Page 85 of Curses and Cauldrons

“Roman, you’re going to kill her,” Ambrose says. I look up at Roman, his pupils dilated. His magic swarms around us.Someone else’s too. The shadows don’t belong to Roman, but they don’t feel antagonistic toward me.

“She deserves to die,” he grits out.

Penelope is crying now, her shoulders shaking in my arms. I thread my fingers through hers and pull her with me to Roman. I gently cup his face, angling his head down to me. “But you don’t deserve to carry the burden of that act with you forever.”

His stormy eyes lower to hold my gaze. “It would be an honor, Josephine.”

I close my eyes. It would be so easy to nod and let him rip her soul out of her. She’s a terrible mother, an awful leader, and an all-around horrible person. But I’m not. Neither is Roman.

“Let her go, Roman.”

He stares into my eyes. “Are you sure?” The storm of his magic swirls around me, a comforting blanket of security that I’ve never felt from anyone else in my life.

“Yeah,” I sigh.

My mother cries out and crumbles to the ground, her cheek pressed to the dirt floor. She presses to her knees and then stands with a wobble. Wiping at her cheek, she brushes a hand over her clothes to smooth out wrinkles that aren’t going anywhere. Her fingers ice up and the glint in her eyes is one I recognize. Revenge.

“Don’t even think about it.” My voice is quiet but deadly with intent.

“What are you going to do to stop me?”

“All it will take is a simple touch.” I smile at the woman who should have loved and nurtured me. At the family who could have been so much more than the bringers of pain and heartache. Instead, they are the inventors of their own doom.

I guide Penelope toward the steps, while Roman stays still, watching my family. If they try to attack our backs, that would be a new low. I wouldn’t put it past them.

“Penelope.” My mother’s voice is high pitched. “Where do you think you’re going?”

My sister’s hand squeezes mine. I feel sick. Slowly turning to face the woman who has made my entire life a misery, I pray for a way out of this.

“She’s coming with me.”

My mother laughs, a bitter, horrible sound. “I don’t think so.”

“Why bother? So you’ll have someone else to torment?”

“She’s my daughter, Josephine. You may not understand loyalty or duty, but that doesn’t mean everyone else in the family has to be a disappointment.”

“Jo, please.” Penelope’s holding my fingers so tightly that they start tingling. I wouldn’t pull my hand away for the world, though. Pen’s eyes are pleading. She doesn’t want to go back home. Roman steps behind us, lending his support through his presence.

I lick my dry lips. “No.”

“No.” My mother laughs and looks around at the others, as if to say,can you believe this girl?

“No. You are going to let Penelope come with me. You will not reach out to her unless you go through me first. She’ll be allowed to go to school without the threat that you’ll show up and take her away. You’re going to let her go and give her the childhood she deserves.”

Our mother throws her head back and laughs, looking like the evil villain in a fairytale. “Why on earth would I do that? Since when do you give me orders?”

“What in the name of the Maiden is going on here?” Selene’s voice echoes around the stone room. She’s at the bottom of the steps, her eyes drifting from person to person and finally landing on the burned-out candles and my family’s grimoire laying open on the ground. “What is the meaning of this?

My mother narrows her eyes. “You know what this–”

“–hold your tongue,” Selene shouts, her nostrils flaring. Her bony hand snapping into a fist in the air, as if she’s physically cutting off my mother’s words. She turns to me, her eyes darting to Roman and behind him to Bram, who’s throwing off enough dark energy that the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“Josephine. Please explain.” Selene settles her gaze on me. There’s no sympathy in her eyes, just cold, hard calculation. Roman rests a hand on my shoulder while I stumble through an explanation of what just happened.

“I’m not leaving Penelope with them,” I state when Selene doesn’t say a word in response. After staring at Camille and then my parents for a long, drawn-out moment, she nods.

“Very well. You will be responsible for Penelope. Your family will suffer the punishment of your curse rebounding on them. And”—Selene’s eyes narrow as she sucks in a breath—“Francesca Delvaux, you are formally removed from the Lumen coven council.”

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