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I leaned over the table and spoke firmly. “If you want to use this spell for good, then use it to end the priestesses.”
“You think I haven’t thought of that?” Autumn asked. “I’d have to get through layers of protection spells, let alone get close enough to do it. I’ve tried several times and can’t get to them. Perhaps one day you’ll get close enough to destroy them.”
“I will never use this spell,” I growled.
Autumn cocked an eyebrow. “What does it matter who does it? The result will be the same. Is it because you fear for your own soul, Lucas?”
My teeth clenched.
“Believe me, if you resist your power, there will come a day when the priestesses break you, and you will be begging to pull off this spell. You don’t need to use it now, but take it with you.” Autumn pushed the book closer to me.
I snatched it out of her hands. “The only thing I’m interested in seeing in this book is the genealogy records.”
I flipped through the pages. “We went searching for the Reaper’s Shadow women to break the curse, but there were more, weren’t there? Only some of them were men—husbands of Reaper’s Apprentices like you.”
Autumn scoffed. “Us reaper women aren’t stupid enough to take a husband. We know what the Reaper’s Shadow curse entails.”
“How dare you stand here and tell me that you were trying to protect me,” I snarled. “If you were watching me so closely, then you should’ve known we never broke the Reaper’s Shadow curse. You could’ve helped us, and you didn’t.”
“I cannot be expected to know all the details of your personal life,” Autumn insisted. “As long as you are careful, you have nothing to worry about.”
Nadine’s hand instinctively went to her belly. “You haven’t been watching very closely, have you?”
Autumn glanced between the two of us, and her eyes went wide when she saw the rings on our fingers. “I didn’t know.”
“You’ve been watching me this whole time, and you didn’t know we’d gotten married?” I raged.
“It’s hard to keep track of much when you’ve spent months hidden behind those wards!” Autumn shouted. “At least she’s not having children.”
Horror filled Nadine’s eyes.
“Yes, we are,” I snapped. “And soon. So which of the Reaper’s Shadows have you been hiding?”
I flipped through the book and found that Autumn was telling the truth. The other reaper women had never gotten married. They understood the fate of the curse and didn’t dare to mess with it.
My heart stopped when I landed upon Autumn’s section. “The last remaining Reaper’s Shadow is your spouse,” I realized. “The other reaper women didn’t marry, but you did, which makes your spouse the last Reaper’s Shadow we need to break the curse for good. You chose not to send us clues, because it would’ve exposed you. You selfish witch!”
I shot out of my chair. “You don’t care about protecting me, because if you did, you’d know how much losing my family would destroy me. You would’ve done anything to protect Nadine, too.”
“I did what I had to do—what my magic bound me to do,” Autumn insisted.
I took a step back. I could tell our magic was connected the second I saw her, but I didn’t understand the extent of it until now. Autumn was destined to be my master, and as such, it was her job to keep me alive.
She’d done only the bare minimum.
“You never actually cared,” I accused. “As my master, you’re bound to keep me alive, and that’s it.”
“I helped in the ways I could,” Autumn said. “I didn’t want to, but I didn’t have a choice, either.”
I shoved the book under my arm and grabbed Nadine’s hand. I’d heard enough, and I wanted nothing to do with Autumn ever. “Come on, Nad. We’re going.”
“Lucas, wait!” Nadine cried. She yanked her hand out of my grasp and whirled back toward Autumn. “Where is your Reaper’s Shadow?”
Autumn’s eyes glistened with guilt, but I refused to believe for a moment she felt sorry about any of this.
“Did you ever have kids?” Nadine snarled.
Autumn shook her head. “We couldn’t.”
