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Another puzzle piece fits into place. “What did you do to Jennie Sauter?”
Maura folds her arms across her chest, smirking. “She ran off. Didn’t you hear?”
“Did she really? Don’t lie to me. ” I smooth my black skirts, hands trembling.
Maura tosses her head, curls dancing. “They’re not witches, Cate. Having them here put us all in danger. I was rectifying your mistake. ”
My anger simmers like a teakettle, but I ignore the jab. “If anyone recognizes them—if they’re arrested—they’ll be executed without a trial. Did that occur to you?”
“We only erased their memories from the last few weeks—since the night of the Harwood breakout. They won’t know how they escaped, but they’ll know enough to be careful,” Maura explains, in a tone that implies she’s done them a great kindness.
“Who is ‘we’?” I ask.
“Parvati and me. She needed to practice. ” Maura lifts her chin, forestalling my outburst. “I stand behind what I did. To them, to the Head Council—and to Finn. I’m not ashamed of any of it, so don’t you stand there and judge me. ”
“I do judge you!” It tears from my throat. “If Mother could see you, she would be ashamed of you. I’m ashamed of you. ”
Maura recoils as though I’ve slapped her. “How dare you speak for her! Do you think she would be proud of you, turning your back on me over a man? A man who doesn’t even remember you, at that? What kind of great love affair do you suppose you had, if he could forget you so easily?”
I lunge for her. In the fury of the moment, I forget magic and simply throw myself at her, knocking her back into the wall, the way I would have when we were children. I don’t care if we wake the entire convent.
“What is wrong with you two?” Elena whisper-shouts, storming down the hall. She grabs Maura’s arm and whips her around. Her chocolate eyes are snapping; every line of her elegant body is tense. I’ve never seen her like this. Not when I lied to her about my mind-magic. Not when I dismissed her and threw her out of the house.
She glares at Maura. “I heard what you said. Bad enough that you did this to her, but to taunt her about it?”
Her defense only makes me angrier. It brings back memories I’d sooner forget.
“You’re one to talk. ” My throat feels rusty. “You threatened to compel Finn once yourself. Perhaps that’s where Maura got the idea. ”
Elena hardly spares me a glance. “I didn’t mean it, Cate. I wouldn’t have. ”
I want to grab her, shake her until her teeth rattle in her pretty head. As threats go, it was damned convincing. Convincing enough for me to get up on the dais and announce that I’d join the Sisterhood instead of marrying Finn.
Lord, where would I be if she hadn’t threatened Finn? Married. Happy. It’s her fault as much as Maura’s. Hers and Cora’s and— I take a deep breath as my magic rises again. I can’t lose control or I don’t know where it will stop. It won’t be innocuous, snow and feathers. If I lose control now, there will be blood.
I can picture them flying down the hall, splintering the stained glass window above the window seat, falling to the cobblestones three stories below. Their bodies thump like heavy bags of flour to the ground. Maura’s red hair and Elena’s coral dress are bright against the pillow of snow that fell overnight; Elena’s black hair and Maura’s dress are shadows against it. Their bodies are bent at horrible, unnatural angles.
For a moment, I am lost to the violence of it. Then I blink, shoving the magic down into the hidden spaces between muscle and bone.
That’s not what I want.
Was it just a few weeks ago at Harwood that Brenna said I would kill, and I believed in my heart of hearts I could never hurt either of my sisters?
I could now.
“This has to stop, Maura,” Elena hisses. “Cora would have exiled you for it. ”
“Cora’s dead. ” Maura’s voice is careless, but her eyes don’t quite match. “Lucky for me, I suppose. ”
“Don’t you disrespect her like that. ” Elena is two inches shorter than Maura and petite where Maura is voluptuous, but she seems to tower over Maura nonetheless. “She took me in when my parents died. She was a good woman. ”
Maura’s mouth twists. “Better than me, you mean. ”
“Better than both of us put together. ” Elena shakes her head. “Maura, you can’t let Inez make you—”
“Inez believes in me. ” Maura lounges against the green-papered wall as if she hasn’t a care in the world, but I can see the way she draws in great gulps of air. This has unsettled her more than she’d admit. “I know why you hate her. You thought you’d be next in line after Cora. You’ve always been ambitious. ”
“And because of it, I’ve made mistakes. I’ve hurt people I cared about. ” Elena reaches out, her fingers curling around Maura’s black sleeve. “I’m sorry, Maura. I never should have lied, never should have pretended that that kiss didn’t mean something when it did. ”
Maura wavers. She sways toward Elena, erasing the inches between them. “Why are you doing this?” Her eyes are wary. Elena is so lovely, her brown skin glowing against the coral silk of her dress, her black hair in perfect ringlets. “Why now? You haven’t spoken to me like this in ages. ”
“Because you made it abundantly clear you wanted nothing to do with me. ” Elena throws up her hands. “I thought you needed time. But I can’t stand by any longer. Erasing the council’s memories, attacking Finn, tossing Jennie out onto the street—that’s not the girl I fell in love with. I care for you too much to let you go on like this. ”
I cringe back against the nearest doorway. It’s the wrong thing for her to say. Maura will go right past “in love with” and only hear—
“Let me? I hardly need your permission. ” Maura scowls. “You chose Cate over me, remember? You gave up any right you had to weigh in on my decisions. ”
Elena tosses a glance over her shoulder. My presence here isn’t making this easier for either of them.
“Cate doesn’t mean half what you mean to me, and if you weren’t so utterly consumed by this rivalry between the two of you, you’d see it. For Persephone’s sake, Maura,” she swears. “Why do you think I’m standing here embarrassing myself like this? You’re the one that I want, the only one I’ve ever wanted, and you’re the only one too stupid to see it. ”
Elena curls her hand behind Maura’s neck, pulls Maura’s face down to hers, and kisses her.
Maura looks stunned, her blue eyes wide. Stunned and—ravenous, somehow. Her eyes flutter shut; her mouth begins to move hungrily against Elena’s.
Anger rushes through me. Part of me wants to scream and shout and stamp my feet. She doesn’t get to have this! Not after what she’s taken from me. It isn’t fair.
But this might be the only thing that can save her.
And Elena’s been my friend.
So I slip back down the hall and into my room, and I shut the door.
• • •
Half an hour later, I’m back in the hall, hammering my fist on a different door.