Chapter 343 I Forbid You

Emilia’s POV

The month off Sebastian had so generously handed Fynn came back to bite him within forty-eight hours.

All the work Fynn used to shoulder, the contracts, the pack disputes, the endless fires that needed putting out, suddenly had no one to catch them. Sebastian found himself buried under a mountain of tasks he hadn’t touched in years, scowling at his phone like it had personally betrayed him. The thing never stopped lighting up. Every chime seemed to drag another problem out of the woodwork, and each one had his name on it.

“I built an empire so I’d never have to deal with this again,” he muttered, thumbing through a stack of emails on the balcony one morning. “And now I’m answering my own messages like some fresh-faced intern.”

I bit back a smile. “Careful, Mr. CEO. Keep frowning like that and you’ll scare the seagulls.”

By noon he’d made his decision. He had to fly back to Silverlake City and handle the company and the pack himself. He wanted me to come with him, of course. He always wanted me within arm’s reach.

But I had something far more important to do here in Haven’s Reach. I turned him down.

Luckily, he drew his own conclusions. He assumed I couldn’t bear to cut Lily’s trip short, and my doctor had been very clear that I needed to lower my stress. Sebastian decided a sunny coastal town was the perfect place for me to unwind, so he didn’t push.

What he did push was Scott. He practically dragged the man onto the plane with him, declaring that it wouldn’t be proper to leave two women alone with a single male hovering around. A “girls’ trip,” he called it, with that possessive glint in his eye. I nearly laughed in his face. The man would ship Scott to another continent if he thought he could get away with it.

How he convinced Scott to go, I’ll never know. All I saw was Scott coming back to say goodbye to Lily, his face stormy and strange, like a man who’d lost an argument he never got to make. He opened his mouth twice, thought better of it both times, then gave Lily a stiff little nod and left. Lily watched him go with a frown.

And just like that, our grand vacation shrank down to two. Me and Lily, left behind in Haven’s Reach.

“Emilia!” Lily waved a glossy travel brochure under my nose, practically vibrating. “Haven’s Reach has this gorgeous beach, I mean absolutely stunning. We could go surfing, snorkeling, the whole thing. Please tell me you’re in.”

I wasn’t looking at her brochure. I had a map of Haven’s Reach spread across my knees, my finger tracing the forest my uncle Chuck had marked for me in smudged red ink.

“Emilia?” she tried again.

I found the spot. My pulse ticked up. I lifted my head and met her eyes. “Lily, there’s somewhere I need to go. Somewhere important. Will you come with me?”

Her brow crinkled. “Of course I’ll come, but why important? We’re on vacation. Since when does vacation have a to-do list?”

I was already zipping my bag shut and shrugging it onto my shoulders. My phone buzzed, the car rental agent confirming the vehicle was waiting downstairs, right where I’d asked.

I turned to her and offered the only answer I had ready. “I’ll tell you everything in the car.”

“Are you out of your damn fucking mind?! Emilia!”

Lily’s shriek nearly peeled the paint off the windshield. I flinched so hard the wheel jerked under my palms, and I had to wrestle it back.

Moon Goddess above, if we flipped this car on some winding coastal road because of her lungs, let the record show it would absolutely not be my fault.

I’d just told her everything. All of it. The witches. The spell. And, because Lily doesn’t do half-truths, exactly what happened to the ones who cast it and failed. The price tag, written in blood.

“Lily, don’t be so outrageous. It’ll be fine.” I kept my voice level, soothing, the tone you’d use on a spooked animal.

“Fine? Fine?!” She twisted in her seat to face me. “Emilia, have you ever heard the one rule that actually matters? If there’s something you’re too scared to tell your best friend before you do it, then you don’t do it! That’s the whole point of having a best friend!”

Well. She wasn’t wrong. I hated that she wasn’t wrong. I kept my eyes on the road so I wouldn’t have to watch her watch me.

“I am ordering you, right now, not to go anywhere near a witch. Any witch. I forbid you to touch a single spell.” Her voice cracked on the last word. “It will kill you!”