Chapter Forty-one
Roman bent one knee against the wall and stared down at the metal rod that connected his midsection to the bricks behind him. He grasped it with two strong hands and winced, trying not to scream in pain as he slowly pulled.
Evie, he mentally called, only wanting to know that she had survived the fight.
I’m here, she replied. But she sounded weak, even in his head.
Roman managed to break free in short agonized seconds, then tossed the metal rod to the ground. His gums throbbed around his fangs; he’d lost a lot of blood. The alley around him was filled with rubble, so he flew over it, landing in the street beyond.
“Evie!” he called into the night. Rain had burst from the ominous cloud overhead, fast soaking his hair and clothes.
“Here,” came a beautifully familiar voice. He spun as Evie and Siobhan, the Phantom Queen, came hobbling toward him down the alley. Siobhan was holding Evie up.
“She’s badly hurt, but will heal,” said the Phantom Queen as she handed Evellyne off to him. Roman easily bent and lifted her into his arms. At once, she passed out, clearly damaged beyond her capacity to maintain consciousness.
Roman gazed down at her and asked, “Where are the others?”
“Everywhere,” said Siobhan.
Roman could tell she meant it. The battle had spanned several blocks as the Entity had pulled in monsters from different realms to aid in his defense. He’d placed a shield over the theatre to protect his queen, but Roman knew that as a Nomad, Lilith had made it inside. He wondered how she’d fared…. Everything was very quiet now.
He didn’t want to ask, but he needed to know. The blast that had blown so much of the surrounding architecture into rubble might have had something to do with a dying member of the Thirteen as well… so he prepared for the worst when he said, “How many –”
“As far as I know, none,” said Siobhan. She’d known what he was going to ask, and she would know who was dead. As queen of the Phantom Realm, she would at once be aware if any of the Kings or Queens of the Table passed into the land of the dead.
Roman closed his eyes and thanked his lucky stars. But then he realized something.
“This was too easy,” he said.
“Yes,” came a fourth voice. “It was.”
He and Siobhan turned to see Avery, Selene, Caliban, and Minerva – the royalty of both the Seelie and Unseelie fae courts – coming down the street toward them. Their clothing was dark, and there was a lot of leather, but Roman could still see the damage they’d all taken in battle, and of course he could smell their blood.
It was Caliban who’d spoken. “We’re missing something,” he said, shaking his head. His dark eyes glittered meaningfully.
Roman nodded. He knew. Something wasn’t right.
“Take Evie and get the two of you patched up,” said Caliban meaningfully. The Unseelie King knew good and well that Roman and his queen needed blood.
“We’ll go with you,” came yet another new voice. Roman glanced over his shoulder to see several more members of the Table moving down the opposite site of the street toward them. Thanatos the Phantom King, and Nicholas the Nightmare King each had an arm of Kristopher, the Winter King, over their shoulders as they helped him slowly across the asphalt. Addie, Nicholas’s queen, and Poppy, Kristopher’s queen, walked beside them. Poppy clutched her arm tightly; blood had pooled between her fingers. She and her husband were injured, and Kristopher’s injuries appeared to be grave. But like most of the Thirteen Kings and Queens, he would heal in time.
The lot of them had barely scraped by in this fight, it seemed. None of them had perished, but they’d only gone up against one Nomad. Lilith had faced Amunet alone.
Shit, he thought suddenly. “We need to check on Lilith.” He couldn’t detect the old witch through the barrier the Entity had thrown up, but the barrier surely should have fallen since Ahriman’s death. Why could he still not sense her presence?
“You go, tend to your queen, and I’ll take several men into the theatre,” said Caliban.
“Count us in,” said Avery. The women beside him nodded.
“And us.” Keeran Pitch stepped from the shadows of the nearest alley. His wife, Violet, stepped out behind him. As the Shadow sovereigns, this was natural for them. Roman scented Wolf’s blood as well, but whatever injuries he’d sustained must have been minor, or he hid them well.
“And us,” said another familiar voice.
This time, everyone turned around, and a silence fell over the building group. This was a voice they had not expected to hear this night. This particular King was not supposed to be here. He was supposed to keep Evangeline hell and gone from anywhere near the Entity and his queen.
But when Calidum and Eva stepped out of the alley they’d obviously portalled into, Roman could tell at once that the situation had changed. It was no longer dangerous for Evangeline to be exposed to the evil Nomads and their equally evil Traitor son. Because Evangeline had become the Dragon Queen.
Her once paper-white hair was now raven black, and shimmered like the night sky in the arctic. Her lavender eyes nearly glowed with newfound power. Her clothing was also black – the armor of her dragon’s scales.
And there was a smile on her face that reflected both the beautiful serenity and enormous pride of one who had just found their place in the universe.
“Ah,” said Roman with a smile of his own. “I see.”
“Welcome to the fold, Eva,” said Adelaide, who had a special relationship with Eva. She had been the first queen to make the Legendary dragon’s acquaintance, and she had also been the first queen that Eva had healed, bringing her back from the brink of death.
Eva smiled shyly, and even blushed. “Thanks.” Beside her, Calidum looked as disgustingly smug as a wolf who’d made it into a henhouse. He was now officially a member of the Lucky Bastard club.
But the smile slipped from Eva’s face, and Roman caught the adrenaline that at once laced her blood.
“Mother…” whispered Eva.
Everything seemed to drop into slow motion as at once, the Dragon Queen was spinning, moving toward the theatre so fast she nearly blurred. The men behind her were immediately running after her, yelling and racing to keep up.
That’s why I can’t feel her, thought Roman as dread climbed like slime over his heart. Lilith McLaren was dead. This time is different, he thought. This time, it was for good.