But Aurora? The girl who sat in the back and pressed shields?
Daddy's needy little bitch who spent half her waking hours fussing over potions?
THAT woman got an element before Vex did, and she was using it right now to protect the Hexwitch like she was some dementia-ridden granny who fell off the stairs and needed help getting back up.
'No.' The thought came hard and sharp enough to cut through the tears.
'I refuse. I refuse to accept that.'
Her mind began racing.
The system description hadn't said every bonded woman receives an element.
She'd seen the words when the Bloodfather class was born, felt them through the bond alongside everyone else, and nowhere in that announcement was a guarantee that each of them would draw one of Quinlan's seven elements.
Her fingers were still on the brand, and the warmth was still there, flat and patient and very much alive.
