SARAPHINA’S POV

The barrier quivered around us, rippling like heat over sun-baked ground. Mother pressed her palms flat against it, her face twisting between confusion and fury.

“What is this?” Her voice cracked. “What have you done to me?”

I stayed back, the curse holding its grip even in this prison I’d built. Ten meters, always ten. Yet now she couldn’t run toward vengeance or away from me. We were sealed together, bound in a circle neither of us could escape.

“I used natural ...