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“Good morning, Iris.” His lavender gaze slid to Rose, and something shifted behind those unusual eyes that were impossible to read. “Rose, how are you feeling this morning?”

I smiled. Because dhampir were void of emotion, they often struggled with social interaction, unable to read emotion and body language from others. The hounds had been teaching him how to be more tactful, which I found hilarious. They weren’t exactly the most diplomatic guys around, but they’d managed to teach him the basics, like asking her how she was instead of telling her how ill she looked. That alone was a seriously big improvement.

“Good, thank you,” she said huskily.

“I have your breakfast, and some fruit,” he said in his deep, mesmerizing voice. There was a container of strawberries next to her plate. We didn’t have any downstairs. They were from him. He always brought Roe food and tried to get her to eat more.

Rose blushed harder. She had a crush on the male that was easy to see, something else we never mentioned. Thankfully, Ronan was utterly clueless to the fact. She hated him seeing her like this, but he insisted on visiting with her. “W-where’s Magnolia? I thought she was bringing up my breakfast.”

“There’s some issue with the cemetery,” Ronan said, his gaze sliding to me. “Your mother said you were needed.”

“I better go see what’s happening.” Rose was safe with Ronan, I knew that without even the smallest of doubts. “I’ll be right back, promise,” I said to my sister and headed down the stairs. There was no one else in the house as I walked outside and down the path to the cemetery, Nia bounding along beside me. Relic stood beyond the ward surrounding our burial grounds, unable to pass, and he gave me a chin lift as I strode by.

Then I saw the rest of my family. Mom and Art in the center. Mags and Bram beside them.

Willow was closest. “What’s going on…” My words trailed off when I saw for myself. There were dead patches of grass all over the place. Plants drooping, most of our herb patches shriveled and brown. “What the hell is this?”

“I don’t know,” Willow said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Mom turned in a slow circle, the blood draining from her face. The cemetery was hers to look after. She and Arthur spent hours every day out here making sure everything was healthy and thriving, making sure Else and Mags had everything they needed, so we had a steady income. This place was not only the resting place of our ancestors, our loved ones, our most sacred of places—it was one of the major sources of our power.

“I don’t understand,” Mom said, tears welling in her eyes. “How could this have happened?”

Art wrapped his arms around her. “We’ll figure this out, Daisy.”

Mom dropped into a crouch and started breathing heavily, like she was trying to stop herself from being sick. Art rubbed her back. “We’ll take soil samples. There has to be an explanation for this. We’ll get to the bottom of it, my love.”

Mags strode over to me. “What the actual fuck is going on? Everything Else and I planted for our next batch of orders is dead.” She shoved her fingers in her hair. “This can’t be happening.”

Else hadn’t moved. She stood by Mom, and her face was a mask of devastation. Nia ran to her and pressed against her leg. Else absently reached down and petted her.

“I don’t understand this. How?” I whispered.

Mags paced away and back. “Do you think this could be some kind of sabotage? Retaliation?”

I turned from Mom and back to my youngest sister. “What do you mean?”

“Isaac and Sapphire Eldridge. Maybe they’ve been biding their time?”

Sapphire was a very distant cousin of Gran and Else, and up until Warrick killed her son Elmer, protecting Willow a year ago, she’d treated us as if we were an extension of her coven, or at least she’d tried to. The woman was formidable, powerful, and no one wanted to piss her off. And yes, we were now in her crosshairs. But this?

I took in the devastation again and shook my head. “Sapphire covets this place. She wants it above anything. She couldn’t bring herself to destroy it.”

Isaac, though, was a different story. He’d said many times that he wanted to destroy everything we loved. He’d actually said the words, “Burn it all down.” Poisoning our cemetery was far from a stretch when it came to him.

Mags planted her hands on her hips. “Then it has to be Isaac. You know that creep’s capable of anything,” she said, saying exactly what I was thinking.

“If this is sabotage, I can’t think of anyone else who would do this.” Besides Brody and his aunt Cora. But with Brody dead and Cora locked up somewhere, it could only be Isaac, he was past caring about anything beyond his thirst for revenge, and he’d made no secret of his hatred for us since his brother’s death.

It didn’t matter to him that his brother had tried to murder Willow or that Warrick took him out to protect her.

All Isaac cared about was that they’d been humiliated in front of everyone. Willow had defeated his brother in their combat trial fair and square and Elmer had lost his shit. Warrick’s actions had been justifiable, and the witch’s council had agreed. No action had been taken against our family. The Eldridges had lost the mother’s gifts as a result, losing a great deal of power, and the guy was desperate for revenge.

Mags was quick to point the finger where the Eldridge’s were concerned, but this time, I had to agree with her. I looked around the cemetery. Who else could have done this?

“Nia, stay,” I said when she turned toward me. I wouldn’t give the asshole ammunition by putting my girl in his sights. He was the kind of male to hurt her just to get to us.

Willow grabbed my arm. “What do you have planned?”