Chapter 23

Evie

Barataria Preserve, Marrero, Louisiana

E vie’s body was shaking, partially at the enormity of the coven's lie but mostly from disbelief. Shocked tears poured down her face. “I killed my mother?”

Cassandra shrugged a shoulder, the move shifting her long ponytail. “I don’t know whether you killed her or not. I could never see that much of your history, although, trust me, I did try. So many times I tried. But all I could ever see—all I could ever sense—was blood and death and ancient magics. Nothing more.”

“That’s why you always treated me differently. Why you did all of those spells over the years.” Evie sat up a bit straighter within the protective cage of Cole’s arms. “What, were you worried I would turn on the coven?’

“No!” Chloe exclaimed, reaching out toward the girl—no, woman—she had raised. “No, we never thought of you as anything other than a sister! We loved you just the same.”

Unease lay thick across the circle as the coven elders noticeably shifted. “No. You didn’t.” Evie stared at them in confusion. “Why would you lie to me now? There’s no benefit to lying anymore. Not after… not after everything that’s happened tonight.”

Above her head, Cole’s voice rang out unexpectedly. “What happened to the dog?”

For the first time since her outburst, Hesteia spoke up. “You’re the one who caused all of this, trespasser. We don’t owe you any answers.”

“No,” Evie interjected frostily. “No, you don’t get to pin any of this on him. Yes, I found out about all of this because of Cole. But this… you all were the ones who hid it from me for… ” She trailed off as she tried to quickly calculate her age based on the barely remembered birthdate from the folder, but it was Cole who quietly supplied, “Almost 32 years.” He folded her back into his chest when she began shivering again. “You hid this from me for so long. So you’ll answer any question I have. Which includes any question that Cole may have since he’s the only one here who hasn’t lied to me my entire life. So answer. What happened to the dog?”

Chloe sighed deeply. “It just… vanished.”

“What? How does a three-headed dog just vanish?”

The two women’s shoulders shrugged in sequence, but Chloe answered for them both, holding Cassandra’s hand while she did. “After Cassie woke up and told me what she saw—”

“What I could remember of it,” Cassandra interjected.

"—What she could remember of what she saw,” Chloe amended. “We were distracted. When we finally turned our attention back to you, the beast was just… gone. We were still reconciling that this innocent-looking child was responsible for a grisly murder, so, not only were we a bit shellshocked, but we were also more concerned with our safety than the missing dog.”

As if Chloe's mention of the dead woman was a signal, Hesteia raised her eyebrows at Cole and commented mildly, “Mr. Aidoneus, you seem remarkably unfazed by the fact that our Evie may be a murderer. Why exactly is that?”