Cleo’s revelation might have swept away the mudslide of panic I was beginning to experience, but now this has only been replaced by an even more complicated emotion: crushing confusion.

“Hey, are you two coming?”

Chase’s voice sounds from way up ahead, where he stands at the doorway to the Repentant shack. Seeing the verdant structure again, I can’t tell if I want to run toward it or just run away.

“I know my timing is terrible,” Cleo says. “But I couldn’t keep waiting for the perfect moment anymore.”

“Cleo, I don’t—”

“You don’t feel the same,” Cleo mumbles. “It’s okay. I don’t want to change—”

“No, it’s not that,” I interrupt. “I’m sorry, I need to say this before we go inside. Honestly, I am surprised. I haven’t ever thought of us that way. But I don’t… I’m not afraid to? Or I mean… I just need time to sort out what’s even possible for me in that realm?”

“Hey, I get that,” Cleo says. “I’m the walking poster child for that.”

I release a nervous laugh, and so does Cleo.

“All I know is—” I start to say before catching myself. I want to say nothing will ever change between us no matter what, but I know that’s not something I can promise. I want to say I’ll love Cleo back, but that’s another promise I can’t make yet. So instead, I tell Cleo the truth, unfiltered.

“I am so glad you told me. The rest we’ll sort out together?”

Cleo looks back at me, more vulnerable than I’ve ever seen them. Still, they nod. They even smile.

And it melts my overworked heart.

Standing in the Repentant shack, a single seed plants itself in my bones.

Being back here after our coven afternoon, that seed begins to sprout into righteous anger. How dare Rosa mess with our heads the way she did? How dare this false queen lay claim to what doesn’t belong to her? Quickly, this fury then branches into purpose. If nothing else, Cleo just reminded me exactly what matters most. They reminded me that I am The Empress, which makes Pentacles my turf. Finally, this affirmation blooms into determination, flowering out through my limbs: I am reclaiming what’s mine.

If I ever felt guilty about taking the deck back from this house of step-witches, that falls away. Now I have a job to do. And nothing will stand in my way.