Page 189 of House of Lilith

Then she turns back to Ricky, making me breathe a sigh of relief. “Your ancestor… He didn’t try to set the record straight. He tried to use the Box to steal Grimm Academy’s Heart’s magic. So to punish him, I damagedhisAcademy’s Heart’s magic.”

What the…

For a second, there’s silence. Then Ricky expels an angry breath, his hands balling into fists. “Youdid it?” he demands.

“I did,” she tells him, sounding downright bored.

“You’re the one to blame for all this?” he insists.

And I notice the temperature in the room dropping as Dame Gothel shoots him this cold, cold look.

I don’t hesitate. I jump in between the two of them and I lock eyes with Ricky. “It doesn’t matter,” I tell him. “It’s in the past, Ricky. How can’t you see?” I throw my hands up in the air, becoming desperate to finally get us all out of this fucking situation as I feel Dame Gothel’s eyes on me. “We need to be moving forward, doing everything we can to build a better future, not letting ourselves get stuck in the past. Just let it go, please.”

He glances away, his jaw clenching.

But I don’t give up. I take a step closer. “Just let it go and all will be forgiven.”

He opens his mouth to say something, but then I feel this raw energy draw closer and my head snaps back to see Dame Gothel looking down at us. Atme. And it feels as if she can see through all my walls, straight at the fox huddled inside.

“I’ve changed my mind,” she says without taking her eyes off me. “It seems the situationdoesrequire me to even the scales after all.”

My heart skips a beat, fear flooding me.

She turns her eyes back onto Ricky, motioning at me as she says, “But it’s because ofhimthat it does.”

The next thing I know, light starts to break through her, seeming to explode and making me have to shield my eyes before it dies down, leaving her hovering there like a second ago, as if nothing happened.

“There, young alpha,” she tells me, “I’ve fixed your Academy’s Heart’s magic.”

I just blink at her, too dumbfounded to say anything.

“What about Grimm Academy?” I hear Ricky demand.

“Grimm Academy stays the way it is,” she tells him, right before she starts disappearing. “Except for one painting,” she adds as she throws Romanov this funny little look, making her frown.

Then she turns her focus back onto Ricky. “And I’m not giving you any more of my time. I suggest you listen to your alpha, little hyena.”

“No,” Ricky shouts. And he lunges at her, lifting his hands to throw punches at the air. “Hey, come back here.”

The next thing I know, she’s no longer there, she’severywhere.In the walls, underneath the floor, in the air itself. And there’s this unearthly roar coming from all around me, so loud and so pervasive, it shakes me to the core, making me stumble back and fall to the ground, along with Romanov and Ricky.

Before it all just goes away. Because she’s made her point.

It takes me a moment to come to. When I do, I find Romanov jumping to her feet and Ricky dragging his body to where the Box is lying.

“Ricky,” I shout at him as I watch his hand dart to it, and I move to stop him, but then I hear Romanov’s knife whiz past my ear. She must’ve used up most of her Blood Magic by now.

But the next thing I know, I’m stopping midstep because the knife has Ricky’s hand pinned to the floor, and he’s letting out a pained groan, his face twisting in anguish.

He doesn’t look up. Through gritted teeth, he says, “She can’t do that.”

For a second, I think he’s talking about Romanov. But then he spits out, “She was supposed to burn this goddamn place to the ground.”

And without a moment of hesitation, he pulls the knife out of his hand and pushes himself up from the floor.

The knife squirms in his hand, but he’s not letting her use her magic to get it back.

Disgust making my jaw clench, I spit out, “I thought it was restoring our Academy to its former glory that you wanted. You know,justice, not revenge. Huh, Ricky?”

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