“Elliot?” Law said. “What for?”
“He’s immune to magic.”
“And?”
“Just a feeling. I think we may need him to rescue Coorsel and Nayena.”
His eyes narrowed. “What do you think has happened?”
“We were never getting to the wedding. They already had Nayena and Coorsel before that spell hit. That was the signal to do whatever came next.”
“That was more than a signal,” So’la said.
“Of course it was. It’s incapacitated nearly everyone. If things had gone according to plan, Law and LeeAnne would be focusing on taking care of everyone instead of looking for the virdanas and Nayena and Coorsel. The conspirators bought themselves some time.”
“But for what is the question,” Law said with a scowl.
He was taking this personally, Mal could tell, and she could get why. This was happening on his turf. This was about as in-your-face a challenge as you could get and so far, he wasn’t coming out the winner.
Mal wondered if something bad enough happened, if he’d lose his job. Would he get fired?Couldhe get fired? With a blood oath, she didn’t know if that was possible. A very small part of her hoped it was, hoped that it would actually happen and that he wouldn’t be bound to Effrayant anymore.
And then what? They’d take their unsolved problems somewhere else, along with the ghosts, Elliot, and possible random visits with So’la? Sure, they could do some traveling and she wouldn’t have to see LeeAnne, but then again, she wouldn’t get to push all LeeAnne’s buttons and the ghosts wouldn’t have charging stations, and Elliot might start chewing on Mal’s underwear, and they’d have to figure out somewhere to live.
Anyway, she didn’t want Law to fail. She didn’t want him to lose something precious to him, and she knew that Effrayant mattered to him, along with LeeAnne, the employees, and even the guests. He’d chosen to work here when he thought Mal had died, to give himself purpose and to tie him to the world. He’d been distraught, he told her, even suicidal, though she still couldn’t quite make that fit into her understanding of him and the world. He’d come to love this place, and he wanted to protect it.
“Are you okay?”
Law stumbled and tried to catch himself by grasping a chair. His hand slipped and he dropped to his knees.
Mal went to help him up, but he just swayed as if dazed.
“Law? What’s wrong?”
“Don’t know,” he said, his voice puzzled. “Feel a little… numb.” He shook his head. “Fuzzy. Can’t think. Everything is far away.”
“So’la, find LeeAnne and see if she is okay and if she can come here,” Mal said.
He vanished without a word. Fear drove knives into Mal’s stomach, even as rage seethed through her. She focused on the rage, letting it consume the fear. Rage she could deal with. Anything happening to Law was inconceivable. And she knew she was using the word correctly. If she even tried to conceive of losing him now, she had no idea how she would survive.Ifshe would survive.
“Let’s get you up.”
She put her arm around Law and helped him into a chair, where he collapsed, legs sprawled out, head lolling side to side as if it was just a little too heavy for his neck.
“Feels like the ground is moving,” he said.
“It’s not.”
“Good to know.”
So’la reappeared with LeeAnne. Carrying LeeAnne, to be exact. She had her arms around his neck and looked pissed as hell.
He set her down, keeping his hands on her waist to steady her as she swayed and lurched for balance on her sky-high heels. She swore viciously and kicked off her shoes, revealing delicate feet. Her toenails were painted bright neon blue with tiny panda bears gamboling across them.
Mal stared. This was Armageddon. No doubt about it. That, or she was trapped in a hallucinogenic dream, or possibly had eaten some really bad sushi. She didn’t remember eating sushi at all, but that could all be part of her reaction. It might have been that bad.
“How is Law?” LeeAnne asked, slapping at So’la as she started walking then tilted sideways. The demon grabbed her and set her back upright, keeping hold of her.
“Pride goes before the fall. Literally,” he pointed out when she snarled at him.
