There’s been something between us for a long time, but it felt too raw, like it was built on both our wounds. Yet maybe having the same wounds makes it possible to heal together. I thought I wanted easy. Healing is hard.

Still, I take a tiny step back. Now is not the time—not when more hurt is piling around us. We have work to do.

“What do I need to do?”

He spreads his hands. “You have no other choice but to win. You can’t lose. You’ll end up here. You can’t run. They will hunt you. Just like they did your mother.”

Silence hangs between us.

“I want to burn it down,” I say. “How do we do that?”

Roman hesitates for a moment. “The only way to do that is to kill Lucius. He crafted the spell and built this place. If he’s not here to control it, then I think it will wither.”

“Then let’s do it.”

He huffs out a frustrated laugh. “If it were that easy, don’t you think I’d have already done it? Lucius isn’t just any other magician. Not only has he been gathering power for years, he wears a crown made of these jewels.” He holds up his cuff again. “He’s funneling more power from this place than anyone.” Roman frowns. “I suspect he’s funneling magic from Annalise, too. She wears a crown, but I believe it’s linked to him and not this place. He’s draining her dry.”

She looks like it.

“We need more allies,” he says.

“How many do you have?”

“You.”

My stomach drops.

“And… other vampires.”

I step back. “No way.”

“Wait. Hear me out. There are many here that want Lucius gone. There’d be peace without him, Ava. He’s the one fueling an endless war. But no one in the Society is brave enough to go up against him, and I can’t do it on my own. I’ve always known that I would need vampires backing me up on this, but I just couldn’t figure out how to get them in. Once, I tried to bring a team into the woods to show them where the mansion was, but there’s an alarm built into the barrier that senses anyone without one of these.” He holds up his cuff. “The magicians came out and slaughtered everyone. I only got away because they thought I was out there killing them as well. But you just took that barrier down.”

I’m shaking my head. Trusting Roman is one thing; letting in an entire group of vampires and trusting them is another.

“When I broke the barrier… those vampires I saw… they were with you?”