I swiveled around in his arms, caught them, pushinghis comfort away an arm’s length. “Bruiser?” The word was a coarse whisper.
“Truly, My Queen. He is well. Deaf for a bit yet. But well. Two others are more damaged but will also be fine. And Eli is unharmed. Florence is a treasure.”
I closed my eyes. My arms, which were holding him away, dropped slowly to my sides. I took a breath and my knees began to buckle. My forehead landed on his chest. I sobbed once more, letting Koun’s clean crisp scent fill me, over the smell of the blood. So much blood.
Koun’s hand stroked my head, down my hair, along my back. “All is well, My Queen. And you have now come into the fullness of the Dark Queen’s power.”
I tried to speak and had to clear my throat. “What?”
“Part of every Dark Queen’s power is for war,” Koun said. “You fought. You defeated your own warlord in battle.”
I let the residual fear dissolve. “Well. That was... kinda sucky.”
Koun laughed, his chest vibrating beneath my forehead.
Over the loudspeakers, Alex said, “And that, folks, has been recorded and at the proper time, this video can be sent to our enemies. The Dark Queen has come into her full powers of war.”
I lifted my head and stepped back. To Koun’s side, I saw Leo, standing quietly, watching Grégoire as his former lover fed and healed. The outclan priest took a step toward Grégoire. Another. Slowly, he crossed the floor, as the vamps in the gym went silent again. Blondie was turned away from me, away from Leo, and I heard the former MOC murmur something to the humans Grégoire cradled.
Grégoire’s head canted up, then tilted to the side, that birdlike motion they have, and then twisted his head on his neck, too far for a human. He saw Leo.
If I hadn’t known for certain that sunlight burned vamps to ashes, I’d have sworn the sun dawned on Grégoire’s face. Faster than human, he stood. Bloody. Healed. He took a step that matched Leo’s. Walked, in step with his former lover, until they met in the center of gym. Standing, notspeaking, eyes locked. There was the faintest smile on Grégoire’s face.
Leo took Blondie’s hand. They embraced. And then they just vanished. Popping away with the sound of displaced air. Faster than the eye could follow.
“Ummm,” I said, thinking that my rooms had once been Leo’s. Were they about to do the big nasty on what was now my bed?
Reading my mind, or my expression, Koun said, “The visiting Mithran guests have been given rooms at both HQ and the Yellowrock Clan Home, My Queen.”
“Okay. Good.”
I dropped to my backside on the gym floor. My body ached. I was bleeding from several lacerations. Maybe more than just several. I smelled my blood and sweat. My crown was hot, nearly burning.
Blood pooled beneath me. Spreading. “Oops,” I whispered, suddenly feeling pain everywhere.
Koun knelt beside me. Ripped his wrist. Held it to me. Panic in his eyes. “Drink,” he commanded, no longer calm.
“Nah,” I said, feeling a familiar sensation in my chest. Heat and cold. Pain and pleasure. Skinwalker power. “I got a better idea.” I pulled on mybetween. Gray and silver energies left me in a whoosh of power. Black motes spun up and into the air. Into my crown. Back into me.
Koun fell back, shock on his face as my magic brushed across him.
Pain cut across my spine. The crown grew more heated. My scalp scorched. I shifted.
CHAPTER 20
Could It Be the Tabitha?
When I came to myself, I was in a different half-form, sitting on the floor of the gym, my back against the wall. Someone was patting my face. Human skin to my human skin. Slapping it. Hard. I grabbed the hands.
Small hands.
“Wake up, Ant Jane. You got to save Miss Soledad and Miss Lachish. They’re in danger. Wake up. Wake up.Son of witch, wake up!”
My eyes were glued shut, lids heavy, but I got them open. Angie Baby was kneeling in my lap, her hands on mine. She was wearing a peach-colored nightgown and her hair was in a mussed ponytail, strands sticking out everywhere. Her bony knees pressed into my very bloody lap, my blood all over her nightgown. Molly would kill me. And then her words penetrated. Angie had used witch cussing. “What?” I asked.
“I was in the betweens. Not like you and Beast, butmybetweens. You have to save Miss Soledad and Miss Lachish. They’re gonna be in danger.”
The betweens... magical energy was—
