None of this was making sense. Find doorways? For what? Sera needed to get to Nora. She could be hurt. Demons could be torturing her sister right now. “But, Chair, no one has ever—”

  “She will do it,” Lavinia said from behind her.

  Renata’s smile was triumphant.

  “Captain Alcott, would you be able to bring Witch Wildrick with you and still succeed in your mission?”

  “If that is what the Council wishes, then it will be so,” he said matter-of-factly. The baritone in his voice gave her an involuntary shiver. His blue Legion uniform accentuated his biceps and tapered waist. Standing at ease with his feet shoulder-width apart, he was almost a full head taller than her. Heat rose from her neck to her cheeks.

  “Then I call for a vote,” Chair Renata said. “All in favor of allowing Seraphina Wildrick to accompany Captain Alcott on his quest to find the oracle, say aye.”

  She held her breath. Three months ago, she’d thought the destruction of Feybury would be the event that got her killed. She’d been expecting Legion soldiers at her door, but that never came. But now, as the chairs were about to seal her fate, she couldn’t help but think she’d never see the Citadel again. She’d never see Dom or Nora or her mother ever again.

  “Aye.” Blackwell.

  “Nay.” Corbin.

  “Nay.” Thorne.

  “Aye.” Briar.

  “With my vote of aye, the motion is approved. Seraphina Wildrick, you will report directly to the barracks within twenty-four hours to Captain Alcott. Please ensure your affairs are in order. Your occupational mentor will be alerted,” Chair Renata announced.

  That was it.

  “Meeting adjourned.” Chair Blackwell stood from his throne.

  Her mother turned on her heel and exited the chamber, not sparing Sera a second glance. She’d gotten what she wanted.

  “Thank you for allowing me to save my sister,” Sera said, and bowed to the chairs. She glanced at Alistair. He kept his face forward, his chin high, not even a hint of acknowledgment.

  Seraphina bowed once more and left.

  Chapter eight

  Seraphina

  Dark clouds hung over the stalls and tents of the open market in the middle of Citadel proper. Petrichor hung heavy in the air, and if Sera was to guess, the sea on the other side of the Citadel walls was probably raging.

  Dominick was uncharacteristically quiet. She’d told him about the meeting with her mother and the Council the day before. About her new assignment and the bickering between the chairs. The only part she’d left out was who was taking her. It was not going to make him feel any better about Colton.

  “What about a scarf?” Dominick asked.

  “During summer?” She had no idea what she needed or what would be provided to her. All she knew was that she was grateful Dom had agreed to tag along, even if that meant a mark against him.

  “Good point.” Dominick shrugged and wrapped the hideous blue lace scarf around the front of his head, tucking it behind his ears. He loved reenacting that old joke from when they were children—his poor substitute for long hair.

  “Put that back,” she hissed, hoping the vendor didn’t see him. Dominick smirked, folded the scarf haphazardly, and placed it back on the table.

  The market was set up along a side street. Fluttering flags danced in the sea breeze. The Jedan workers displayed the Council's goods on racks with signs that seemed to change color with every passing moment.

  Sera greeted the Jedan member manning a tent with leather goods.

  “Is there anything I can help you with, Keeper?” The warlock kept his eyes averted, but she knew who he was. How he’d been sleeping in the Jedan streets beside the buckets of ash and waste.

  “Just these,” she said and pointed to a pair of black gloves.

  “What in the world do you need gloves for?” Dominick asked and rolled his eyes.

  Needing them wasn’t the point. It was the fact that this warlock had now brought in a sale. And though profits were meant for the city, not a Jedan member’s pocket, he’d be incentivized with better lodgings if he sold enough. “You never know,” she said to Dom and winked at the warlock, who handed her the gloves as if they were precious.

  Sera slipped a few extra coins into the warlock’s empty tin cup and followed Dominick down the row, passing a booth selling pocket mirrors. “How am I going to talk to you?” she asked. “I don’t think these can be used over long distances.”

  “Maybe you can sweet-talk your captain into using whatever he communicates with.” Dominick winked at her.

  “About that…” Colton and Alistair had been inseparable most of their lives. Out on the streets, causing chaos among the quarters, bloody from fights, and then accepting their punishments. The two had entered the Legion together. Sera assumed that they’d been placed in the same battalion. Apparently this wasn’t the case, or at least not anymore.

  But that wasn’t why she hadn’t told Dominick. She worried that after the conversation they’d had at Mystic’s, he’d be upset, or worse, worried. “The captain is Alistair.”

  Dominick stopped walking. “Alistair is taking you on this adventure to find the doorways? He shouldn’t be out of the Legion ranks. He’s supposed to be with Colton.”

  “I’m aware.” She chewed on the inside of her cheek while her friend fretted and scratched that spot under his ear.

  “I’m going to send another message to Colton tonight. Wait—didn’t you?”

  “Please don’t say it.” As if the curdling embarrassment churning in her gut wasn’t enough. It had to be Alistair.

  “Oh, is Shadow punishing you, Seraphina?”

  “Seems like it.” She groaned.

  “For what it’s worth, I’m glad he’s the one protecting you. At least I can threaten him to keep his hands to himself, or… you know… if you want, I could—”

  “Don’t you dare!”

  Despite Dom’s jokes, Sera didn’t feel any less guilty, like she was responsible for separating Colton from Al. Every move she made lately was leaving a permanent scar on the people she loved. Nora taken, her mother harmed, Dominick worried: When would it end?

  They continued through the market, while worry furrowed Dom’s brow. “How did he look? I’m sure he’s hot now. He never stopped by during their leave.”

  Sera cursed under her breath. “I only saw him for a moment,” she said, passing a vendor who sold candied nuts. The mouthwatering scent of spices and sugar had her wishing she could bring some with her.

  “Oh, I bet there was something to see.” Dom kept a steady pace, his hands in the pockets of his gray oracle robes. Whether it was meant to get rid of his anxiety or hers, she wasn’t sure, but this string of teasing wasn’t going to end until they reached the barracks. “See, I know how the Legion likes to bulk them up. It’s always better to have a sword for backup if you’re close to burnout. Colton came back looking like he had been lifting boulders all summer, eating eight meals a day.”

  “Your brother was always exceptionally tall for a warlock, so it doesn’t surprise me that he bulked out.” The cobblestone changed to smooth white pavers as they crossed the threshold into Daedeth Quarter.

  “I’ll be sure to tell him just how bulky you think he is next time he’s home.”

  Sera smacked his arm with the back of her hand as they continued down the street. “I need to stop at my mother’s to say goodbye. You wouldn’t be willing to come with me, would you?”

  “I’ll meet you at the corner when you’re done and walk you to the barracks. There’s something I forgot at the market.” Dominick wiggled his eyebrows and turned down a side street.

  Before Sera could knock on the door to her mother’s row house, it swung open.

  “You’ve finished packing,” Lavinia said with her typical cold tone. Her dark skin still had a contrasting white patch covering the back of her hand. But the blisters and swelling had disappeared. It seemed even the most skilled healers couldn’t return the color Sera’s abomination had leeched from her skin. The sight of it caused a thickness in the back of her throat. “How about you worry less about what my hand looks like and focus on saving your sister?”

  Sera huffed. “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

  “I wish you would learn to keep your walls up,” Lavinia snapped, pressing a finger to her own temple. Then she turned and left her daughter in the entryway.

  Sera rebuilt that wall around her memories and held it there. It was so similar to the cage she kept around her darkness. With such a small well of magic, maintaining both the wall and the cage drained her more than usual. She had tried do something with the abomination, utilize it in a way that might be useful. She’d tried building stronger defenses around her memories with the sometimes inky, sometimes flaming darkness. It didn’t work—every time, her mother powered straight through it.

  The pressure in her chest increased with each step her mother took toward her. Lavinia’s arm extended with something dangling between her fingers.

  A stone raven hanging from a cord.

  “Your father wished me to give this to you one day. I suppose today is as good a day as any,” she said with a grimace. Sera could have sworn her mother shuddered, but that wasn’t possible. Lavinia Wildrick wasn’t afraid of anything.

  “Father left this for me?” Sera asked and held out her hand. Her mother dropped it, then snatched her arm back to her side. Sera rolled the small bird in her palm. It was cool and lighter than she’d expect a solid stone pendant to be.

  Her father had died when Nora was still in their mother’s belly. Sera had been only three. Her mother explained years later that he had died in the last skirmish before the ceasefire. Sera barely remembered him. Sometimes, she saw flashes of his kind brown eyes in her dreams. She remembered how he would spin her around in circles, sending her into a fit of giggles. He was safety and love, and when he was gone, their home froze over.

  Sera tied the cord around her neck.

  “Get her back, Seraphina. Bring her home.” Lavinia put her whitened hand atop Sera’s head and whispered her departing words. “Out of the darkness and into the light.” Her mantra she’d repeated for her daughters since they were witchlings. All the times Sera had left the house, her mother stopping her with that phrase—a kiss on the cheek before leaving for studies. Even now, as an adult, Lavinia would place a palm over Sera’s head in goodbye after their monthly dinners.

  Lavinia’s lower lip quivered, her amber eyes cased in glass. If only those tears were for Sera. For just one moment, she wished she could read her mother’s mind. See the terrible things that she’d witnessed in that demon’s memories.

  “I’ll do whatever I can,” she said. “Even if it’s barely anything at all.”

  She left and slammed the door behind her.

  A roaring crashed in her ears, wave after wave of fury, whipping her abomination into a frenzy. She was surprised the lock on the well held tight.

  Dominick was waiting for her at the intersection with his head tilted, squinting as if he could see her inner conflict brewing. He started to speak, but she held her hand up to stop him.

  Years and years of insufferable comments and shame poured onto her day after day from her mother. Always, Sera had held her tongue. Did she owe her mother everything? Yes. Was she sick of being treated as a failure? Also yes. But that nagging sensation in the base of her skull, telling her that she still needed Lavinia’s protection, was boiling over. Sera was sick of needing anyone. She wanted to be self-reliant and strong. She wanted to be… like her mother.

  “Give me a minute,” she said to Dom and turned toward the barracks. For once, Dominick listened.

  When had her relationship with her mother changed? When had the attention she so craved as a child led to dismissal? Sera didn’t remember exactly, but nighttime tales as she was tucked into bed had turned into slammed doors and a dark room. Since then, she’d been chasing her mother’s approval.

  All Nora had to do was breathe, and she was blanketed with praise—the best of everything. The newest dresses, the prettier dolls; meanwhile, Sera got what she got. She’d been agreeable, even grateful, but that had turned to resentment as she grew older. And now that little voice in her head screamed and raged for the witchling she had been.

  As they rounded the corner, the barracks came into view. Half the massive building held the living quarters for the soldiers stationed in the Citadel. The other half was littered with training grounds and offices. Travertine pillars supported the domed roof, and one set of marble stairs ran the length of the building.

  She’d never been inside. And although she had always been curious to see the layout and the training grounds, Sera wished that she were witnessing it under different circumstances.

  “All right,” Sera said.

  Dominick exhaled like he’d been holding his breath for days.

  “You’re very dramatic, you know that, right?”

  “So you tell me all the time. Spill it.”

  “Just my mother. Nothing out of the ordinary.” Lavinia hadn’t even offered her a hug. It stung. Her mother knew she’d be leaving the Citadel walls. Still, she’d denied Sera affection. Or deemed her unworthy of it, and Sera wasn’t sure which was worse.

  “You need to stand up to her,” Dominick said sharply.

  “Why? So she can tell the Council I’m an abomination? No, I’d rather take her verbal lashings and get on with my life. Maybe one day, I won’t need her in it.” Sera cleared her throat and stopped before the steps leading to the barracks. “Plus, she gave me this necklace.”

  He winced. “It’s… nice?”

  “Apparently my father wanted me to have it. Honestly, I think it was too ugly for Nora to wear.” Sera said this but thought of her mother’s outstretched, trembling hand, the way she’d stepped back quickly as if the pendant would harm her.

  “If anyone else told me their mother treated them this way, I’d never believe them.” He reached out and lifted the raven tied around her neck. “Interesting…”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, rubbing the pendant between his thumb and forefinger. “There are strings—threads like I see in the pools. I can’t manipulate them, but they connect the bird with your heart.”

  “Maybe it’s enchanted?”

  “Speaking of enchanted.” He grinned and pulled something out of his robe. “I got you something. Well, I got us something.” Dominick handed her a leather-bound journal. “I had them enchanted, so when I write something in mine, it will show up in yours, and vice versa. That way, I can always be in contact with you.”

  Sera flipped through the blank pages, then cradled the notebook to her chest. “Thank you.” The corners of her eyes stung, and she knuckled away her tears. Dominick hugged her close and kissed her cheek. She was going to miss him. Writing wouldn’t be enough; she needed him. Dom was her home, and for the first time in sixteen years, they’d be apart.

  “I can’t wait to tell you how hard I railed Sam tomorrow,” he whispered in her ear before letting her go.

  Sera laughed, wiped her nose, and tapped him with the journal before placing it in her bag. Moons, he was impossible.

  “I need you to do something for me.”

  Dom stood there rocking on his heels, his hands deep in his robes, waiting for her request.

  “Under my mattress is some money. I need you to get it to Ithar. Tell him it’s from me, and he’ll know what to do with it.”

  “Give it to him when you come back.”

  “Dom…”

  “Fine! I’ll keep your little crusade of feeding the poor going while you’re gone, but I’m not doing anything past that.”

  She couldn’t help but smile at him. “Thank you.”

  “Shh, shh, here he comes,” Dominick said with a smirk.

  She quickly smoothed out her frizz before turning toward the captain. She had grown. They were no longer children. She could be mature about this.

  “My, my, he does look delicious in that uniform.”

  Sera sighed, mostly because Dom was impossible, but also because he was right.

  “I would climb him like a tree and ask him to carry me home after. Seraphina, you, my friend, are in deep trouble.” Dom straightened his robes. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him. “Alistair! Wonderful to see you. I thought you would still be in placement with Colton?”

  “Dom, been a while.” Alistair pulled Dominick in with a big slap on the back that left Dom coughing, then stepped back and pointed his chin toward Sera. “You were due at the barracks thirty minutes ago, and now we’re behind schedule.” Alistair crossed his arms, his body rigid, displaying his heavily muscled biceps. Some sort of intimidation tactic, or did he want her to notice them?

  Sera’s cheeks heated. Long gone was the scrawny, lanky warlock of their youth.

  “Oh, come now, Al. We’re all old friends here,” Dominick said.

  “I’m just saying my goodbyes. Mind giving me a little bit of privacy?” Sera had laced her question with more venom than she intended. Al shook his head before taking a few steps back.

  Dominick gave her a wily grin.

  “Don’t say it.”

  Dominick tilted his head. “Don’t say what, Seraphina Wildrick?”

  She ran a hand through her hair again. “This is going to be a nightmare.”

  “Listen to me,” Dominick said, hugging her again. “I love you. You will do this stupid quest, and then we will get Nora back. I’ll even petition to go with you next time.” It was easy for him to say: Dominick had access to a deep well of power. She had a little barrier magic and an abomination that needed to be suppressed. “I will write to you every day. I promise to pass along anything I find that may be helpful. Just do me a favor?”

  “What?” she asked.

  “Try not to catch feelings when he fucks you into oblivion.”