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“So?” I asked, my gaze shifting to meet his. “I can’t do any magic without the binding. How do you expect me to stand against Donika?”

“That’s not what I meant,” he answered, shaking his head as his gaze returned to Annelise’s. “You said during the binding ceremony that if he died,so would she.She doesn’t appear dead to me.”

Annelise and I had already discussed this on the shore a few days ago. My gaze fell, eyes traveling back and forth over my hands as I reasoned out what Puck was saying.

“The binding isn’t severed, it isn’t gone. It isbroken.Something that is broken can be fixed.” Puck spoke the same words I had spoken to Annelise on this very beach. She had said she would try to help me any way she could…

My thoughts were wild with possibilities as Zion stood to join Puck.

“Now, we don’t know exactly what that means,” he said, his hand reaching out as if to calm us all down. He didn’t want us getting too excited.

“Wedoknow, Zion.” I stood to join them, Kenna and Saanvi nodding out of the corner of my eye. “If he weredead, I would be too. But I stand before you. If he isn’t dead,he can be saved.”

“Diana, we don’t know that—” Zion started, butAmiyah cut him off.

“She is right, brother.” I almost flinched that Amiyah still saw Zion as her brother, after everything Annelise had put him through. “You know this, Anna. You have seen it.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, my blood pumping fast enough through my veins that I could hear my own heartbeat drumming in my ears.

“Let’s all sit down,” Zion replied, motioning for us to return to our seats. “We need to calm down.”

“Annelise…” Amiyah’s voice was a plea as we all sat. Annelise avoided her sister’s gaze.

“We don’t know for certain, Amiyah,” Annelise replied, her voice curt. Her gaze remained fixed on the table before her.

“Simply because the spell has been lost to time, doesn’t mean it never existed, Anna.Enoughwith your secrets.” Amiyah’s voice was cutting, and I sat back in surprise.

This was at odds with the soft, quiet woman that had greeted me when I had first arrived here. She was filled with Kotova fire, same as me. Same as all of us, apparently.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, my gaze on Annelise. “What secrets do you keep from us now,Mother?” My words dripped acid as she flinched back from me.

“There is a spell…” she began, her eyes tentatively meeting my gaze. She shrank back at what she found there. I raised a brow at her, daring her to continue. “A spell that once belonged to the Kotova grimoire.”

“And what spell might that be?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. My eyes narrowed on her, unsurprised that more of her secrets were coming to light.

“An… antidote of sorts,” she finished, not bothering to elaborate.

“An antidote forwhat,exactly? Being Noctani? Because there is no mention of thatanywherein the Kotova grimoire. I have combed it front to back numerous times, and there is no mention of the monsters Donika has created.”

“No… not for Noctani.” It was Amiyah who spoke, her disappointed gaze resting on her sister. “For siphoning.”

“An antidote—for siphoning? I don’t understand.” My brow furrowed as I turned to meet Amiyah’s gaze.

“What can be done can also be undone. All magic must find a balance. The grimoire… it may have been in my sister’s possession these last years, but the book of shadows is no stranger to me. I have seen and studied the spells hidden within its leather binding. Those that might have resided in it, but reside there no longer…”

“You ripped another spell out of the grimoire?” I accused, my voice seething as I stood. My gaze seared into her. “Not just the key? You rippedmorespells from that sacred book?” My nails dug into the table hard enough that they turned white. My magic surged forwards and pressed against my skin from the inside, begging to be released. I closed my eyes, calming myself. I couldn’t allow my unbound magic to release itself.

I took a steadying breath. “How could you?”

“I was trying to help a friend,” Annelise replied, her gaze flitting to Zion for support. Zion’s fist curled against the table, and he did not return her gaze.

“Out with it. That’s the same excuse you used last time, when you had knowledge of a spell wedesperatelyneeded. I won’t ask again. Where is the spell to reverse siphoning?” Venom dripped from my words as I sensed the fire within me surge back to life.

There might still be hope to save Nik, if only my mother didn’t hide this, too.

“I’m not sure where it is now, but I know who would,” she replied, swallowing hard. “Alastir.”

“Alastir, the seer?” Amiyah asked, her brow wrinkling.