Reina grabs my other hand. “We always wanted you, Ava. We were just so, so scared.” Her voice sounds small and broken, but then she forces a smile onto her face. “Plus, you always side with me on Angelina being the best Lara Croft, and that is very important.”

Diantha rolls her eyes. “No taste.”

Reina lets out a tiny, fragile laugh, and I almost laugh too. It gets caught in my throat behind the pain, but it’s there.

I know right then that I could laugh with them again.

They might have scarred me, but they want to stick around and help that scar heal, and that’s what makes someone family—the willingness to stay when everything hurts.

I have to get back to Parker. I was hurt, and I left because I didn’t want to put the burden of healing me on them. But maybe, when it’s really your family, helping someone heal isn’t a burden at all. It’s just a sign of love. I get that now.

Aristelle sighs. “What do you need?”

“I need help saving Roman.”

Xander drops my hand, and Reina squeezes my other one tighter.

“Let him go,” Xander says. “He’s the reason we lost Sarah.”

“And you’re the reason he lost his sister.”

“She had the same chance as…” Xander fades off.

The same chance as me. But she didn’t. Not if what Roman says is true.

“Be honest. Did you train her as well?”

There’s guilt on all their faces. They didn’t let me hunt vampires because they felt ashamed for dragging Beatrice into that world and not doing enough to train her to win. Plus, they wanted to manipulate me—to keep stringing me along without giving me what they thought I really wanted.

It’s going to take a long time to heal. I force my rising anger down.

“You both owe each other,” I say. “And this isn’t just about saving Roman. We want to save everyone.”

That gets their attention.

CHAPTER 36

I follow two of Lucius’s goons through the garden of roses and hedges to the garden of death that feeds and waters everything about this place. Of course he would want Roman’s death to happen here. Of course he would want one more reveal to shake me. Maybe he hopes to scare me into my place. But I already know all about his personal horror show.