"But?"
"But I have no proof," Victoria admitted. "All I know is that Thalia was in the main house when it burned. I found remains I believed were hers. Performed death rites. Mourned her along with everyone else."
"And now she's alive," Nicholas said. "Which means either you made a mistake identifying the body, or..."
"Or she faked her death deliberately," Victoria finished. "Used the attack as cover to disappear. Spent fifteen years making dark deals and corrupting her magic so she could come back strong enough to do what our mother never let her do."
"Control supernatural bonds," Nicholas said.
"All of them," Victoria confirmed. "If what she told Lilith is true..if she really plans to 'reshape the world'....then she's not just talking about manipulating individual connections. She's talking about controlling every bond in existence. Pack bonds. Mate bonds. Coven connections. Everything."
Nicholas's expression darkened. "That's not possible."
