"Jill, why do you always have to be this stubborn?"

Norman sighed.

He set the bowl down on the coffee table.

"I said I wouldn't draw next month, so I won't."

"Corinne's cold venom is almost under control. One more hex-extraction procedure and she'll be fully cured."

I kept my eyes shut.

I didn't want to look at that hypocrite's face.

Norman stood up.

"Rest here. I'll see Dr. Finch out."

His footsteps faded.

The door closed.

It was just me and Corinne in the living room now.

I braced myself against the edge of the couch and slowly sat up.

I slid my hand into my pocket and found my phone.

I wanted to call Granny in the highlands.

Granny was the only one in the enclave who knew the secret of my fate-bound hex.

My fingers had barely touched the screen.

A pale hand reached over and pressed down on the phone.

Corinne.

I didn't know when she'd come to stand in front of me.

Nothing left of the half-dead frailty from before.

She looked down at me from above.

A mocking little smile at the corner of her mouth.

"Looking for that old woman?"

Her other hand pulled something out of her pocket.

She tossed it onto the coffee table.

A small carved black wooden jar.

My pupils shrank.

That was the protective hex vessel Granny had left me.

I'd always kept it in the safe in the bedroom.

Corinne picked up the ashtray from the coffee table.

She smashed it down hard on the wooden jar.

The jar cracked apart.

A shriveled, dead black worm rolled out of it.

"Is this what you're after?"

She laughed.

"Norman handed it over to me a long time ago."

"He said keeping something that disgusting around would scare me."

I stared at the dead worm.

Something clamped hard around my heart.

This was what Granny had left me to keep me alive.

Destroyed, just like that.

"What is it you actually want?"

I looked at Corinne.

"What do I want?"

She sat back down on the couch and unhurriedly smoothed her skirt.

"Jill, you've taken my place for three years. Still not satisfied?"

"The one Norman loves has always been me."

"If I hadn't been poisoned back then and needed your blood, do you really think he'd have married you?"

I said nothing.

The wound on my chest throbbed.

Corinne leaned in a little.

Lowered her voice.

"And the love hex you're carrying—do you think that was an accident?"

My head snapped up.

Corinne's smile only widened.

"I cast it."

"Norman handed you the water laced with the hex eggs himself."

"He said the only way to keep you willing to be my walking blood bank was to control you with the love hex."

A chill shot up from the soles of my feet all the way to my head.

I was shaking all over.

Three years.

All that tenderness.

All that fussing over whether I was warm enough, whether I'd eaten.

All of it a con to drain me dry.

I swung my hand up and struck at Corinne's face.

My wrist was caught midair.

Norman had come back, I didn't know when.

He clamped down on my wrist and flung it away with force.

I crashed into the coffee table.

Glass shattered across the floor.

Shards drove into my palm.

"Jill! Have you lost your mind?"

Norman roared.

He pulled Corinne into his arms and anxiously checked her face.

"Corinne, are you okay?"

Corinne's tears burst out at once.

"Norman, I only wanted to apologize to my sister…"

"She won't forgive me, and now she's trying to hit me."

Norman turned his head, his eyes cold as ice.

"Jill, you've disappointed me so much."

"Corinne gives in to you at every turn, and this is how vicious you are."

I looked at the two of them.

Blood dripped from my palm onto the floor.

One drop.

Two.

I didn't cry.

I just felt how absurd it had all become.

"Norman, you'll pay for this."

I looked into his eyes.

One word at a time.

Norman gave a cold laugh.

"My punishment is not curing Corinne sooner."

"Prep her for surgery."

Norman's voice came through the door.

Calm.

The kind of calm that decides who lives and who dies.

I lay on the freezing operating table.

Straps pinned my wrists and ankles tight.

This was the sterile surgical room in the basement of the mansion.

Dr. Finch stood under the surgical light in his mask, adjusting the machines.

The door swung open.

Norman came in pushing a wheelchair.

Corinne sat in it.

She'd changed into a clean white dress. Her face was still pale, but she couldn't hide the excitement in her eyes.

"Mr. Stephens, the hex-extraction procedure carries serious risk."

Dr. Finch glanced at the readings on the monitor.

"Your wife's condition is very poor. Forcing out her fate-bound Golden Silkworm hex could kill her."

Norman stood behind the wheelchair.

His hand rested on Corinne's shoulder.

Not a flicker of hesitation.

"Save Corinne."

"Put her under. Full anesthesia."

He looked at me.

There was even a trace of pity in his eyes.

"Jill, just go to sleep. It'll be over before you know it."

"Don't worry. Even after you're gone, I'll take care of the Finley family."

Corinne gripped Norman's hand.

Her voice trembled.

"Norman, she'll hate me."

"She won't get the chance."

Norman closed his hand over hers.

"Once the Golden Silkworm hex is inside you, your cold venom will be cured for good. Then we can start over."

I stared up at the surgical light on the ceiling.

Blinding.

Cold.

Dr. Finch came over with a syringe.

The needle went into my vein.

Cold fluid pushed into my blood.

"Ten. Nine. Eight..."

Dr. Finch was counting down.

Norman turned away, no longer looking at me.

The corner of Corinne's mouth curled with satisfaction.

"Three. Two. One."

I closed my eyes.

My breathing evened out.

The machine gave off its steady beeping.

"The anesthesia's taken effect."

Dr. Finch said.

"Begin."

Norman's voice.

The sound of the scalpel parting skin.

Faint.

But perfectly clear.

Because I hadn't been anesthetized at all.

Three days ago, when I sensed something wrong with my body, I'd swallowed the last clarity pill Granny left me.

Ordinary anesthetic had no effect on me whatsoever.

Wide awake, I felt the blade slice open my belly.

Blood ran out.

Dr. Finch used a retractor to spread the wound.

"Found it."

There was a thread of excitement in his voice.

"Mr. Stephens, the Golden Silkworm hex is dormant."

Norman stepped closer.

"Take it out. Careful. Don't hurt the hex."

I lay on the table.

Feeling the forceps push into my body.

They touched that sleeping little golden thing.

That was my fate-bound hex.

Bound to my blood.

The instant the forceps closed on the Golden Silkworm hex,

I snapped my eyes open.

The surgical light reflected in my pupils.

I silently chanted a line of the highland tongue.

The spell to awaken the Golden Silkworm hex.

The hex, quiet a moment before, suddenly thrashed with violent force.

Golden light flickered through flesh and blood.

"What's happening!"

Dr. Finch cried out, the forceps slipping from his grip.

The Golden Silkworm hex tore free of my body.

It didn't fly toward Corinne the way they'd expected.

Instead it became a streak of gold, shooting straight at Norman, who stood closest.

And bit down on the back of his hand.

Norman screamed.

He flung his hand back hard.

The Golden Silkworm hex spun once in the air and dropped neatly back into my palm.

Corinne shrieked.

"Norman!"

Dr. Finch stumbled backward in terror, knocking over the tray beside him.

Scalpels and gauze scattered across the floor.

Norman clutched the back of his hand.

Black-purple venom spread fast around the wound.

He stared at me.

His eyes full of disbelief.

"What's going on? Why wasn't she under?"