“At least you all made it back in one piece,” Maura grumbles.
There’s a long silence. Rory sniffles. The others look down at their laps.
Maura raises her chin. “Who?”
I bite my lip. “Brenna’s dead.”
Maura’s eyebrows shoot heavenward. “You took a mad oracle into a battle?”
“We didn’t bring her. She got out. It wasn’t Cate’s fault,” Tess insists.
“Of course not. Nothing ever is.” Maura’s nose wrinkles in disgust. “Do you hear yourself? You’re like a puppet.”
“As if you cared one whit about Brenna,” I snap. “You wanted to assassinate her weeks ago!”
Tess shoots to her feet. “And you’re a fine one to talk about being a puppet, Maura. You haven’t had a thought in your head that Inez hasn’t put there in weeks!”
I risk another glance out the window at the street. It’s empty but for the shadows. Where is Elena?
Maura notices. “Is our conversation boring you, Cate? What are you doing? Who are you looking for?”
I hesitate. Even after everything she’s done, my first instinct is not to worry Maura unnecessarily. As if she minds worrying me, breaking my heart and stomping it into pieces.
Sachi speaks first. “Elena isn’t back yet.”
Maura’s smile goes ghoulish. “What do you mean?” Her voice rises, turns shrill. “Where is she?”
“If I knew that, I wouldn’t be standing at the window, would I?” I ask.
Maura knots her hands together. “Why aren’t you out looking for her?”
Oh. No matter what she’d have us believe, she cares. Somewhere under this brittle exterior, this merciless talk, my sister’s still got a heart.
“Elena is the canniest girl I know. I bet she has some of the Harwood girls and they’ve found a place to hide until after dark. I’m sure she’ll be home soon.”
“You’re sure? If you were so sure, you wouldn’t be waiting at the window like that!” Maura throws both hands into the air, and I flinch, thinking she’s going to toss me across the room. Has it come to this, that I’m always bracing myself for her attack? “She could be lying dead in the street for all you know!”
“Rilla saw three bodies. She would have said if one of them were Elena,” Rory points out helpfully.
“And you accuse me of being reckless with people,” Maura seethes. “If you’ve gotten her killed, I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” My voice is low. “What more would you do to me?”
Her eyes narrow into green slits in her pretty face. “I saw you talking with him this afternoon. Right in the square, bold as brass.”
Fear slides down my spine. I parrot the same words I told Alice. “It was nothing. He was warning me that Sachi and Rory were on the list of girls to be executed. Thought I might find it upsetting.”
“I can’t believe you would have let us hang,” Rory complains, tugging at the lace cuffs of her dress.
Maura doesn’t take the diversion. “I tried to warn you before, Cate. I told you we couldn’t work with Brothers. They’re our enemies.”
“Oh, don’t pretend you did this to protect the Sisterhood. Finn was on our side.”
“On your side, perhaps. It’s not the same thing anymore.” There’s a thread of sadness in Maura’s voice, but I’m too far gone to care. “What I did—that’s on you. You didn’t listen. You’re still not listening! Every time you even look at him, you’re putting him in danger.” Maura shakes her head as though I’m too stupid to comprehend what she’s saying.
Which is that she’ll do it again. She’ll hurt Finn, again and again, until there’s nothing left of the man I love, until there’s nothing left but a shell who can’t think for himself.
“Don’t. You. Dare.” Magic crackles through me, the static electricity of it sparking at my fingertips, lighting me up like fireworks.
“Or what?” Maura thrusts her hand into my face. There’s a jagged white line across her palm, a scar from where I hurt her. She could have had someone heal it if she’d wanted; it would have been easy enough. Perhaps she likes the reminder. “Did Cate tell you what she did? She lost control right in the middle of Cora’s funeral reception. Smashed a teacup in my hands. Anyone could have noticed; there were a dozen Brothers there. Afterward I went to her and asked her to heal the cut, and instead she made it worse.”
Tess looks at me in shock. I hadn’t told her. “Did you really do that?”
“I did, and I feel badly about it.” Not bad enough to apologize to Maura, though. “It won’t happen again.”
Rory tosses her dark hair. “I hardly blame you, if she’s going around acting like this all the time.”
“A leader can’t lose control like that. It’s a lesson I’ve learned the hard way.” Maura tuts. “You’re weak, Cate. Your misplaced sympathy for those who aren’t witches, your feelings for Finn—they make you weak.”
“No.” I think of Finn and for once I’m not sad. I’m grateful. “Loving the right person, having them love you back—it makes you strong. You want to be better for them—be the woman they see when they look at you—beautiful and brave and clever. You want to live up to that vision, even if—” I take a deep breath. “Even if they don’t see you that way anymore. Loving Finn has never made me weak, and losing him—I won’t let that break me, either. I’m stronger than you think I am.”
Rory leans forward, exposing a rather scandalous amount of bosom in her low-cut red gown. “What the hell happened in the last two weeks?”
“Rory! Shhh,” Sachi hisses, smacking her sister’s arm.
Maura smooths her emerald skirts. “I did it for you. For the Sisterhood.”
“Liar. You did it because you were jealous.” It will hurt her pride, my saying that in front of the others, but I’m past caring. “If you’d ever really been in love, you would never have done this to me.”
Maura’s eyes flash. “I was in love and you ruined it and now you’ve possibly gone and gotten her killed!”
“And how does that feel?” I ask, and Maura sputters. I stalk toward her, edging past Tess in the brown silk chair, and Maura backs away. “It’s what you’re threatening to do to Finn, isn’t it? I don’t want to hurt you, Maura. But if you ever do magic on him again, I will. I swear it. I will use every ounce of power I have to ensure that you won’t ever go near him again.”
“Cate!” Tess clutches at my arm, but I shake her off, staring Maura down.
“You’d choose a man over your own sister? Over your promise to Mother to look after us? That used to be the most important thing in the world to you,” Maura says.
I set my jaw. “You’ve made it quite clear you don’t need me anymore.”
Maura blinks back tears. “I don’t. I haven’t for ages,” she says, and then she flees.
“Maura, wait!” Tess calls. She presses one hand to her temple as if her headache’s flared and then runs after Maura. I can hear their footsteps pounding up the stairs.