“You sound like you’re speaking from experience.” Claire’s voice had gone quiet and gentle.

Sarafina laughed. “I suppose having my mother try to kill me in my neighbor friend’s sandbox qualifies as a spirit-breaking childhood event. I closed down, too, but my foster mom helped me see what I was doing early on and correct it.” She paused and swallowed hard; a rush of grief for Rosemary rose up to swamp her for a moment. “I had help. Not everyone gets that.”

Claire gave her a small, secret smile. “I had help, too.”

Sarafina figured she was referring to Adam. The two of them were always together, obviously committed, and deeply in love. There were several couples in the Coven that way—in the kind of relationships that made people around them get lumps in their throats.

One day Sarafina wanted something like what Claire and Adam had. Something like what she saw when Jack met Mira’s eyes from across the room, or when Thomas brushed the back of his hand against Isabelle’s cheek when he thought no one was looking. A relationship like that wasn’t in the cards for her, at least not anytime soon.

Sarafina returned her smile, happy—if not just a little jealous—for the other woman’s good fortune. It was natural. Everyone wanted to be loved, didn’t they? Even Theo needed to be loved somewhere down deep under all the gruff.

“Can you tell me what happened to his chest to create all those scars?” Sarafina asked. She couldn’t resist asking the question, she just couldn’t.

“The Duskoff, who else? I’ll let him tell you the details, though.”

Sarafina raised an eyebrow. “Think he will?”

“I think he’s bonded with you better than I’ve ever seen him bond with anyone. Even Ingrid.”

“Ingrid?”

“A fire witch who died in a blood magick spell performed by an Atrika daaeman about a year and a half ago. Theo was sleeping with her, but no one really knows if it was more than that.” She glanced away. “I feel responsible for her death in a way because the demon’s spell was worked to find me. Her death really affected Theo deeply.”

“That’s horrible.”

“It was a . . . bad time.”

“I’m not sleeping with him, you know.”

Claire looked up in surprise. “Huh? I never thought you were.”

“Well, but you said Theo was bonding better with me than he had with Ingrid, a woman he was sleeping with. I’m not with Theo like that.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to imply I thought you were.”

“I just want to make that clear.” Sarafina waved a hand at her. “I’m staying in the guest room and we have different bathrooms. I’ve never even seen him naked, well, except for the waist up, and—”

Claire laughed. “Okay, I got it. I think someone is protesting a little too much.”