“They’re already here,” Brom says with a cough.
I follow his gaze to see Famke, Kat’s friend Mary, and several constables on horseback riding toward us across the courtyard.
“How the hell?”I mutter to myself.
“Famke, Mary!”Kat yells, getting to her feet and sprinting toward them.
I get up and reach down and help Brom up to his feet, quickly adjusting the coat around him so that he’s not being indecent in front of the authorities.
They stop a few yards away, in front of Kat.
“Oh, thank goodness we got here in time,” Famke says on top of Sarah’s chestnut horse.“I had come here twice over the last week.I knew something had gone wrong, I could just feel it.Each time the wards wouldn’t let me in, but they’d done so before.Then Sarah said she was coming here for the full moon, and I knew, I just knew you were in danger, Katrina.”
Mary nods from on top of her horse.“Famke came to my house last night and told me what she feared.I told my parents, thinking they would laugh and ignore me, but they said we had to at least tell the police what was going on.”
“We rode into town and talked to the new constable,” Famke says, jerking her head toward the three officers behind her.
“Interrupted my supper,” one of them says, a man with muttonchops and a mustache, who I assume is the new constable.“But I can see now that this might have been worth it.We’ve been outside those damn gates for the past few hours, we’ve been all along the property trying to find our way in to no avail.”
The police continue to describe their efforts, but my attention is stolen by Brom, who leans into me.
“So now what?”Brom says in a low voice.
“What do you mean, now what?”And then I realize the price he must have paid to still be here, talking to me.“Don’t you have some bargain to uphold with the horseman?”
He gives me a small smile, shakes his head.“The Hessian is dead now.That’s all he wanted in the end.”
I blink at him.“How can he die if he was already dead?”
“There is more than one death, Crane.You should know that.He’s been used and abused by the coven for decades now.He’s never known peace, only vengeance, usually on behalf of someone else.He’s been made to kill, made to retrieve, a puppet on a string.A soldier with no escape.All he truly wanted was to die a real death on his own terms, and with sacrifice, and never be used for anything ever again.”
“It sounds like you knew him on a personal level,” I comment.
He shrugs.“I do.And by the end, I think he knew me.”
I grin at him, the elated feeling in my chest slowly expanding.“So you’re free now?”
“I’m absolutely free,” he says, leaning his head against my shoulder briefly, and I have to fight the strong urge to reach down and kiss him.“But I’ll tell you what, the minute we get out ofhere, we’re going straight to Manhattan and we’re getting the biggest fucking bed we’ve ever seen.And you’re not going to care if I get crumbs all over it.Got it?”
“Sir, yes, sir,” I tell him, biting back a smile.“Of course, those things cost money.”
He raises his head and his lips twist into a sly smile.
“What?”I ask.
“Well, you know all those gemstones inside the glass cases of the cathedral are worth a pretty penny,” he says.“Would be a shame if they were to all disappear with the fire.Never to be seen again.”
For a moment I’m not sure what he’s getting at.
But then I know.
“Brom, you sneaky bastard,” I say to him.
The both of us turn and run back into the building, everyone yelling at us in shock as we go, wondering why we’re running back into the flames.
Luckily the fire hasn’t spread far yet, and the glass cases that display crystals, gemstones, and other esoteric relics are untouched.I take my gun from my back pocket, happy that it’s finally useful for something other than shooting Brom, and start smashing the glass.
Then we pocket as much of the stuff as we can before running back outside.
