“Mom, you saved me. And Rowan. You were the only one who was clearheaded enough to guide us home. To do that, you’d have to be the least crazy person I’ve ever met.”
Her mom nodded, but didn’t look up. She kept untangling Lily’s hair, smoothing each spiral curl between her fingers before moving patiently onto the next. Her mother had magic fingers when it came to Lily’s riot of curls, which were now barely shoulder-length. A lot of her hair had burned away in the fire, but her hair grew unnaturally fast. No one fixed her troublesome mane like her mom did, and the familiar touch soothed them both.
“Gideon deserved to die,” Samantha said serenely. “Maybe Carrick does, too.” Her brow pinched. “The other Lillian claimed him, you know. The Lillian who stole you has claimed Carrick as her head mechanic. She’s training him.”
“Do you know why she chose Carrick?” Lily asked, her back stiffening.
“I’m sorry but I don’t. I can see into the worlds of my children, but I can only see directly around them as it happens. Like watching a million movies at once,” Samantha said, and smiled. Her smile fell and her tone went cold. “I don’t share mindspeak.”
“Can’t or won’t?” Lily asked gently.
“Won’t. Unless it’s to save your life, like when I guided you back home.” Samantha finally met Lily’s eyes in the mirror. “I would never burden any of you with what’s in here,” she said, touching her temple. “It’s too much.”
“Thank you,” Lily said quietly, knowing she would never be as strong as her mother.
“I love you, too, dear,” Samantha said, probably answering another version of Lily who had said “I love you” instead of “thank you” in a different universe. Samantha kissed Lily on the head and wandered out of the room.
Lily sat for a while, wondering if she should tell Rowan about Carrick. Bitterness swelled inside her. Lillian had nearly convinced her that she had Rowan’s best interests at heart. But what possible reason could Lillian have for claiming Rowan’s half brother, if not to hurt Rowan? It seemed like every time Lily started to understand Lillian, she learned some new unforgivable thing about her and hated her all over again.
Carrick was Rowan’s only remaining blood relative, and in families where magic was strong, close blood relatives could mindspeak without using willstones or without becoming stone kin by touching each other’s stones. Lily still hadn’t deciphered all the different ways in which touching willstones was viewed in Rowan’s world because it meant different things depending on how much magic each person was capable of, but Lily did know that the lesser the magic, the more superficial the bond. In the nightclub, Lily had seen how some people in Rowan’s world touched each other’s stones for a weekend thrill. For them, becoming stone kin wasn’t very serious. The sensations exchanged and the bond that was created were temporary.
That was something Lily couldn’t imagine. Touching willstones was a different matter for her, as it was for all mechanics, crucibles, and witches. As a witch, when Lily touched someone’s willstone, she claimed that person for life. The only way to break out of that commitment would be for that person to smash his or her stone—something as painful as cutting off a limb.