Chapter 176

Celine

The year unfolded quietly.

Not peacefully—nothing about secrecy ever truly was—but steadily, like a river choosing its course no matter how many stones tried to redirect it. My life divided itself into two worlds so seamlessly that sometimes I forgot which one I stood in. By day, I was Celine of the northern coven: dutiful, composed, careful with my magic. By night, or sometimes dawn, or th