“Authorities on the scene are reporting a tragic engine malfunction. Firefighters are working to contain the wildfire that resulted from the explosion.”There was an extra layer of sympathy to the hosts’ tone as they reported that the vehicle was intended for medical transport.
The reach of Eros’ lies seemed unshakeable. Considering what he had been transporting, he’d probably argue it wasn’t a lie at all.
“You okay?” Jon asked quietly as I sank to the edge of the counter and winced.
“I guess Rhett was so pissed about his leg that he had to go and ruin mine.” I set to work on healing the area around my knee, but my mind raced with what I’d really wanted to say:It doesn’t feel like we won, does it?
By all accounts, we had succeeded. The army of monsters lay in an otherworldly forest of carnage, according to Jon. One of the biggest players in this cruel game had been thwarted. We’d saved two fairies from a harrowing captivity. Yet, my nerveswere still abuzz, and I expected the next threat to burst through the door any minute.
Up until this point, I’d encountered plenty of bloodshed, sacrifice, and close scrapes with death. I’d gotten the taste of a hunter’s life, but I had always been able to come down after our battles. Not this time. Tonight had been unfathomably personal.
Rhett. Tammy. Eros.
And the fact that I sat here, my own fatheralive, driving back toward us soon.
A human.
Against my grief, anger, and confusion, a selfish little seed began to sprout. My father had accomplished the human transformation spell I so badly craved. He could show me how he’d done it. That was the least he could do.
But one caveat was a bullet through my hope. He had been a gem scavenger keen on experimentation, and I was nothing of the sort. I didn’t have the magic to take on such a monumental spell, and my greatest failure of the evening had been the abandonment of the gemstone’s beckon once our lives were on the line. I bitterly thought of where it might have been lurking in the hotel—perhaps a cursed diadem, or a guest’s bracelet, or a rare emerald set in a ring.
I swore I could still feel the phantom echo of the gem’s call nearby. After being exposed to such dizzying magic for over a day and finding sanctuary in a witch’s home, I supposed I couldn’t be faulted for losing my mind a little.
“Sylv?” Jon murmured when I didn’t move after completing the healing incantation.
Sighing, I touched my knee tenderly and wiped my eyes. I wanted nothing more than to curl up on Jon’s shoulder and melt into him all night while he cooked and found somewhere to relax, but I doubted I could make myself comfortable with this bruised, aching injury.
“I’m too tired to complete more than a superficial healing,” I admitted.
“Chula. You realize you’re not the only healer on the premises, right?”
My face flushed. “I can’t ask a noble to heal me! What if she says no? That’ll be mortifying.”
He casually pulled a blade from the knife block and inspected it. “Should I ask her for you?”
“Stars, no.” I started toward the door to find Zia, then hesitated. I looked back at him—really looked.
I scanned his face, the effortless strength of his arms under his plain black shirt as he moved. It was a fucking miracle his body was still in one piece after what he’d gone through tonight.
And… No nosebleed. At least, not right now.
“You’re sure you’re feeling okay?” I asked, a quiver in my voice
“Nothing a few hours of sleep next to you can’t fix,” he said.
My cheeks flushed at the tenderness, and I fought back the familiar instinct to tease him about the things I’d do to him in the spectral realm tomorrow, when we were recovered.
No. We’d never be there together again. But at least we hadn’t lost each other tonight.
Cementing the image of Jon in my mind—safe and waiting for me whenever I returned—I took off in search of Zia.
Assuming I would find her and Rowan in their second-floor guest room, I started in that direction, but a glint of flickering light drew my attention to an open door just past the foyer. I peered inside, gasping at the sight of a well-furnished parlor.
Three winged figures were perched upon one of the polished tables. Zia was the first to notice me, lighting up as she waved me over. Rowan, of course, stood tightly behind her. And across from them—
“Ben!” I cried, making a beeline for the table. He still looked exhausted, so I refrained from tackling him into a hug. Scanning him up and down, I sighed with relief. “You’re alright?”
Much like me, he appeared far from settled, but he nodded. “I might have been out for a few days if not for Zia. In return, I wanted to show her my favorite room in this place. It’s…quiet.”
