Maeve sags against the wall, then moves to sit in front of the fire. Her mind races through all sorts of scenarios, too many and too fast for me to keep up, without heed to the careful order she usually keeps.

“That’s unusual, for two generations in a row to be talented. And to be so specific to ours…even our names…” Maeve shakes her head, then looks at me again with new eyes. “It must be true.”

“That’s why I won’t run away from you. I know you won’t hurt me. I know you won’t release my soul, because I’m who you’ve been searching for.”

Tears glisten in Maeve’s eyes. Her thoughts reveal how terrified she is of believing me only to find out it’s a trick. But with every second that passes, she becomes more convinced.

“It’s like we knew. That day when we met. I hadn’t intended to take on traveling companions. But there was something about you. Something special.” She stares at her hands resting in her lap. “I simply chalked it up to the idea that you must somehow resemble one of my daughters. I never dreamed you actually were one of them.”

“You had three children, right?”

She looks at me askance. “Yes. But I can’t recall their names or faces. Just their ages and that I loved them fiercely. The Lady stole everything else about them from me.” Her hands ball into fists.

A choking laugh wells up in my throat. “She let me keep the opposite. All I had left was a list of names. Nothing more.”

“She always was a cruel woman,” Maeve spits out.

I step toward her, a hint of panic flaring up in my gut, but I shove it down. “I know you’re different from her. You found me. You don’t need to ruin other people’s lives to bring back the others.”

She frowns. “But I need them. I need my—our—whole family back. Don’t you? We can help each other, Simone. Don’t you see?”

Her words cut into me. She isn’t wholly wrong. I’d give almost anything to have my entire family back. To know my father and my brother and sister. I swallow the lump in my throat. But I have no choice but to let them go and try to salvage what little of my family is left instead.

“No, I won’t help you hurt my friends in the same way Lady Aisling did. If anything, what you plan to do to them is worse!” I dig my nails into my palms, almost surprised by my sudden outburst. Fury that my own mother would do this floods me.

Maeve looks as though my words have physically struck her. “All I want to do is put our family back together. Why is that wrong?” She points to my friends, now listlessly hovering nearby with blank faces like silent sentinels. “Their minds are weak and terrified. They’re barely living the second chance at life they’ve been granted. If anything, I’m doing them a favor. It’s better to use their bodies for people who’ll really make the most of them.”