VIVIAN
Helena's sanctuary is cleared of everyone except the two of us, Sienna and Ethan dismissed with instructions to begin their assigned tasks while Helena pulls me into back room I haven't seen before, space that's more ritual chamber than study, all stone floors and ancient symbols and air that tastes like old magic and older consequences.
"You think you can save him?" Helena asks without preamble, without gentleness, voice carrying challenge and skepticism and maternal protection of son who's dying from curse she created. "You think loving Chase Sterling is enough to break century-old magic? You think your feelings matter more than blood magic and revenge and pain so deep it became sentient? You think you're special, that you're different, that this story ends differently for you than it ended for every other woman who loved Sterling man?"
