The shard darkens from a glassy nothingness to something more like a black opal, as if it’s now containing something dark. Maven exhales like the life force was weighing on her. She picks up another piece, wiping her brow and tossing a weak smile at us.
“You can all stop quietly freaking out. I just didn’t realize how taxing it would be to have the life forces of immortals inside me.”
She repeats the action with another piece of etherium. Then she turns to examine us like she’s worriedwe’rethe ones who are about to topple over when it’s clear that she’s extremely exhausted.
Although, I guess she did leave us looking pretty damn bad.
“We’re okay, baby,” Baelfire assures her, pulling her into a big hug.
Crypt pulls her away from the dragon next and kisses her deeply, resting his forehead against hers as she shakes her head. I don’t hear what they’re saying, so they must only be talking to each other telepathically.
Finally, Maven peeks over at me, zeroing in on my shoulder.
“I’m fine,” I promise quickly.
“Tell us everything,sangfluir,” Silas murmurs.
Maven glances at the etherium on the table. “I killed Del Mar.”
We all stare at her in shock before I speak.
“Youwhat?”
“I said I?—”
“I heard what you said,” I clarify, frustrated. “How the hell did you know where he was? Why the fuck didn’t you tell us that you were going to do this?”
She stares at me like I’m missing the obvious. “You were unconscious.”
“I meantbeforewe were unconscious. Damn it, Maven.” I rub my face.
“Now, now. Don’t hold back the details. I hope it was incredibly gory,” Crypt pipes up, a sick smile of excitement twisting his face.
“Not nearly as much as I would have liked,” she sighs. “To be honest, the fight was disappointing. I thought he would present more of a challenge,” she grumbles, rubbing her bruised forehead. “Douglas is much more fun to fight—although the last time we fought, he took a cheap blow to my head. He loses some brownie points for that.”
Silas examines her forehead, using necromancy to heal it. It’s still weird as hell to think of him as a necromancer since I was taught they were worse than demons.
But hey—at least he can heal our keeper. No complaints about that.
Then I frown. “Wait. How do you know what brownie points are if you grew up in the Nether?”
“Lillian used that term a lot. I don’t really know what it means,” she shrugs before glancing between us. “I was surprised you four didn’t try to follow me.”
Bael folds his arms, lifting his chin. “We were busy.”
“Doing?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I fold my arms, too.
“I would, actually.”
“Too fucking bad. Take not knowing as your punishment for running off and leaving us here like useless sacks of potatoes,” I grunt, my irritation returning.
Maven’s eyes flash. For a half second, as our keeper turns to me with a deathly glare, I regret all my life choices.
“Punishment? I must’ve misheard you.”
Nope. Stay strong. It doesn’t matter how scary she can be—I’m digging my heels in with this one. It scared the hell out of me to wake up with her gone yet again, so I lean down to give her my most chilling look.
