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“You really hurt Lucas,” I said bitterly. “But you know what? That wasn’t fair to me, either. It makes me feel used, Grant. I’ve been carrying Lucas for a long time, and that’s fine, because I choose to do that. But it isn’t fair of you to choose that for me, and to pull me into your shit. I’m Lucas’s wife, and his partner, and I’m happy to shoulder his burdens and help him through life. I will always be a safe place for him, and I will give him the love, kindness, and grace he deserves, but I’m not his therapist. I don’t have the training, knowledge, or understanding to be that for him. Other people shouldn’t be forcing me into that role, even if it’s unintentional. Lucas and I were broken up back then, and even at that point, when I was on a date with you, you were having me take on his feelings when I needed space to heal myself.”
“I hurt everyone, and for that, I truly apologize,” Grant said in a broken tone. “I went too far, and it never should’ve happened. I’m sorry you were caught in the middle of this, Nadine. Lucas, I’m sorry I ever asked Nadine out in the first place.”
He turned to Talia. “If I’d have known you had any interest in me, I never would’ve hung out with Nadine. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I just hope you can all find it in your heart to forgive me.”
A silent beat passed before Lucas nodded. “There’s no reason to let this hurt any of us anymore. I believe that you’re truly sorry, and that’s all I need. I’m sorry for scaring you and making you feel as if you had to go through these lengths to save me from myself.”
“Apology accepted,” Grant said.
“This is unacceptable!” someone in the crowd shouted as they leapt from their seat and shook a fist. The townspeople followed suit, shouting protests so loud I couldn’t understand what anyone said.
“It matters not!” Stella shouted over the others. “Their sins are far greater than broken friendships. You five have killed members of your own coven. You’ve lied to your own people. You sat and watched as others were burned, hanged, and poisoned. You all will do anything to get your way. What have you say?”
“It doesn’t matter what we say, because you won’t believe us, anyway,” Talia growled.
Charlotte turned to her. “It’s interesting that you would be the one to speak up. Your sin, Talia Murphy, is silence. You let people walk all over you, and you’ve never done anything about it. People needed you, and you were too timid to help them.”
“How do you know all that?” Talia demanded through gritted teeth. She lunged across the podium, reaching for Charlotte’s papers, but the priestess yanked them away.
“Things got bad in the coven, and instead of speaking up, you stayed quiet,” Charlotte accused. “You didn’t say anything until people started coming for you and your friends.”
“And I’ve learned from my mistakes!” Talia insisted.
Lucas quickly cut in. “She hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Charlotte turned on him. “Lucas, you should’ve been there for your brother. You were too self-absorbed to see his cries for help.”
“That’s not true!” Grant shouted. “She’s making things up.”
I whirled toward my husband. “Lucas, she’s preying on our insecurities.”
“I know,” Lucas said calmly. “She’s saying stuff I believed for a long time, but I understand Eric better now. It’s nobody’s fault that he’s gone—not his, and not mine.”
Charlotte continued. “You’ve used your depression as an excuse not to deal with your shit and make decisions. You hide away in your room, so you don’t have to face real-world problems.”
“I’ve learned to take my time to process, and then I find solutions,” Lucas stated.
“Leave him alone,” I snarled. She couldn’t get to him anymore, because she was trying to guilt-trip him, and he had nothing to feel sorry for.
Charlotte didn’t even lift her gaze as she continued reading. “Nadine, you let your grandmother die. Worse, you sacrificed the coven for your own benefit. You gave up an Oaken Wand to the priestesses in order to get a kidney. You’re selfish.”
“She didn’t want to,” Talia argued. “We told her to do it.”
Chloe scoffed. “You can list off our sins all day, but you can’t make us feel bad for what we had to do to save each other.”
“Why are you defending her?” Charlotte asked Chloe curiously. “Not long ago, you wanted Nadine dead. You would have considered her death a necessity, the same way you have justified the deaths of other people you have killed. Who are you to decide who lives and who dies?”
“We’re nobody,” Chloe said. “Nobody gets to justify those deaths, because they can’t be justified. Octavia Falls isn’t much different from this place. Up there, it’s kill or be killed, but we shouldn’t have to make that choice in the first place. There is a third path—just as Nadine and I came together to end our curse, the coven must come together to end their conflict. Here in the Abyss, you could stop the torture, if you all just agreed to get along.”
The crowd around us laughed, like the suggestion was impossible.
Charlotte paced in front of the podium. “You don’t believe any of that. Isn’t that correct, Chloe? Our Seers do not lie. You have slipped potions into people’s drinks without their knowledge, called them the worst of slurs, gossiped behind their backs and made up lies, broke into their rooms to destroy their belongings, cast hexes and threw punches, humiliated them?—”
“I know what I’ve done!” Chloe shouted, cutting her off. “I did what I thought I had to do at the time to protect myself, and I went too far. I thought when Nadine came to town, she was going to get me killed, so I had to stand up for myself. I may have started it, but Nadine kept it going. Every time I did something bad, Nadine came back with something worse.”
I gaped. “How can you say that? You literally tried to hang me.”
“You put me in the hospital!” Chloe shot back as tears rose to her eyes.
