so, so empty. As vacant as Aster’s shop without her friend’s bright light. She’d failed her friend like she’d failed her parents. A gaping hole opened in her chest, a hollow ache.

“Breathe, love,” Kade said. “Breathe.”

“She’s dead,” Evelyn said again, her throat raw from her screams and sobbing.

All those young women. All the body parts. Evelyn had never once thought the vampyr would take someone she knew, someone she loved. First her parents and now Aster. What good was she if she couldn’t even protect the ones she loved?

Maybe it was hours or maybe it was mere minutes—Kade rocked and held her. Evelyn couldn’t take her eyes off Aster’s still, cold body. Her russet eyes shone with no eagerness, none of that light Evelyn had grown so accustomed to. All gone.

Aster’s skin was not a shade of blue. Not a vampyr bite in sight. Blood soaked her, a deadly slash lining her neck.

“I didn’t protect her. I couldn’t save her.”

Evelyn breathed the words over and over, eclipsing herself into a darkness of her own making.

Chapter Fifty-Two

Evelyn

They laid Aster to rest two days later.

It didn’t rain, but the sun never broke through the thick blanket of slate clouds casting Callum in a solemn and still gray. Every window in the town had been lined with black candles, honoring Aster’s heritage. More than two hundred people marched in her procession. At the front, Kade led in his werewolf form on all fours, as it was customary for his people to shift in mourning. His werewolf form had received glances, but the people of Callum had put Aster’s passing above all else. Behind him, Evelyn rode atop Bleu. Tovi walked beside her, head bowed, eyes red and wet. Her friend had been silent and sad the whole walk.

Everyone traveled three miles over the hills to reach the forest where the Arkwood coven laid their dead, and instead of black, everyone wore green.

For Aster and her bright, beautiful magic that grew life.

They burned her over a pyre, as witches’ tradition demanded, releasing her soul into the afterlife. Evelyn had used her flame at the request of Aster’s parents, placing a hand on a single branch and allowing the fire to overtake the bed of wood. It burned for hours, the flame twisting and swallowing the pyre until it reached Aster’s clothed body.

Even as the red and orange blazed, the entire pyre engulfed, it did not feel real. Evelyn stood like a shell, hollow and empty. Her feet had weighed heavy as lead during the procession, and her hand had shaken as she’d conjured her flame to burn her friend’s body. When she’d stepped back, Tovi had grabbed her hand and held firm. She’d turned and met her friend’s jade gaze, her eyes glistening with tears. A comfort, a hope, a gesture of strength she needed and was grateful for.

Hours later, Kade had not left her side, not even as the flames died. Smoke rose through the forest’s canopy from the pile of blackened rubble. No one remained, not even Aster’s coven or parents. They’d invited her back to their home for refreshments, to share stories of Aster, and to honor her memory. Tovi had left, giving her hand a squeeze and whispering something to Kade as she parted with them.

Evelyn could not leave. She knew deep in her bones that the White Lady had killed Aster, but responsibility still gripped her heart with an iron hand. If she had solved the murders already, had killed the vampyr, or had learned more about the White Lady, Aster might still be alive.

Yet again, Evelyn had failed someone she cared for, and the weight of it sickened her. The thought she could not shake was that this murder had been purposeful. Her friend’s death had not been a coincidence. Aster had been killed for her hands, but also targeted. Whoever killed her did it to get at Evelyn.

They knew her history; it should scare her. Break her. Two years ago, Evelyn would have crumbled from Aster’s death as she had with her parents’. Rage and determination filled her now. Her bruised heart had been wrapped with thorns of guilt. The world had lost a beam of light due to Aster’s death. Evelyn could not bring that light back, but she could fight for it.

“For you, Aster, I swear it,” Evelyn said to the wind.

The forest bristled. Birds sang from branches. The wind came to life. It felt like an answer. “We hear you.”

Behind her, Kade moved off to the side, leaves and twigs cracking under the weight of his bulked werewolf form. Out of sight, bones snapped and cracked. Skin rippled. Shifting sounded dreadful. According to Kade, it didn’t hurt. It felt like an intense stretch as his magic did the work.

He joined Evelyn at her side, wearing an untied tunic and loose trousers. He took her hand, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles. Evelyn shut her eyes, fighting the tears. She’d already cried so much and had remained strong in front of Callum and the Arkwood coven.

“Evelyn, I know you want to stay in Callum,” he said, taking a shuddering breath.

She snapped her eyes open, assessing Kade’s tight jaw and the apprehension swimming in his eyes. Why did she feel a “but” would come next?

“But we should consider returning to Sorin, seeking your coven and my pack,” Kade said.

Evelyn pulled her hand from Kade’s, his words like ice water.

“No,” Evelyn said. “I can’t. Not yet. Not until I kill whoever is responsible for these murders. I must do this. For Aster. For McKenna, Fiona, and Sheila.” She shook her head, her decision unyielding.