The person who stood before her was Ryvinika. But that voice – that voice was Martia’s.

‘How –’

‘You certainly did not fail, Sapphire. Isn’t that what we always discussed? You will not fail, you will not fall. I suppose my visions couldn’t be swayed like you hoped.’

‘Martia …’

‘Oh,’ Ryvinika laughed, her own voice returning. ‘Don’t tell me you were fond of that old hag? I would have assumed in the two years I raised you, I taught you better than to be a fool.’

Sapphire stared up at the woman, trying not to allow the wave of her latest realization to cause her chest to cave in.

There are accounts of witches being able to inhabit the bodies of those whose lives they stole.

Martia …

Sapphire racked her brain for memories of the day that had once haunted her. The day she had forgotten over time. The day the Beasts had arrived at their door and the Mothers had locked them away under the stairs. Sapphire remembered the women’s cries of agony, their prayers as they begged the Saints to save them – she had heard the Beasts roar, heard their teeth meet flesh. Death permeated the air around them.

No one had understood how Martia had survived that day. But instead of questioning it, they had considered it a gift from the Saints. But Sapphire now knew it was no such thing.

Martia hadn’t survived that day.

Ryvinika had made sure of it.

Martia had died – all of the Mothers had died so Ryvinika could get to Sapphire. Was the war … the Beasts … the death … was all that blood on her hands? She stumbled backwards, closing her eyes tightly.

She had left them – all the girls at the Home, Lyna … Susanna. She had left them and rested with jewels clasped around her throat and food always on the table, and had slept in a safe place with no fear of monsters.

She had left them to fend for themselves in a nightmare that was created because of her.

She wished Ryvinika would kill her – call upon the creatures or summon her magic and stop Sapphire’s heart at that very moment. She could not shoulder the guilt she now knew.

When she opened her eyes, Ryvinika was smiling as if she was savouring Sapphire’s world falling apart. But finally, the witch’s focus drifted past Sapphire and her smile grew. Sapphire forced her gaze from the familiar world before her to find the coven exiting the treeline, making their way towards them – setting fire to the forest as they came.

At the head of the procession was a familiar figure, with fiery red hair and narrowed eyes, her black cloak flowing behind her as she crossed the open plain between them, looking every bit the monster that Sapphire had been warned of.