“It’s not fair.” Natasha’s voice rings out. “You didn’t have a right to take that from us.”

I push away from Roman and stand to face her as she strides toward me. Some other magicians shift around, like they might back her if she decides to attack.

Roman rises and steps slightly in front of me. His hands are curved like claws, and I don’t know where his knives are, but his body tenses like he doesn’t need them or his fangs.

“Don’t,” I say—both to him and her.

Roman turns to look at me, his eyes still wild and distant, like he’s not quite registering my words. I put a hand on his bicep and squeeze until I feel some of his tension relax—not completely, though. He’ll rip her head off before she can lay a finger on me. But I don’t want more blood to spill.

“So this is about the immortality?” I’m gathering the magic inside of me, but I’m tired. I don’t know what I’ll do with it.

“Among other things,” she says.

Ethan’s expression sliding from living to dead fills my mind, and I remember him brushing Natasha’s arm before the last fight.

I nod, and she frowns at me like she didn’t expect me to acknowledge it.

“I really didn’t want him to die,” I say softly. “I didn’t. I’m sorry.”

She stops for a second, and the anger in her eyes gets overshadowed with hurt. I know how closely those two emotions are tied, but I’m not the person who can help her past that.

She takes another step, but it’s not Roman who blocks her path. Aristelle stands in front of her. “You know I’ll put you down with or without magic.”

Natasha hesitates.

The rest of Aristelle’s troupe—my troupe—shifts to close in around me. Even the twins step up in sync on either side of Aristelle, and normal little girls or not now, I’m sure they’re just as terrifying as always.

“Another time, perhaps,” Natasha says. Her eyes fall and scan the ground, landing on her brother’s pink hair. “I have other things to do.”

I wish we weren’t enemies. I wish I could help her as she shuffles over and starts to dig him out of the pile of bodies, but I’m not that person for her. Some of the other magicians move to help her.

“Ava,” a soft voice whispers behind me. It lacks its usual buoyancy, but I’d still recognize it anywhere.

Turning, I almost teeter over, but I make it the couple of steps into the arms of Willow, and Nadine behind her. I’m not a hugger, but embracing the two of them is more than that. They hold me up, and I do the same for them.