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“My children, I am sorry. But we have been deceived.”

A ripple ran through them all. Confusion. Fear. Hundreds of eyes focused on her, hundreds of lives about to be changed forever.

“My Priestesses will be handing out vials to all of you. I ask for your trust tonight, and I hope I have earned it.”

Around the room, Sana’s Priestesses began to disperse amongst the crowd. They carried baskets, filled near to overflowing with glass vials containing the golden antidote Fey had given her.

The other Temples—Earth, Air, and Fire—would be doing the same. Sana hoped their Temples were as full tonight as hers, hoped they had really listened to her when she had gathered all the High Priestesses together to pass on Fey’s message. Hoped they had really believed her, as they had seemed to.

“The Queen’s White Priestesses have been poisoning us, my children,” Sana said sadly, and the murmurs in the crowd grew from a gentle stream and into a torrent. “They have stolen from some of us our most sacred gift—the powers the Goddess herself gave to us.”

People were shouting, yelling, demanding answers, but Sana held up her arms to silence them.

“Please, my children, please calm.”

They did, but the anger was still there, just below the surface, ready to erupt. Around the room, the Priestesses were finishing their rounds, ensuring every single Witch had a vial. Only then did one of her Priestesses approach her podium, and hand Sana a vial of her own.

Holding it high, so all might see, Sana continued.

“For many of you, the antidote in this vial will do nothing. But, for some, I hope this will restore something that you have lost. Something that has been taken from you.”

Sana peeled away the wax top, all eyes of her congregation on her, and drank the antidote down.

Chapter 57

Lilith was fast, and the blast of power she released was strong enough to singe the wallpaper as it flooded the room. She was fast. But Fey was faster, and she had been ready. Since the moment the reality of Lilith’s past hit her, Fey had been ready for an attack.

Fey flung herself backwards, scrambling over the couch, putting it between her and Lilith mere moments before the wave of Fire struck. Heat roared around her, crackling in the air as it passed above her.

This was bad. Fey had beaten Lilith in combat practice before, but she’d lost far more times than she’d won. Lilith was a better fighter, plain and simple.

But Fey was stronger. And if she had a plan….

“I’m honestly shocked no one figured it out before now,” Lilith was saying. She sounded calm, almost bored. “Alice even met me; can you believe that? Before they knew I only had the power over Fire, when she was first inducted into the Blades.” She laughed a dry, humorless laugh. “Can you imagine? She met me and she still didn’t put it together when they made me a Blade. Still didn’t recognize me.”

Fey scrambled to find a way out, looking left and right around the room. Merle’s favorite chair had caught fire, and Fey was relieved to find it empty. Wherever the cat was, she hoped he was smart enough to stay there until this was over.

“Come out, Fey,” Lilith sighed. She hadn’t moved from her spot in the kitchen. “Stop hiding behind the furniture, it’s beneath you. Come out and let’s end this. Face me like a real Witch.”

“We don’t have to do this, Lilith,” Fey replied, but the words sounded desperate, even to her ears.

Lilith sighed loudly. “Yeah, we do. And you know we do. This isn’t a negotiation, Fey. You know what’s going to happen, here.”

Fey shifted in her crouch, looking around her for options. The couch was burning at her back, and she’d need to make a move soon.

“Did you really think I was going to let you kill our Queen, Fey?” Lilith asked, in a cold jeering voice. “My aunt? You took the same oaths I did.” She snorted a nasal laugh. “I should have known from the start you couldn’t be trusted…”

“What if you do have the power, Lilith?” Think, Fey, think. You’re running out of time. “You know what they’ve been doing—we have the antidote, why don’t you try?—”

A blast of fire hit the couch again, jolting it closer and causing Fey to scramble away with a hiss.

“You don’t fucking get it,” Lilith was shouting over the crackling sounds of the flames as they devoured the fabric and wood frame of the couch. “They wanted me to have power, Fey. I could have been Queen. They never gave me anything to take my power away. Why would they? My mother would have been thrilled if I could have wielded all four. The realm would have been thrilled if I’d wielded all four. They didn’t take anything from me, I was already broken.”

Fuck. Lilith was moving now, making her way to the couch. Fey was out of time.

“Your fucking antidote won’t work on me. This is who I am. What I am.”

“It’s not your fault,” Fey heard herself say, but her mind was elsewhere. Think think think. “So what if you don’t have all four elements? That didn’t give them the right to treat you like you don’t even exist. To make you a Blade instead of a Princess. That’s not fair.”