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They’d barely spoken since they’d left his room, but Rae preferred it that way.

There was nothing left to say, and Aidan understood that.

She couldn’t bring herself to acknowledge what was between them—never had, no matter how much things had changed.

How everything had changed. Not a minute had passed since he’d fed from her that she hadn’t thought about it, thought about everything she knew it meant and couldn’t face.

Rae hadn’t been afforded the luxury of safety in the last ten years. It was exactly as she’d told him; she’d had no one looking out for her but herself. Until him. He’d made her feel safe for perhaps the first time in her life, and the thought made her chest ache.

Scarlett led her in one direction as Cormac ushered Aidan and the others towards the elevator to take them down to the lower level, to the rooms they’d used on their last visit there.

Her last visit there, when she’d almost crumpled under the weight of her dread, and he’d found her, eased her fears in a way only he knew she needed.

Not with tenderness. Never with gentleness.

She couldn’t bear his kindness, and he’d known it.

He’d always known it. Had always known what she needed from the moment they met.

Rae couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder, meeting Aidan’s silver gaze just before the doors closed.

She sucked in a breath at the sight of him and followed Scarlett towards the rows of beds, helping with spells wherever she could, talking to survivors and trying to snuff out the guilt every time she wished one of them was Nim.

They worked for hours, until Rae knew the council meeting below them would have long since dissolved into a dispute over what to do next.

Two nurses came to relieve her and Scarlett, and Rae knew it was time.

She reminded herself of all the reasons why she had to do this, why she had no other choice as she quietly followed Scarlett to the far end of the warehouse, to a corner where stacks of metal were still piled floor to ceiling.

There wasn’t a Vampire in sight, no survivors from the facility, no nursing staff.

Only a narrow door that Rae knew as soon as she laid eyes on it was another elevator, one most likely used for service access judging from the size of it.

She took measured breaths as Scarlett quietly opened the shutters and they both shuffled in, barely enough space for the two of them.

“I can explain your absence up here to the others until dawn, but any longer and Cormac will suspect me,” the Witch explained.

Rae swallowed. She’d made her decision, chosen duty over desire. There was no backing out now. “Dawn is all I need. Thank you.”

“I like the pink on you,” Scarlett said with a sideways glance as she shut them in the tiny metal box. “It was always Emlyn’s favourite.” Her shoulders rose as she sucked in a deep breath. “I didn’t know—”

That the information she gave would lead to Maddock coming for Rae.

That it would blow Rae’s cover. But it didn’t matter.

It wasn’t the Witch’s responsibility; Rae would never have allowed anyone to cover for her before.

That was why she knew this was the right thing to do, even though the guilt had already lodged itself firmly beneath her ribs.

“I know I’m asking a lot from you. Lying to your mate. ” She almost choked on the word.

“When I told Aidan about Seylan—” Scarlett pressed her lips together, and Rae steeled herself for whatever was coming, for what information Aidan had been given and how he’d used it. “I didn’t know they were conspiring to kill him. I’m—I’m so sorry.”

The Witch lowered her gaze, but Rae willed her expression to remain neutral, to keep every bit of rage she was feeling under wraps so that Aidan couldn’t feel it and reach out for her.

Any hesitation she’d had about what she was about to do was obliterated by Scarlett’s confession. “Consider us even.”

Scarlett searched her eyes as she seemed to consider her answer, and for a moment Rae wondered if she’d find Aidan waiting for them when the elevator stopped. “Thank you, Your Highness.”

Despite the Witch’s confession, Rae had always liked her.

In another life, perhaps they could have even been friends.

In another life, everyone she loved would still be alive.

The elevator descended, and Rae couldn’t speak, the padded walls closing in on her.

She was too busy focusing on her heartbeat, on steadying her breaths.

On quieting her anger and fear. She thought of Ru, tails twirling through her fingers.

Laughing with Nim. Playing hide and seek with her brother as a child.

Aidan’s mouth on hers, though that last thought she tried to shove away.

The elevator slowed and stopped. Scarlett pulled the metal doors open, leading the way.

A kernel of fear sparked in Rae’s chest at the sight of the dark corridor, but she snuffed it out, spinning Nim’s ring she’d fixed and modified on her thumb. She followed Scarlett through the maze of hallways until the Witch stopped at one with a salt line before it.

Rae reached for the door, the cold air beyond it slamming into her as it swung open. She stepped through, careful not to disturb the salt.

“Goddess guide you,” Scarlett said softly.

Rae smiled, said her thanks, and slammed the door in the Witch’s face, her hand over the lock as she murmured a spell.

Scarlett had been instructed to do the same on the other side, followed by the spell Rae had used to conceal herself from Baxter back at her apartment.

Only this time, with the strength of another Witch to bolster it, even a weak one, Rae would be able to move freely. Undetected.

The third spell, and the last, would keep her hidden from a Provident’s eyes.

Time was all she needed, and her magic combined with Scarlett’s might just afford it.

Cillian had been wrong about many things, but there had been some element of truth to his words when he’d said someone needed to hold the key.

She couldn’t let herself dwell on whether Aidan would understand that.

Of all the wrongs she’d done in her life, she only hoped he’d realise this was her opportunity to right them.

The spells would only last a few hours, and Rae prayed Aidan would go easy on Scarlett when he discovered what the Witch had helped her to do.