She stepped closer, leaning over me. Her spectral hand hovered over my cheek, but did not quite touch it. Even so, my mind registered her gentle touch, and it was enough to make me cry even more.
"I allowed it to be that way."
"What?" I whispered, incredulous.
"The truth is that I was tired, Nadia." She offered me a sad smile, but full of peace. "I carried the burden of our lineage for years. I fulfilled my purpose here. There was no reason left to continue. I needed to leave so that you could rise as the witch you were born to be. And when I saw in my visions that Evangeline would come for me, there was no reason to fight. I chose to give what little remained of me. It was not a defeat, it was a choice."
My chest swelled with indignation.
"How can that be a choice? She was the murder
