People loaded the bus in the distance behind them, and I could just imagine that the person who stepped off was Ash’s father. He’d

been so close to freedom.

“Let him go,” I whispered, pushing the words past the burn in my throat.

Vessels were unpredictable, and the one with his hand on my brother was just as likely to tear out his throat as he was to send him back to the Coven.

What they would do to him, what they would make him choose…?

“Now, why would I do that?” Headmaster Thorne asked, tilting his head to the side as he studied me. His eyes dropped to the dirt smeared on my neck, as if it disgusted him to see the mark of his feeding healed beneath it. “I already gave you the chance to come quietly to save him. You rejected my offer rather rudely.”

“Please,” I murmured, holding Ash’s brown-eyed stare with mine. His eyes were wide with fear, the faintest tremble racking his body as he silently pleaded with me. “Is there anyone you love? Anyone you would do anything to protect?”

His hand tightened on Ash’s shoulder as I turned my gaze to his, meeting the cold blue of his stare. The gold seemed to flash at my question, studying the tears that pooled in my eyes. “No,” he said, shaking his head

subtly. “Vessels do not have hearts, Witchling. You’d do well to remember that in the coming years.”

“Then I feel sorry for you,” I said, and the words had no malice. They weren’t intended to hurt, only to offer sympathy. “That you’ll never know that feeling.”

“Even though it leads to this?” he asked, turning to glance at Ash for a moment. “Even though it weakens you?”

“Yes,” I said, nodding in confirmation. His eyes flashed at my answer, studying the path of a tear on my cheek. “I would feel this pain one hundred times over before I gave him up.”

Thorne released my brother’s shoulder, sliding his hand into his pocket as Ash spun to stare at him in shock. “Go,” Thorne said, nodding his head toward the bus waiting at the end of the lot.

“Gray,” the female Vessel warned.

The breath rushed out of my lungs, my body swaying forward as my shocked relief made me stare at Thorne with wide eyes.

Gray, she’d called him.

I pressed my lips together, nodding and looking at Ash. He couldn’t stop his oscillating stare, looking back and forth between the two of us in shock.

“I love you, Bug,” I said, giving him the only goodbye we would get. I didn’t dare to cross the distance between us, didn’t want to risk doing anything to make Thorne change his mind.

“Low,” he said, shaking his head as his little face twisted with tears. “Go,” I said, nodding and encouraging him on.

“But what about you?” he asked, his voice breaking as the reality set in.

That I wouldn’t be going with him.

That I never had been.

He shook his head, planting his feet as if he planned to stay with me.

Thorne took that chance away from him. “Look at me, boy,” he commanded, the magic of his compulsion rolling over my skin. My amulet warmed against my chest in response, but Ash followed the order. His eyes widened as they connected with Thorne’s, the gold at the center of his iris brightening as he held my brother captive with his stare. “Run. Get on the bus, and do not ever look for Willow again.”

Ash didn’t hesitate to leave me. He couldn’t, not with the Vessel’s compulsion controlling him. He spun on his heel, racing forward across the

parking lot. He rushed into his father’s embrace, the other man watching us briefly before he turned and led Ash into the vehicle.

I collapsed to my knees on the concrete, an ugly sob tearing out of my throat. I hung my head forward as I listened to the sound of the bus, of the tires rolling across pavement as it left the parking lot.

As the last sight of my brother’s face haunted me.

The side of a bent finger hooked beneath my chin, raising my gaze until I looked up into the stare of Thorne. “Why?” I asked, even though I was grateful for what he’d done. I couldn’t understand it, couldn’t make it make sense.

“One day, you will owe me a favor for this. You will give me anything I ask of you,” he said softly.

A chill spread from where his finger touched me, and I reeled back to claw at my throat. Tendrils of darkness spread over my skin, moving down the front of my throat and chest. They curved, dancing over my flesh as they burned a sigil of black into my skin just below my collarbone. It was a pattern of crossed lines, impossible to make sense of while I looked at it upside down. The dark tendrils vanished once they’d marked me with the physical manifestation of my worst fear.

A deal with a demon.

“What of the Coven? They’ll be furious to hear you sent a male witch away,” the other male Vessel muttered, interrupting my horror as I knelt on the pavement.

“What the Coven doesn’t know won’t hurt them. Neither of you are to speak a word of this to anyone. As far as the Coven is concerned, Willow is the last of the Madizza line,” Thorne answered, and there was no hesitation as they nodded their assent. He held out a hand for me, and I swallowed as I studied it. As if it were a snake that might reach out and bite me.

He already had.

“Come, Witchling,” he said as the female Vessel disappeared in a burst of speed. “There are things we must discuss.” I ignored his proffered hand, pushing myself to my feet as he sighed in irritation. “Are you going to make this difficult every step of the way?”

“Most likely,” I said, trying not to think of how weak my voice sounded. I couldn’t muster the energy to give him the snark he deserved, not when everything within me felt raw.

The Coven had taken everything from me. I would make them regret it.

“Hollow’s Grove thrives on structure and order. It is very important that we find a way to maintain those things at all times, even with your rather unwilling addition to our school,” he explained.

A car sped into the parking lot, going far too fast as it skidded to a halt just in front of where we stood. Neither Vessel so much as flinched as Thorne moved toward the rear driver’s side door, grasping the handle and pulling it open.

“Are you going to be a problem for me, Miss Madizza?”

I moved toward the car, stepping close to him as I mustered all that remained of my energy and glared at him. “If it is order that you value, then I will bring you nothing but chaos.”

I smiled, then rolled my eyes at the grin he gave me in return. I got in the car.