“Why can’t he see that my marriage to Evan means nothing? I’m not Helen Remington anymore.”

“Do you want comfort or truth?” Mia asked flatly.

“I can’t have both. It may as well be truth.”

“You lied to him, and by lying you put him in an untenable position. More, you told him you didn’t intend to end the marriage.”

“I can’t—”

“Wait. You won’t end it, and without an end there can’t be a beginning. This is purely your choice, Nell, and no one can or should take it from you. But you’ve blocked Zack from being able to stand for you. To stand with you or, more to his liking, I imagine, to step in front of you and face your demon. Nell.”

She sat again, taking Nell’s hands. “Do you think he wears a badge for amusement, for the pathetic pay, for the power?”

“No. But he doesn’t understand what Evan can do, what he’s capable of. Mia, there’s a madness inside him. A kind of cold, deliberate madness that I can’t begin to explain.”

“People tend to think the word ‘evil’ is overdramatic,” Mia said, “when actually, it’s extremely simple.”

“Yes.” A few knots untangled. She should have known by now that she didn’t have to explain to Mia. “And he doesn’t understand that I can’t bear the idea of seeing Evan again, of hearing his voice. I think I’d break this time. I think it would shatter me.”

“You’re stronger than that.”

Nell shook her head. “He . . . shrinks me. I don’t know if you can understand what I mean.”

“Yes, I do. Do you want a spell, a charm, to bolster yourself? To shield yourself from one man so you can have the other?” Mia reached over, stroked Isis along her sleek back. The cat raised her head, exchanged what seemed to be a telling look with her mistress, then curled up.

“There are things that can be done,” Mia said, briskly now. “To protect, to center yourself, to enhance your own energies. But beneath it all, Nell, the power’s inside you. For now . . .”

She slipped the silver chain and its silver disk over her head. “You gave Zack your talisman, so I’ll give you one of mine. It was my great-grandmother’s.”

“I can’t take it from you.”

“On lend,” Mia said, slipping the chain over Nell’s head. “She was a very canny witch, my great-grandmama. Married well. Made a killing on the stock market, and kept it, for which I continue to be grateful. I wouldn’t like being poor. She acted as doctor on the island before we had one with a medical degree living here. She treated warts, delivered babies, stitched up gashes, and nursed half the population through a dangerous run of influenza among other things.”

“It’s lovely. What does the carving mean?”