Page 79

“Oh, my baby.” Victoria all but scooped Lark up in her arms, lifting her off the ground with surprising strength for someone of her age. Though what age was she really?

“You have to understand, Seren will do anything! Seren will lay her life down⁠—”

“Lark, Seren is a big girl. And Seren is the strongest person I know. She can take care of herself. And of you. Of us all, really. And nobody is alone in the Nest, my songbird. You are not alone. You don’t have to do this by yourself.”

“It’s not about that. It’s not about the alone part. It’s about the doing part, Victoria. I have done nothing but run for a decade. Run and hide. A no-name, no-face nobody. And I am tired of it. Tired of the fear and tired of the pain. I need to stand up for myself, and I need to protect what is becoming my home. What perhaps was always my home.” Lark laid a hand on Victoria’s face, the wrinkles under the wise, pale green eyes deepening. Tears flickered on the long white lashes.

Lark felt her throat shut.

“I—”

“Well, my pet, isn’t this a touching scene.”

Lark absorbed the voice like a blow to the back of her head. It might as well have been.

She turned slowly, feeling Victoria very close behind her, propping her up, a steadying hand on her shoulder, suddenly very hot, magically so.

The man in front of her had aged. The years had not been kind at all.

“Magnus.” Lark tried to swallow despite the spikes and razors lining her throat.

“I looked for you for ten years, love of my life.”

“You burned my things, Magnus⁠—”

“I had a moment of weakness, but God gave me strength. To forgive you. To look past. To accept you with all your flaws, your mistakes and your sins.”

“My flaws? My mistakes?” Lark felt something she had never experienced in the presence of this man rise inside her.

Anger.

Pure and bright and sharp. And liberating.

“Your rash actions to cut out your womb. It’s a sin to mutilate yourself, my pet.”

“I had cancer.”

“A trial for sure. A test. To overcome, to rise above. And we would have prayed for God to be merciful. To heal you. He would have healed you. The parish would have prayed for you. They are still all praying for you right now. Your family. Your mother. She misses you, my dear girl. She wants you to come home. To me. And then you’d atone, and I’d forgive you and⁠—”

“You’re insane.”

Magnus took a step closer, his long arms and legs like spider’s limbs. His smile was pure venom, saccharine and deadly. Lark shivered but stood her ground. His face registered the lack of fear, confusion visible for a second. Victoria’s hand on Lark’s shoulder did not waver, and neither did her voice.

“I hope you have life insurance, Rathcross. Just so someone in your godforsaken existence gets something out of your very much past timely death. And it will be even more past that timeliness if you take another step.” Victoria patted Lark’s shoulder, and her hand slid lower till their fingers were intertwined. She moved to stand side by side with Lark.

“This doesn’t concern you, crone.” Magnus did not remove his eyes from Lark’s face until Victoria’s loud and joyful laughter pierced the cold air.

“You think a word can move me, you monster? Crones like me have faced beasts like you for ages. You’ve set enough of us on fire and to the noose to have me hold dear to a small, vengeful part of my heart that promises to tear you to pieces with my bare hands.”

Magnus lifted his graying eyebrows, the words cutting enough to get his attention.

“You are my wife, pet⁠—”

“I am not yours. And I am most certainly not a pet, Magnus. Leave. Leave now. Leave the town, the island, the state. And leave me. There is nothing for you here.” Lark was very proud that she sounded calm and rational. She had felt powerless and afraid and alone, and for ten years, even contemplating saying these words out loud had been an unimaginable fantasy.

Here she was, however. Standing her ground. Speaking. Not cowering nor hiding from the man whose fists had broken her way too many times. And she was prouder still that she could see every single word of hers hit Magnus dead in the center of his chest. He rocked back on his heels.

“You heard her, motherfucker.” Victoria’s voice was all acid.