POV: Sera
I felt it the moment Kade killed Catherine.
Through the bond that strange, new connection Ember had forged, I felt the scalpel pierce flesh. Felt his mother's heart stop. Felt his soul crack.
The pain was so sharp I collapsed.
"Mama!" Ember caught me. Her small hands barely enough to support my weight.
"I'm okay," I gasped. But I wasn't. None of us were.
Kade had just killed his mother. And I'd done nothing to stop it. Nothing to help him carry that impossible choice.
It's not your fault, his thought came through broken. Raw.
It is. She hated me. She did this because of me.
She did this because she was broken. Because the shaman twisted her into something cruel.
But I felt his doubt. Felt him wondering if maybe Catherine had been right. If choosing me had destroyed ever
