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Liz?Belle’s thought was somewhat fuzzy and seemingly coming from a long distance.What’s going on? The biggest rush of terror just hit me.

I’m fine. It’s fine. It sounded faint and unconvincing, even to me. Then I frowned.You haven’t been following?

Haven’t been able to, though I’m not sure if it’s their shielding or the wild magic intervening again.

Well, let’s just say the shit is about to hit the fan. Maelle has given Jaqueline an ultimatum and she’s definitely not appreciating the choices. Make sure no one comes in here and if I yell run, get everyone away from this house.

As long as you run out as well.

Trust me, if she unleashes her snake, I’m out of here.

Snake? What the fuck?—

The pulsing of the wild magic grew, and Belle’s voice faded into static. I returned my attention to Maelle and her creature and saw the latter slithering back and forth along the length of sphere separating us from Jaqueline. The sphere pulsed—convulsed?—whenever the creature brushed across it, and the pain in my head and body increased each and every time.

“Maelle,” I warned softly.

“I am aware,” she replied, not looking away from her daughter.

“No, I don’t think you are.”

“You will hold your barrier. I will not be much longer.”

“I amnotyour serv?—”

“No, but you certainly have attachments. Do as I say, or they shall taste my wrath.”

I clenched my fingers against the inner wild magic that flared, but it rather scarily held none of its usual power. It might not be connected directly to the sphere, but it was nevertheless being drained by it, just as my physical energy was now being drained, and at a far faster rate than before.

“When you decided to step into this life against my advice and chose Marie to be your maker”—Maelle’s voice held just a trace of … regret? Or was I reading too much into that very slightcatch?—“I took steps to ensure that, should you ever wish it, you could leave this life.”

Jaqueline stared at her mother for a second. “You would really kill your own flesh and blood?”

That was certainly the question running through my mind, though it wasn’t accompanied by the same sense of incredulity.

“Flesh and blood has never been an impediment. Remember, dearest, that I did not falter to kill Augustine, or make Roger a thrall in an effort to not only protect him, but to one day, perhaps, give us both revenge. In that, I have now failed, at least where he is concerned. However, that is not what I meant.” She paused, and the snake’s actions became more agitated. An odd sense of anticipation rose from its smoky form, and a deepening sense of dread rolled through me. “When I agreed that Marie could turn you, I had two conditions. One, that should you ever wish to leave this life, you could.”

“I do not wish,” Jaqueline growled. “So, what was the other?”

“That I have the means and the power to return your humanity.”

“That is impossible.”

A statement that echoed my own, though mine was lodged somewhere in my throat. The pulsing in the sphere was reaching a critical point and the pain in my head was so fierce that I could barely even see. Weakness was a wave I could not fight, and my knees buckled. I hit the floor hard and wrapped my hands around my waist, rocking back and forth and sucking in great gulps of air in an effort to stave off unconsciousness. I could not—darenot—let it take me while Maelle and her shadow creature were here.

Somehow, I croaked, “Maelle?—”

“A minute. No more, no less.” Her voice was sharp. Commanding.

Infuriating.

I glanced at my watch. A minute, no more, no less, just as she’d ordered.

“No one has that power,” Jaqueline continued, the sneer I couldn’t see thanks to the tears in my eyes so very evident in her voice.

“And in that, you would be very wrong.” As my watch ticked over to the minute, she added, “Now, Elizabeth.”

I immediately released my hold on the sphere, and the luminous threads disconnected and floated away. The pain eased—not much, but enough—and my vision cleared slightly.