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“You realize what you’re giving up,” she said, and her voice held no anger. It was... hollow. “Your magic will diminish without coven connection. You’ll be vulnerable to every enemy I’ve ever made. You’ll have no family, no home, no protection.”

“I’ll have him,” I said simply. “And I’ll have myself. The self I actually am, not the one you designed.”

She stared at me for a long moment, her expression unreadable. Then she raised her hand, and the silver orb dissolved into light, flowing into her palm.

“So be it,” she whispered.

She spoke a word in a language older than English, older than Latin, a word that tasted like endings and beginnings. The light flared, blinding and beautiful, and I felt something tear inside me. A connection severing, a lineage ending, a door closing forever.

When the light faded, I was on my knees. My magic was still there, humming in my veins, but it felt different now. Lonelier. Smaller. Like a single candle instead of a bonfire.

My mother looked down at me, her face pale, her eyes wet.

“The curse is stayed,” she said, her voice rough. “He will not worsen. In three days, the coven will witness your exile, and I will dissolve the anchor. Go to him.”

I stood, my legs unsteady, my heart breaking and healing at the same time. “Mother...”

“Don’t.” She turned away, her shoulders rigid. “You made your choice. Live with it.”

I walked toward the door, each step heavier than the last. At the threshold, I paused.

“I love you,” I said quietly. “I always have. I just can’t be you anymore.”

She didn’t respond. Didn’t turn. Just stood in the center of the ritual chamber, alone with her power and her pride, while I walked out of her life forever.

The morning sun was rising when I reached Logan’s apartment. I let myself in with the key he’d given me, my hands shaking, my magic dimmed but present.

He was awake, sitting up in bed, his eyes wide with shock.

“Carolina,” he breathed. “What happened? I can feel... something’s different. The curse...”

“It’s quiet,” I said, my voice breaking. “She stayed the curse. You’re safe. When the coven ratifies my exile in three days, she’ll dissolve it permanently.”

He rose slowly from the bed.

His legs held.

Not gracefully. The curse still denied him that. But he stood without pain, without buckling, and without pitching face-first into the floor. He crossed the room in three careful steps and stared down at his body as though it had returned from somewhere terrible.

“How?” he asked, turning back to me. “What did you have to give her?”

“My place in the coven. My inheritance. Every future she planned for me.” I crossed to him and cradled his face between my hands. Tears blurred my vision, but I didn’t look away. “I gave up everything she valued because none of it was worth losing you.”

He kissed me then, deep and sure, and the bond between us flared bright with everything we had chosen.

But I wanted more than the bond. I wanted him.

All of him.

“Logan,” I whispered against his lips, my hands sliding down his chest, feeling the solid strength of him. “I want you. Now. While the curse is quiet. While we have this moment.”

He pulled back, his green eyes searching mine. “Carolina, are you sure? After everything you’ve given up, everything you’ve lost...”

“I haven’t lost anything that matters.” I kissed his jaw, his throat, feeling his pulse quicken under my lips. “I have you. You are my everything.”

I pushed him back toward the bed, and he went willingly, his hands finding my waist, pulling me with him. We tumbled onto the mattress together, a tangle of limbs and desperate need.

I straddled him, sitting up to pull my robes over my head. The thickness of his erection pressed against me, sending a volley of heat straight to my core. His eyes darkened, and he sucked in a deep breath as he caught the first glimpse of my black lace bra and panties. His hands reached up to trace the curves of my hips, my waist, the weight of my breasts.