“I need to go tell Maeve it’s safe. She must be so frightened.” She sounds tired. Exhausted. Her eyes sweep over the dead, her bloodied lawn.
I take her face in my hands and kiss her until the tension bleeds from her shoulders. “Go. Be with Maeve. I will take care of this and join you in a moment.”
She nods, looking relieved. I watch her go inside, and then I get to work.
It doesn’t take me long to collect the bodies and feed them to the river. I finish off the man in the drive before I throw him over to join his brethren. At this point, the fish of the Rappahannock must have a taste for Denardi flesh. I clean the blood from the lawn with a hose from the side of the house. There’s no car in the drive. Where did they come from?
A mile or so up the road, I find a van. No plates. I leave it there.
When I’m finished, I stand in the yard, staring up at the light in the attic. Everything in me longs to take Eloise back to Stygarde. After what she told me following the second trial, I’m more curious than ever about what has become of my kingdom. Even though the trials took place in a mirror world, Aurora’s magic is unparalleled, and I wonder if there is any truth to her warning. Besides, I want to see that crown Eloise won on her head. But I can’t ask her to leave a life she’s not ready to leave. I can’t ask her to leave Maeve, who is as close to family as she has left, or this house and property that contains her ancestors’ bones.
I promised her I’d wait until she is ready, and I will never go against that promise. My home, my kingdom, will always—first and foremost—be with her.
But I see what’s ahead for her here. Neither of us has a coven. Night Haven holds too much trauma for either of us to return to. We might find refuge with Cassius. The Lamia coven would take us in. Yes, that is surely the answer.
Only, what will become of Harcourt Manor? Her heart has always been here. After all, she summoned me, willing to risk everything, to save it from Tony’s clutches.
And will I ever be able to convince her to leave it behind?
47
The Rarest Treasure
ELOISE
“I never meant to put you in harm’s way by coming here,” I say to Maeve.
She frowns. “Of course you didn’t. None of this is your fault.”
“But it is problematic.” I watch as a tear traces her cheek.
“You’re a vampire, Eloise. How is that going to work? After tonight, the FBI is going to have even more questions. There is Denardi DNA everywhere. I’m good, but I’m not this good. I can’t clean up this mess. And you can’t be in the sunlight. You need a safe place to sleep during the day, and it’s not here.”
I stare out the window, at Damien hosing down my front lawn. “I won’t go back to Night Haven. Neither will Damien.”
“What about the coven in Chicago? Maybe you could both take refuge there?”
She’s right. We could go to Chicago, but if I’m willing to uproot myself and move across the country, there is somewhere else I’d rather be. I look around the attic, my parents’ books, their herbs and magical accouterments, the outline of the spell I drew on the floor to send Damien home, and the answer clicks. I’ve been fighting it, but it’s the only way this all works, and remarkably, when I consider it, I feel nothing but peace.
“I love you, Maeve, and I’m so glad I got to see you again.”
“But?”
“But I think I have to go with Damien, back to his world.”
A sob breaks her throat. “I thought you might say that.”
“It’s just the fair thing to do. His kingdom needs him. He never intended to leave. And now, being what I am, there’s no place for me here anymore.”
She nods. “I hate it so much, but I think you’re right.”
I feel a fat tear break the dam of my lower lid. “You are the best friend I’ve ever had, and the sister I’ve always wanted. It kills me to consider leaving you.”
“I feel the same way.” She sniffs. “But Eloise, you have a man down there who loves you the way you deserve to be loved. And you love him enough to die for him. Your home is with him.”
“My home is with him.” I nod, my tears joining hers in solidarity.
“Do you think the Hitch and Cast spell works between worlds?”
