River nodded at Laurie and Joseph as he asked, “Where’s Meadow?”
Joseph replied, “She’s in the great hall, along with the children, the elderly, and quite a few guards. It’s probably the safest place right now, until all of this dies down.”
River tightened his hold on Nora as he said, “We’ll head there, then. I can help heal the injured and better look after Nora.”
The sight of his sister, pale and leaning heavily against River, set off warning bells. “Are you okay, Nora? And the baby?”
River spoke first. “I already did a quick check while we were talking, but everything seems fine.” He hugged Nora a little tighter. “I might need to borrow a gun from you two, though, to be able to make it to the great hall safely.”
Laurie gestured toward Leo. “You should go with them, Leo. Joseph and I will find Yesenia.”
Leo growled. “No fucking way. One of you go with River and Nora. I’m going to find my wife.” Leo wiped his brow, took the pistol offered by Joseph, and then motioned with his head. “She should be that way.”
Laurie shared a look with Joseph, who clearly didn’t want to leave him alone. He leaned over to Joseph’s ear and whispered, “Look after my sister and Meadow. There’s no one I trust more.”
He kissed him, and Joseph sighed. “Fine. But if you fucking die, I’m going to bring you back to life so I can strangle you myself.”
Laurie winked. “Deal.”
After staring at each other for another second, they parted ways. Laurie kept up with Leo, and only when they were about five feet away from Yesenia and Khan could he see them.
“Fuck,” Laurie muttered.
Yesenia was alone, objects falling and hitting those around her, standing over an unconscious Khan on the ground.
He said to Leo, “I’ll go left and you go right. We need to get them both out of here, and fast.”
And so he and Leo went into the fray, fighting to get to Yesenia and Khan’s side. There were a hell of a lot of people to defeat, and Laurie wondered why so many fae witches had turned against their own kind, given the reports of them being content with Khan’s leadership.
Then something sliced his arm, and he focused, drawing on his remaining strength. The sooner he took care of these threats, the sooner he could go back to Meadow and Joseph.
Meadow had learnedfrom Helena that something was blocking her tracking powers. Well, for whoever had attacked. Helena could still locate and identify every person in the hall, or even the attendees outside.
And since there was only one way to avoid a powerful tracker’s abilities—magical hexes that used forbidden arts andcost a small fortune—it meant that some of Khan’s fae witches had turned traitor.
However, for the moment, Meadow focused on helping those in the great hall and taking care of minor injuries. No one inside the meeting hall had strong healing powers, so they were relying on the old methods of cleaning and dressing and stitching wounds.
Even if she didn’t enjoy the sight of blood, she pushed through. It was the least she could do, considering Laurie and Joseph were outside fighting against who knew how many enemies.
A new wave of refugees was allowed inside by the guards, and as soon as Meadow saw River and Nora, along with Joseph, a mixture of relief and fear rushed through her.
Where was Laurie?
She murmured her excuses and rushed over into Joseph’s arms. “Where’s Laurie?”
He rubbed her back. “He’s helping Leo find and rescue Yesenia and Khan.”
“Will he be okay?”
Joseph said, “Yes. Remember, Yesenia is strong in her own right, as is Khan. And whilst Leo might be a Dark Lord now, he spent twenty years in the army. Not to mention Laurie spent years on the streets with me, and I taught him everything he knows. You need to trust him, love.”
Trust Laurie. That’s all you can do right now.So even though a million questions raced through her head, she forced herself to focus on River and Nora. “Are you two all right?”
Nora looked paler than normal, but she still nodded. “Just a bit rattled. However, River already confirmed that both me and the baby are fine.” She gestured around the room. “Joseph said there are a lot of injured people, and we want to help. So tell us what you need.”
Leave it to Nora to think of others when she’d just gone through something traumatic herself. Meadow replied, “Well, there are lots of minor injuries and a few broken bones, but no one here has any strong healing magic, and they could definitely use River’s powers. However, if you two need a few moments to gather yourselves, I think everyone would understand.”
River shook his head. “No need. As long as Nora sits near me while I heal and doesn’t overdo it, I can help whoever needs it.”
