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Steadfast Claudia Gray 17170K 2023-08-31

Elizabeth walked into her house, easily stepping around the tongues of still fire Every flalowing gold The heat remained, but Elizabeth could endure that For one ht around her atte to consume her home and spell book

Asa paid the heat no mind, of course; he was used to hell He didn’t even take off his coat "A spell of conflagration Nicely done She could have gotten your Book of Shadows if we’d been only a few seconds later"

Conflagration was indeed a sudden and devastating spell It worked faster than virtually any defense With a deh, Elizabeth had all the tiation

A wish unspoken

A promise broken

The work of a lifetiers to rest in the heat of the still flaether The light was so brilliant she could see through her own skin andthe dark outline of bone

Lauren Cabot, deter she had to go through life alone--never able to carry the curse herself lest she self-destruct before bearing the children Elizabeth needed to endure the curse next--and then one day turning her head to look at the handso to speak of her longing, but it was there, and in that moment Elizabeth knew the line would continue

"You don’t interfere with us," the witch said, "and we don’t interfere with you" As if her weak, pitiful little coven could interfere with Elizabeth’s great work But she nodded and even s for the e of the Halloween carnival, feeling the jagged tears in the world where the One Beneath’s cell had been, thinking of every witch who had given her life’s work, or even her life, to trap Hiht noalk free--

Instantly the fire went coed; the only evidence of the spell of conflagration was a thin layer of ash lying over every surface Asa brushed off his black coat with distaste "What a mess"

But when he held up his hands to let time resume, Elizabeth shook her head "Not yet"

Elizabeth walked outside directly to where Nadia stood on the sidewalk nearby, her bracelet of witching charht her ponytail, and time had stopped at a moment where the intent on her face was very clear, very real

"She’s strong, this one," Asa said "She’ll do whatever it takes to save the soul of the boy she loves"

Elizabeth could not i soain"