“You never cared for us. You only wanted to use us. Just like everyone else.” Tears burn my eyes.

Maeve sighs sympathetically. “Oh, Simone, this is just the aftereffects of what Lady Aisling did to you. You’re confused. I will help you make sense of it.” She reaches out a hand, and I flinch.

“Don’t touch me. I know you have others here in this cave somewhere. Friends of ours from our time with the Lady. They’re under your control.”

Sebastian’s eyes are wide and watery, and his hands ball into fists at his side. “You’re no better than she is.”

Now it’s Maeve’s turn to flinch. “As bad as Lady Aisling? That demon who kept hundreds of talented people imprisoned for decades? That is too harsh. And far off the mark.” She huffs, all pretense dropped.

She begins to pace by the edge of the water. “I won’t lie to you further. I’m telling the truth when I say I care for you both. I swear to that.” She drops her arms to her sides. “Lady Aisling stole me away from my family, from my husband and children. They’re long dead, and I only got a few precious years with them. I want them back. I’ve been searching for a soul summoner to take them under my wing and use their talent to bring my children back to me. I just needed the right vessels. The children Lady Aisling already damaged are perfect for it.”

My skin crawls. “You want to use them as hosts for your own children’s souls?”

“But what will happen to our friends?” Sebastian says. His hand is tightly wrapped around mine.

“If you’re going to fill up a jug of water with wine, you must first pour the water out,” Maeve says simply.

Shock roils over me yet again. “You’ll kill them.”

“No. Just release their souls from their bodies.”

“Where will they go? Do you have hosts lined up for them?”

Maeve frowns. “Why would I do that? I don’t care what happens to them. I only need their bodies to give to my children.”

“But you only had three children. Can’t you release at least one of our friends?” Sebastian pleads.

She shakes her head. “Not until my task is complete. Your friends are useful, I’ll give them that. And what Lady Aisling did to them makes them easier to control than your average person. I need them.”

“Didn’t your children already live full lives long ago?” I ask. “How do you know they’ll even want to come back?”

Confusion crosses Maeve’s face. “Of course they do. They have to. We were family.”

Her words are a knife to my gut. For a time I thought she might be a stand-in for my own. Now I’m horrified I was blind to what she really is.

“How do you know?” Sebastian presses. Like me, hope lingers in his heart that maybe we can reason with her, maybe we can convince her to return and be the kind woman we believed her to be.