“No, but she could banish me, and she did so without hesitation. We would not meet again for many years.” Her hands shifted to her elbows, and she seemed to bow into herself. “I watched from afar as her Dames Rouges reaped their just rewards, as they realized the steep cost of their victory—all witchlings born after the massacre held no magic within them. Whether their slain sisters or the Goddess herself had cursed them, I do not know. Forced to draw their magic from the land—and follow the natural order—their daughters, the first Dames Blanches, soon outnumbered their foremothers. My sister’s influence dwindled as her experiments continued, growing darker and darker in nature. The Dames Blanches grew suspicious of her, and when the time was right, I capitalized on their hatred, on their fear, returning to the Chateau and driving Josephine from the throne.”

Shooting to my feet, I began to pace, my thoughts sporadic and incomplete. “But I didn’t know you were a blood witch.”

“No one ever knew. I guarded the secret jealously for fear of persecution, concealing the truth of my magic with painstaking effort. I was a coward—I always have been—but in the end, it mattered not. When I leapt to my doom in L’Eau Mélancolique, Isla saved me—or rather, she saved my ring.” She rubbed her thumb along the band. “My magic. Without it, I am not whole, and without me, neither is L’Eau Mélancolique. For this reason, Isla wishes me to avoid involvement in your war. She does not understand that it is my war as well.”

Voice raw with unshed emotion, Coco whispered, “If Josephine dies, you will too.”

Her words sank like bricks in my stomach.

Abruptly, Angelica turned, her knife a blur as she slashed the nightshade from coiling around Coco’s neck. I gasped, Reid startled, and Coco leapt to her feet with a small shriek. None of us had noticed its creeping tendrils, the fruits of Angelica’s grief and anger. When she spoke, her voice was soft. “We must all play our parts.”

Coco stared at her.

I crossed the circle to squeeze Coco’s hand. “Does this mean Isla won’t join us?”

Angelica’s hand closed around her ring. “Isla is many things.” Brushing past us, she glided toward the waters. Her chairs of vine withered as Reid joined us, and her aconite flowers blackened to wisps of ash. “But she is not a liar. You returned my ring, and you bested Morgane. You have proven yourself a worthy ally, Louise. Though she cannot directly intervene in the events to come, she allows her melusines to choose for themselves whether to walk by your side in Cesarine. She allows me to choose.”

“Will they?” I asked.

“Will you?” Coco asked at the same time.

She inclined her head. “I will lead the willing to Cesarine myself in three days’ time.”