“It means nothing for now,” Coco said, dropping beside us abruptly. She squeezed my hand before turning to Reid. “Please, think about this. We don’t need Morgane to remember Lou while we’re all in the city. We have enough working against us without adding vengeful mother to the list.”

“But—” I said desperately.

“When you remembered Bas, it almost killed you both.” Coco grasped both of my hands now, her expression earnest. Perhaps just as desperate as I was. “We’re mere moments away from Cesarine’s shore, and we have a plan in place to rescue Madame Labelle. Afterward, if this is what you both choose, I’ll help him remember any way I can. You know I will. Right now, however, we need to get you both bound, or all seven of us will see the stake before nightfall.”

All seven of us.

Shit.

Swallowing hard, I kept nodding even as Reid scowled and began tying his own ankles. This was bigger than us now. It’d always been bigger than us. “There will be an after, Lou,” Coco whispered fiercely, turning to bind my hands behind my back. She did the same for Reid. “We’ll get through this together—all of us—and we’ll start anew. We’ll carve out that piece of paradise. Together,” she repeated firmly. “I promise.”

Together.

I let my body go limp against the floorboards as she slipped belowdecks, as voices called out to Jean Luc in recognition, as our small boat slipped into port and men leapt aboard to help him tie it down. Reid pressed his head atop mine. The only show of comfort he could give me. Heightened sensation rose like needles along my skin as my magic fought to rise, to protect him, to protect my home, but I tamped it down. It was too late to turn back now. We’d entered the belly of the beast.

All Seven of Us

Lou

Mostly everything went according to plan.

It took a moment for anyone to notice us there, lifeless and forgotten on the floor, but when a hook-nosed gentleman nearly trod on Reid’s foot, he yelped in surprise—then yelped louder in fear, recognition dawning over his swarthy features. “Is that—that isn’t—?”

“Reid Diggory, yes,” Jean Luc said with a sneer, materializing beside us. He nudged my ribs with his boot, and I slipped sideways into Reid. He stiffened subtly. “And his wife, the heiress of La Dame des Sorcières. I apprehended them in a small village north of Amandine.”

The sailor’s eyes boggled. “All by yourself?”

“I disabled Morgane le Blanc by myself, did I not?” Jean raised an arrogant brow at the man’s spluttering. “I think you’ll find anything is possible with the proper motivation.” He jerked his chin toward Célie, who cowered in proper fashion near the helm, and added, “They had something that belonged to me.”