Page 34

Chapter 34

No More Secrets

T he walls in Natalie’s suite are exposed brick like mine, the dark wood furnishings simple and elegant, the space as organized as I expected. Books are arranged neatly on shelves beside the desk, and bonsai trees cover every surface, meticulously trimmed and nurtured. The scent of her fills the room, warm and comforting—but even that can’t loosen the knot of fear in my gut.

The only clutter is a corkboard, which is swamped in photos, trimmings, and maps—maybe related to curses she has yet to find. This is the side of her that won’t rest until she’s freed the world from dangerous magic… Until she’s fulfilled her sworn duty to CSAMM.

She pulls my gauntlet from her bedside drawer, pausing before holding it out to me. “It was our mom’s.”

A fist clenches around my stomach. Wait, Sky gave me a family heirloom ?

I don’t take it, backing up a step. “I shouldn’t have it, then. This belongs with you and Sky.”

She shakes her head and presses the gauntlet into my hands. “She was right to give it to you. ”

I hesitate, then gently close my fingers over the enchanted fig leaf, brushing a thumb across the cool, smooth surface—this connection to the mother she lost. Am I worthy enough to wear it?

Natalie steps closer, the heat of her body enveloping me. “Katie, there’s something I have to tell you.”

My stomach tightens. “About the gauntlet?”

“About my mom.” She pauses as if unsure of what she’s about to say. She swallows hard. “Your cat, Lucy… She was bio magic that my mom stored and hid.”

I stare at her. Her own mother, who swore the same oath as everyone else here, had a secret supply of bio magic?

She must see the disbelief on my face because she says quickly, “I would never have thought she would do something illegal… But we never knew the extent of the magic she stored, and we kept finding it after she died. When you told me about Lucy, I knew it was her work.”

I blink, struggling to absorb what she’s telling me. “But how could you tell it was hers?”

“The curse’s…” She waves a hand. “ Personality , as we put it earlier. She used to tell us that when she was first learning how to do magic, she had a knack for accidentally melting everything. You said Lucy melted her food bowl, and when I took her away for treatment, the kennel door started melting before I could get her out. That isn’t a typical curse symptom. That had my mom written all over it.”

I exhale, my shoulders sagging. I wish I didn’t have to be the cause of a painful memory for her. “Natalie, I’m so sorry—”

“Don’t apologize.” She steps closer. “I’m the one who needs to say sorry. Remember when you said it’s not my fault that you got dragged into this world? Well, it kind of is. If I’d been able to find my mom’s stored magic in time, you wouldn’t have stumbled on the kitten, and none of this would have happened. ”

I shake my head. “You can’t blame yourself. She was the one who hid bio magic, not you. Besides, I’m positive I would have stumbled on magic anyway because of my ability. Like, the doll had nothing to do with your mom, right? There are so many other ways I could have found a curse. This isn’t your fault.”

She says nothing, not meeting my eye.

I furrow my brow, thinking of Lucy’s tiny cotton-swab tail and baby-soft fur. “But the kitten was so young. I thought your mother died years ago.”

The corner of her mouth lifts in a sad half-smile. “The kitten wasn’t a kitten.”

“Right.” I don’t know why it’s so hard to get that through my head. “What was she, then? Is that what bio magic looks like?”

“No, it’s…” Her eyebrows arch sadly, her gaze pleading. “I’ll show you one day. This isn’t me keeping a secret, I just need to show you.”

I nod. Not knowing doesn’t bother me this time. Maybe I’m finally understanding why witches keep so many secrets.

With no time to waste, I fasten the gauntlet to my hand and flex my fingers.

Natalie opens her closet and grabs a cylindrical container from the side. It rattles as if it’s full of marbles as she straps it across her back like a quiver.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“The something useful Fiona told me to get. Bullets, sort of. Perfect spheres, pure copper. Optimized to be easier for a witch to manipulate than any other element. They’re illegal except in desperate circumstances.”

I nod and turn around, ready to race back out there. “Let’s go.”

“Wait.” Natalie seizes my forearm, pulling me back to her. “Katie, I should’ve told you everything. I don’t want to keep anything from you anymore, even if it gets us in trouble. I’m sorry I kept you in the dark— ”

“I forgive you.” Her words wash over me, soothing all the hard feelings. The sincerity in her eyes, the desperation in her tight grasp, it all tells me how much she wanted to protect me. Besides, she isn’t the only one who has to apologize. Phoning Freddie wasn’t the first time I went around her to get what I wanted, but I’ll make sure it’s the last. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have gone behind your back and talked to Freddie. That was reckless and disrespectful, and nothing like that will ever happen again.”

“But I get why you did it.” She slides her hand down my arm to entwine our fingers. “I should’ve told you more about what sort of magic we’re dealing with. Fuck the oath. You deserve to know.”

I press my lips together, attempting a smile. “Thanks.”

She lifts a shoulder. “We’ve all explored the issue at one time or another, and you had just as much a right to.”

I furrow my brow. “What issue?”

“Whether magic should be locked away.”

I search her face, trying to read her thoughts in the fine lines around her eyes. “I thought you’d all made up your minds on the matter.”

She shifts on her feet, a hint of discomfort tightening her expression. “What are we supposed to do with a power that’s so spectacular and so dangerous all at once? Is it possible to make sure magic is only used for good?”

I don’t have an answer. Maybe nobody does, and that’s why wars have been waged over it—why a battle is being fought as we speak.

But the fact she’s telling me this, confiding something so serious and secretive, means more than anything else she’s said.

I step in and take her face in my hands, standing on my toes to bring our lips together.

For a moment, she freezes, and then her hands are on me, her palms dragging up my waist, her arms pulling me close .

She kisses me with soft, insistent lips, her hair tickling my cheeks and sending fire through me. One hand glides around the back of my head and tangles in my hair, the other tugging me closer until every inch of me is pressed against her.

As she opens my lips, deepening the kiss, a ripple of pleasure runs down my core and momentarily drowns out everything else. I surrender, arching into her. Her warmth seeps through my shirt, her hips pressing into mine, and her scent transports me away from all this fear and pain. I’m lost in her taste, in the way she wraps around me as if to protect me from the danger outside.

Then her arms loosen, and we step apart, reality crashing back.

“I checked on you over these last couple of weeks.” Her tone is urgent, desperate. She stoops her head to hold my gaze. “I need you to know that. I want you to know I didn’t just let you wander out in the world with the Madsens on the loose—”

I kiss her again to stop her rambling. “I know,” I whisper into her lips.

There’s more I want to say, words that encapsulate how I feel about her and how much it would destroy me to lose her. But now’s not the time, and we can’t waste another moment.

I take her hand and tug her out the door, back toward the lounge. As our pounding footsteps echo off the walls, mirroring my racing heartbeat, the gauntlet warms against my skin.

Suffocating panic bubbles up, and I swallow it down, forcing all the what-ifs from my mind. The unknown outcome of the fight we’re diving into… The threat that the Madsens might win…

And the possibility that I might have just kissed Natalie Zacharias for the last time.