He nodded. She collected us eventually. She and her mistress. La Voisin. They handed us and the wolves over to La Dame des Sorcières without hesitation. Morgane was . . . interested in us. In our magic. She incapacitated us with her injections and led us to the Chateau.

Smoke unfurled from between Zenna’s clenched teeth.

I cannot relive the horrors she inflicted upon us there. I will not. She wanted to—to discover the source of our magic. To test its limits. To study its differences from hers. I believe she did the same with the wolves. He watched silently as Beau, Coco, and I bore Nicholina to the ground like we’d done in the lighthouse. Coco forced her mouth open. Nicholina smashed her forehead into Coco’s face. Or perhaps now she simply likes to inflict pain. Either way, she experimented on us.

“Thierry,” said Seraphine.

“I will rend her head from her shoulders,” said Zenna. “And I will eat it.”

Célie waited with bated breath. “How did you escape?”

In the end, my voice saved me. Thierry gave a sardonic laugh. The witches on duty that night were younger. They’d never tended me before. Some sort of celebration raged above, and they arrived late, tipsy, to administer my injection. I could just feel my hands. My feet. I doused the lantern, waited for them to unlock the door. When they did, I projected my voice down the corridor. It disoriented them. When they turned toward the projection, I—I— He closed his eyes then. As if he couldn’t bear the memory. I overpowered them.

“They deserved it,” Zenna snapped.

Perhaps. Their last cries alerted others to my escape, however. I couldn’t find Toulouse. They’d separated us, used each to torture the other— He broke off abruptly, chest heaving. At last, he whispered, I had no choice but to leave him.

Seraphine touched his shoulder. “You could never have saved him without first saving yourself.”

I lost my way in the forest. I intended to go back. I need to go back. Unshed tears sparkled in his dark eyes when he finally opened them. I can’t leave him alone.

Zenna bent to meet his gaze directly. “And we won’t. We will return to Chateau le Blanc for Toulouse. For the wolves. Then we will raze that wretched castle to the ground with Morgane le Blanc and her Dames Blanches inside. This I promise you.”

“Promises, promises,” Nicholina muttered beneath her breath. “Empty promises. My mistress will be safe, yes, my mistress will be waiting.”