“The hound should be waking up at midnight,” the woman informs us.
She’s a dark-skinned fae with pointed ears, her hair in braids, and multiple piercings in her ears. I spy the same bounty hunting mark Asher’s got on his neck on the back of her hand when she lifts a phone from her pocket to double-check the time.
“This is Jada,” Heidi tells us.“She’s the keeper of the quintet who lives here and a friend of Asher’s.”
I greet the woman with a nod. “Hi. We’re Heidi’s boy toys.”
Just like I wanted, Heidi blushes. “That’s not?—”
“He means boyfriends,” Ian amends. “For now. We still need to go ring shopping.”
I laugh when that makes Heidi do a double-take, eyes wide in shock at what he’s implying. Before she can say anything, Kaenon dips his head respectfully at Jada.
“My deepest thanks for allowing us into your home so Asher may reunite with his hellhound.”
Jada waves off his gratitude. “It’s nothing. Honestly, I’ve been hoping this hound would wake up for months. For a while, I was convinced it would be the only thing to give Asher the motivation to wake up finally.”
“Wake up?” Heidi frowns, tucking her hair behind one of her ears. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not surprised he hasn’t told you. His recovery was so recent, and he’s been so godsdamned stubborn about getting back to normal…” Jada looks at Heidi, guilt written all over her face. “Listen. In the Battle of the Citadel, I…I shot Asher.”
“Youshothim?” Ian repeats.
The fae nods, unflinching. “Asher and I were somewhere in the chaos inside the Entity’s arena, fighting alongside a couple of other bounty hunters. One of those Nether monsters, a siren, got into my head, and…gods, I just remember aiming at the back of his head and pulling the trigger. I get nightmares about it. I’m sofucking glad he was far enough away that it didn’t do even worse damage—and that the other two hunters got him to the healers outside the battle in time. I’m not sure I could have lived with myself if I’d killed him, but…he was still in a coma for months.”
Heidi has gone pale from this little revelation, but seeing the fae’s guilt makes her reach out to squeeze the woman’s hand reassuringly.
“That wasn’t your fault.”
“Not sure about that. I could have been paying more attention and shot that siren before it got to me,” Jada grumbles.
“Sounds like it was just an accident,” I shrug. “No sweat.”
“That’s what Asher and my quintet keep telling me,” she says, glancing at the other two legacies she came out here with.
They’ve joined two other women chatting on the back porch, wrapped up in blankets to ward off the spring chill. They lean their heads on one another’s shoulders, cuddling as they watch the yard.
“After everything we’ve been through together, I’m just glad Asher’s doing so well now. He can be rough around the edges and a fucking grouch, but he’s an extremely good guy. A natural leader.” She looks back at us. “And I can tell he’s happy right now, with you four here. Maybe it’s fate.”
Fate, khaos.
Demons believe they’re not that different.
“I’m so glad he made a complete recovery,” Heidi murmurs, watching Asher recheck the cameras. He’s getting impatient as midnight gets closer.
“Except for those nasty headaches and that right ear of his,” Jada sighs. “A few healers have tried to fix it, including himself—but you know what they say, magic has its limits even if we can’t always understand them. It rarely cures deafness.”
Huh. I had no fucking idea about his ear, and I can tell from their faces that the others didn’t know, either.
When the conversation moves on with Heidi asking Jada how her quintet has been doing since the Upheaval ended, I decide to stretch my legs. Strolling across the backyard, I don’t bother going around wherever the hellhound’s buried.
I stop at Asher’s right side, noting that he’s completely engrossed in the camera as he checks the heat it’s detecting underground. While he’s so focused, I lean close to his right ear and whisper very lightly, just to give it a test.
“Your mangy hound better not bite, or I’ll riddle the fucker with metal.”
Asher doesn’t seem to hear me. But a second later, he turns his head, notices how close I’ve gotten to him in his peripheral vision, and plants a hand on my face to shove me away.
“Buzz off and give me some space, you obnoxious piece of fucking shit.”
