Chapter 18 How Madness Breathes
Seri
I wrapped my fingers around my mug, savoring the last of my chamomile tea. My three husbands had disappeared to the basement not twenty minutes ago to “introduce themselves” to Eluned, and I didn’t try to imagine what that meant.
Before they’d left, Casimir had assured me that my stepsister was secured with an enchanted cord that bound her power. He’d also apologized for not having something called a Hexenf?nger ready.
I shook my head. We’d lived at Evermere for three weeks. It only made sense they were still organizing things to suit their needs as monster hunters.
Although I surely hope we don’t have Dark witches as ‘guests’ in the basement very often.
The kitchen door swung open with a bang, and I nearly spilled what remained of my tea.
My husbands trooped in, two of them looking like they’d wrestled with exactly what they had: A monster crawfish.
Mud, lake water, and something slimy clung to their clothes and hair, and I had a sneaking suspicion they were going to skip the hunt they’d originally planned for this morning and wrap me up in cotton for at least the rest of the day.
Then Brumous followed them into the kitchen, that enormous crawfish claw still clamped in his jaws. He pranced around, his tail wagging victoriously as he dragged it with him.
“Absolutely not!” Mrs. Wentzel appeared from the pantry, wooden spoon raised like a weapon. “That disgusting thing is not allowed in a food preparation area!”
Brumous froze, blue eyes wide with the perfect blend of innocence and mischief. I’d never seen an animal pout until that moment, and I chuckled a little.
“Outside, Senor Lobo,” Addison said quietly.
Coming out of the pantry behind his abuela, he opened the back door and gestured with his hand. Brumous’ ears drooped for a moment before perking up again. With a happy little bounce, he trotted outside with his prize, Addison following.
With that resolved, my husbands surrounded me like I was the only beacon in a storm. Heedless of the crawfish goo covering him, Zane wrapped me in a bear hug and swung me around in a full circle. Thankfully, I hadn’t changed out of my wet dress and Casimir’s ruined sweater yet.
“That was so ridiculously, brilliantly Seri,” he growled into my neck, the vibration sending ticklish shivers down my spine.
“What does that even mean?” I giggled, clinging to his shoulders.
“It means,” he said, pulling back enough to look at me with eyes that sparkled with pride and something deeper, “that you’re the bravest, most unexpected miracle I’ve ever met.”
Before I could respond, Koa gently extracted me from Zane’s grip. Slower, more carefully, he folded me into his chest, one arm behind my bent knees and the other a solid bar across my back. He didn’t say a word, just kissed my forehead, my cheeks, my nose, my chin, and finally my lips.
The tenderness in the gesture nearly brought tears to my eyes. I’d gone from a place where no one touched me with kindness to one where I received it in abundance, and sometimes the contrast still overwhelmed me.
“Now that you’re both assured she’s alive and well,” Casimir snipped from where he stood with arms crossed, “Seri, what do you want us to do about Eluned?”
I didn’t have to ask what he meant. They would kill her in the end, but they wanted to know if I needed her to suffer first.
“Amabel was cruel by choice,” I said, watching their expressions. “But Eluned? She was shaped by circumstances beyond her control.”
“You can’t be serious.” Koa bristled and sat me back on the bar stool. “After everything she’s done to you, you want to let her go?”
“No! No, I’m never going to forgive any Harrow for what they did. Just don’t draw it out. And I want to see her one last time.”
“For what purpose?” Casimir asked, his tone neutral, but his green eyes were sharp.
“I need to look her in the eyes and remove her from my heart and mind.”
The three of them exchanged glances, one of those silent conversations they’d perfected long before I entered their lives. Eventually, Casimir gave a short nod.
“If that’s what you need,” he said, “then that’s what you’ll have.”
“She isn’t in the best condition,” Zane warned.
“Mentally? I know that.” I furrowed my brows, and that earned a chuckle from Koa for some reason.
“She’s dirty and bruised,” Casimir specified.
“Oh.” I shrugged. “That’s fine.”
That earned a sharp bark of laughter from Mrs. Wentzel, who had been pretending not to listen while aggressively chopping vegetables.
“Out!” she commanded, waving her knife at all of us. “All of you, out of my kitchen before I can no longer salvage lunch!”
“I need to know where that woman learned to fire a rifle so accurately from a thousand yards,” Koa grunted on the way to the basement.
That reminded me to ask about the gargoyles.
“I know there are two at the main gates, but they didn’t intervene during the hawk incident, or just now with Eluned.”
“Their current orders are to prevent entrance onto the property by anyone other than us from moonrise to moonset,” Casimir explained. “I wasn’t kidding about getting more, specifically to respond during daylight hours.”
“That seems like overkill,” I told him with a little frown.
“Overkill is obviously what’s required to keep you alive.”
I stuck my tongue out at his back, and Zane and Koa laughed.
#
The basement stairs creaked under our feet as we descended into the cold space below Evermere, lit only by Casimir’s flashlight. My heart thumped against my ribs, but not from fear. Not this time.
For years, Eluned had haunted my nightmares, her voice the soundtrack to my suffering. Now she was the one made powerless, and I was the one who would walk away free.
Casimir’s hand at the small of my back was a steady anchor, his touch protective without being controlling, as we stopped before a closed door at the far end of the corridor.
He turned to face me, his green eyes searching mine with a look I’d come to recognize.
It was his way of measuring. Was I ready? Was I strong enough? Would I break?
I met his gaze without flinching, chin slightly lifted. The corners of his mouth curved up, just a hint of approval softening his features.
“You don’t have to do this, Seri.”
“I do, though. For me.”
Giving me a sharp nod, he reached past me and threw open the door, palming the light switch just inside.
“Little mouse, little mouse,” Eluned’s voice slithered into my ears, “nibbling on stale bread.”
“Want me to silence her, beloved?” Koa whispered in my ear.
“No.” My hand found his. “Let her sing.”
A harsh fluorescent glow flooded what looked like a storage room converted into a makeshift holding cell. The space was mostly empty except for some shelving units against one wall and Eluned sitting on the floor in a puddle.
Her silly wedding dress was torn and stained a murky gray from the lake water with streaks of algae like green accents. Her dark hair hung in tangles around her face, bits of duckweed and twigs caught in the snarls. And still her eyes blazed with hatred and mania.
“Well, well,” she drawled as Zane went in first, “the red fox returns to play. I knew you couldn’t resist me for long.”
Zane snorted, moving to lean against the shelving unit with deliberate casualness.
As Koa entered next, Eluned’s smile turned predatory.
“And the dark prince, too. Did you tell your little wife how much fun we had earlier? How your hands felt around my—”
“Don’t.” Koa’s growl was a subsonic roll through the small room.
“Why?” She pouted, making me roll my eyes. “Afraid she’ll be jealous?”
Casimir stepped in next, his gaze barely flicking toward her.
“Of what?” he muttered, positioning himself against the opposite wall, arms crossed.
“The golden boy speaks!” Eluned cackled, straining against the enchanted cord binding her hands and magic. “Tell me, do you all take turns with her? Can she satisfy even one of you properly?”
I remained in the doorway, watching this display just out of her sight. In the past, her words would have cut me to ribbons, each syllable another wound on my heart. Now they felt hollow, like the hissing of a snake whose fangs had been snapped.
Once, my only strategy against the Harrows had been silence, a retreat into myself where they couldn’t follow. But that had been a shield, not a sword. Now I had both: the strength to protect myself and the power to fight back.
With a deep breath, I stepped inside the room. Three sets of eyes tracked my every step, alert and ready to intervene if needed.
As I moved closer, I noticed that Eluned seemed smaller somehow. Diminished. She didn’t meet my eyes, but she was aware of my presence. I knew because she began to sing in that creepy little girl voice she used when she was taunting someone beyond reason.
“Hickory dickory dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck four
The mouse said ‘NO MORE’
Hickory dickory dock.”
Her head tilted at an unnatural angle, her eyes wild as she stared just past my shoulder.
“Tick tock tick tock.”
“Shut up, bitch!” Koa roared, taking a step forward, his fists clenched at his sides, and I hooked my index finger in his belt loop to stop him from charging her.
She laughed, and I waited until it trailed off before I spoke.
“I pity you, Eluned. ”
Her head snapped up, her eyes finally meeting mine.
“Pity?” she spat. “I made you eat ashes! I pushed you into the fire! I watched you starve! I hurt you! Over and over!”
“Yes,” I agreed with a sad little smile, “you did all of those things. And now look at you.”
Her face twisted with rage, and I gently drove the knife in just a little deeper.
“You never had a chance, did you? To be anything other than what you are? Instead of helping you like she should have, Arabesque only made you hollow.”
“Hollow?! I am a Harrow! I am—”
“Rotting,” I finished. “Like everything she touches.”