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Her chest grew tight, regret burning through her.
“You just passed out last night,” Tallak said before she could put words to the swirling mess inside her, his voice holding gruff worry. “And you slept for twelve hours.”
She sucked in a breath. “That long?” Sighing, she closed her eyes for a moment. “I was so exhausted after—”
She broke off, the details of last night’s events rushing to the fore. With a shudder, she remembered the way it had felt to drive the dagger into Juneau’s chest, how the blade had gotten stuck on a rib, forcing her to hold Juneau down with one hand while she yanked the knife out again. The sensation of that would haunt her for the rest of her life.
“I can’t believe Juneau was there,” she murmured, shaking her head. “And Selene? I had no idea it was her. I mean, after the tracing spell spat out the Laroche name, I knew it had to be one of them, but I suspected Sophie…”
Tallak rubbed his thumb over her palm. “I can fill in the blanks on that one.” When she glanced at him, he shrugged and added, “I took Selene’s memories. It was all in there.”
“Tell me.”
He sighed. “Selene was very close with Juneau, and from the shit she believed…that apple didn’t fall far from the tree. She followed right in her granny’s footsteps. Wiping out all demons in Portland with a ward spell of epic proportions would be just the thing to make the old witch proud. Selene knew she needed power for it. Lots of power. A blood sacrifice would do the job and even help her get around her family’s lack of magic, so that’s what she did. But her mother caught on to her.”
“She did?”
“Yeah. Sophie found out what Selene was doing, and she tried to talk sense into her, to get her to stop. Wasn’t like Sophie really disagreed with the end goal, but she didn’t like how Selene was going about it. She knew if the Elders got wind of this, they’d kill Selene. That’s why Sophie didn’t turn her in.”
Hazel gritted her teeth. “So she knew what was going on, but she didn’t say anything. Didn’t stop her.”
“Oh, she tried. Sophie was afraid of what would happen if Selene completed the spell—a ward of that magnitude? The council would investigate, and then they’d find out about the murdered humans and the black magic, so Sophie wanted to keep her from killing more and completing the spell. That’s what the whole head-of-family transfer was for. To get the Laroches access to ambient magic again, yes, but Sophie’s main intention was to have a way to magically command Selene to stop.”
Hazel sucked in a breath. “Right. Because with Juneau caught in the Shadows, Sophie had no magical authority over her own family. But if she did, she could give Selene an order, and she’d have to comply.”
“Exactly. And that’s what Sophie tried to do right after the head-of-family transfer. She took Selene aside for one last ‘talk’ to get her to stop, because she wanted to give her this last chance to comply without having to force her. Sophie brought Juneau with her, hoping grandma would side with her and talk sense into Selene. Only problem was, Juneau didn’t side with Sophie.” He made a dramatic pause. “Instead, she knocked her out cold.”
“What?”
“Turns out, Juneau really agreed with Selene’s plan, so she attacked Sophie from behind, managed to drop her, and then gave Selene two thumbs up and an ‘Attagirl!’ Selene laid a spell on Sophie that would keep her knocked out for the night, and locked her in a spare room. She and Juneau then left together to grab the last victim and prep the ritual, and that’s where we entered the scene.”
“Oh my gods.” Hazel rubbed her face with both hands, then massaged her temples, her eyes closed. “What a fucking mess.”
Tallak’s snort made her look at him again. His eyes sparkled, a wry smile on his lips.
“What?”
“You’ve started cursing,” he said softly, a note of praise in his voice.
“Well,” she said with a flail of her hands, “sometimes, ‘Gosh darn it!’ just doesn’t cut it!”
He laughed, and the sight of it stopped her heart for a moment. Compellingly attractive as he was at any time, when he laughed or smiled with true, unadulterated amusement and mirth, it transformed him from beautiful to breathtakingly gorgeous. She could watch him like this forever, just get drunk on his laughter.
“I really have corrupted you,” he said with a smile, but then he sobered, his eyes turning serious. “Speaking of which, how does your magic feel?”
She frowned and turned her attention inward, sensing her magic. “Mostly normal,” she said after a few seconds. “There’s just a little…how do I describe it? Kind of a wrong aftertaste, if you will. Like there’s a seasoning in a meal that doesn’t quite belong, that makes it taste off somehow. If I focus on it, I can sense that it’s sort of rotten.”
His brows drew together in concern. “Maybe it’ll fade with time.”
“Maybe,” she echoed, though a part of her knew it would stay.
But she’d made her peace with that. Because she’d rather have some of her magic tainted than not have…him.
And Lily. Rhun. Merle’s baby.
So many lives saved. So much tragedy averted.
Her mind tracked to another tragedy, one she didn’t manage to prevent, no matter how hard she’d tried.
