I didn’t seem to be either, anymore. Thank god for small miracles.
“I know whyIlook like warmed over dog shit,” Cale said. He’d spent the past three days in Memphis, debriefing the nymph elders on everything that had gone down with Dever and Xaphan. Ad nauseum, evidently. During which he’d been largely out of communication. “But Lex, have you even gotten out of that chair since I left?”
I nodded. “I have a hotel room down the street.” Though I’d mostly been using the rented space to shower and change clothes. I’d been sleeping and eating at the hospital for three days because I didn’t want to miss an update from the doctor. And because I didn’t want to leave Lacey alone, even though he wasn’t conscious yet and couldn’t have visitors.
I had gotten him into this. The very least he deserved was my presence. My full attention.
“Any sign of Xaphan?” I asked, suddenly worried that was why Cale had come back.
“Not a single glimpse of him. Not a peepfromhim. And his disappearing act is really setting the elders on edge. They expected him to celebrate his return in some obvious and destructive fashion. And while that would have cost some lives, at least then—”
“You’d know where to find him,” I finished, and Cale nodded.
“As it is, we have no idea where to even start looking.” He exhaled, and my entire body tensed. That sound was resignation. It was the preamble to a question I wasn’t going to want to answer any more than he wanted to ask. “They want to know what happened, Lex. How he got loose.”
“What did you tell them?”
He shifted in his chair, his physical discomfort mirroring my discomfort with this entire conversation. “That my recollection of the events was less than entirely clear, because I was severely injured in the fight.”
I nodded slowly. “That seems accurate.”
“And yet, they’re not buying it.”
“You understand that that isn’t my problem, right? I don’t work for your elders, and I didn’t volunteer for save-the-world duty. I got fucking drafted, and I did mygoddamnbest.”
Another nod. “I also know that you curse more when you’re feeling particularly defensive.”
“Fuck off.” But my bark held no bite.
“What did you do, Lex? What happened? I remember tackling you, to drive you out of Dever’s way. Then there’s just nothing. It’s like I blinked, and when I opened my eyes, you were on the ground next to me, crying. My clothes were shredded, but there wasn’t a mark on me. Then Xaphan tore off the demon’s wings, and for probably a day and a half, while I was still trying to sort it all out, I thought that’s what you’d done. That you’d wished for him to hurt Dever. But that theory doesn’t hold water. You didn’t know what tearing a demon’s wings off would do. And Xaphan told you that was on the house.Gratis. Which means you didn’t wish for it. So I need you to tell me, Lex. Just fucking tell me what happened.”
I twisted in my chair, tucking both feet beneath myself, to look at him. And I could tell—I could see it in his eyes—that he already knew. He didn’t need me to explain it to him; he needed me to confirm what he’d already guessed. For his sanity, maybe. And definitely so he could report the verified details back to his elders.
“You died,” I said.
Breath burst from Cale’s lungs like a small-scale explosion.
“You pushed me out of the way, and Dever ripped you to shreds. Your chest was this gaping hole of splintered bone and shredded tissue. You were destroyed, and Lacey was dying, and I’d losteverything. Dever was hurt, and he was about to disappear through that fucking shadow to go heal, and then he would have come back for me. And for Cari. And for your goddamn elders. And I didn’t have any way to stop any of that.”
“That would have been small-scale destruction, compared to the alternative,” Cale said through clenched teeth.
“I know. And I was going to let it happen. But then Xaphan said he could save you. And I couldn’t say no.”
“You should have.”
“I know. But I couldn’t.”
“Goddamn it, Lex, youcouldhave.” He exploded out of his chair and marched halfway across the room before turning back to me, brilliant blue eyes alight with fury. With angst. “You fuckingreleasedadjinni!”
“I saved your life. You can forward my address to your mother for the thank-you card.”
Cale huffed. “Well, that’s not going to happen.”
“Your mother isn’t grateful you’re alive?”
“Sure, she is. But that doesn’t change anything! My life isn’t worth more than the thousands—possibly millions—that Xaphan will take, now that he’s free!”
“Not even to your mother?”
