Then, heart heavy with grief, I texted Barrons and Ryodan and told them to get Dancer, hoping the song might heal his heart, and meet me at the black hole outside Chester’s ASAP.
“Don’t text Mom and Dad,” Alina said. “I can’t let them watch whatever’s going to happen. Just tell them I love them and I said thanks for everything. They really are the best.”
I swallowed tightly and nodded.
Arm in arm, we stepped out into the late afternoon.
SINSAR DUBH
Once again the universe favors me.
I possess a Fae vessel, and all Fae can sense their queen.
As I burst from the brick wall behind Barrons Books & Baubles, I know exactly where It is. I can feel It moving through the streets of Dublin.
The air is thick with the stench of death and decay. In my absence the black holes have grown, and their cancerous enormity excites me but also goads me to expediency. I have scant time to seize my horse, whisk It to Faery, and become fully immortal before the planet devours itself.
Then I will ride the bitch THAT DARED LEAVE ME to another world and spend the rest of eternity torturing It for Its many sins.
Aroused by the thought of reducing It to begging me over and over to kill It—NEVER LET YOU GO, MACKAYLA, LOVE YOU ALWAYS!—I focus on It and command the unboxed but very broken princess to sift us there.
MAC
When we arrived at Chester’s, Barrons, Ryodan, Dani, Dancer, and Christian were waiting for us, a safe distance from the black hole.
The moment I looked at Barrons, I knew he knew everything. Had known ever since it happened.
My damned brand. I wanted one of my own on him. Assuming he survived.
If you think you can handle it, his glittering eyes said.
He’d felt me kissing Cruce, without knowing why. I marveled at his restraint, his patience. There was no accusation in his eyes. No insecurity or brooding jealousy. He trusted that I’d done what I’d done for good reason, and it didn’t change a thing about his feelings for me.
Still, there was an unmistakable territorial possessiveness in his dark, ancient gaze, and I knew once the world was safe, if he still remained, he would need to reclaim me, us, thoroughly. He knew, too, that I had the song and hadn’t contacted him immediately. I was honored by the absolute freedom the man granted me.
I gestured to my mouth and nudged Alina, who told them, “She can’t talk. If she opens her mouth, the song will come out. Cruce gave it to her on the condition she didn’t use it for four hours. We’ve got two minutes to go.”
It was a testament to what a bizarre bunch of people we were that no one even asked any questions. They all just nodded and waited, resolute soldiers, for whatever happened next.
I absorbed our small group, looking from cherished face to face.
Alina. She met my gaze levelly and smiled faintly. “Good to go, little Mac.”
Clenching my jaw so I wouldn’t blurt a reply or burst into tears, I turned my gaze to Dani and Dancer, who were standing off to the side, holding hands, and although Dancer looked tired, his eyes were brilliant with excitement. Dani’s face was marble, chiseled and hard as stone, her gaze cold, but I knew my girl well, and when she felt the most—at this moment hoping with every cell in her body the song would work miracles on his heart—was when she tried the hardest to hide it. She stole a quick glance at Ryodan, and the hand that wasn’t holding Dancer’s fisted and her face solidified even more. For a moment her eyes flickered and emotion nearly broke through, but she got control of herself again.
Ryodan stood as far from the pair as he could while still being in the group, near enough to the black hole that his shirt was fluttering in the wind, his stance rigid. I thought of the brand Dani wore and suspected last night had been difficult for him. I wondered just how much he’d felt of her passion, her pleasure, and love for Dancer. Ryodan glanced at Dani and his gaze went from her face to their joined hands. He smiled faintly but it didn’t reach his eyes. They remained ancient, cold, eminently self-contained.
He whipped that silvery gaze to me then and spoke inside my mind. If I don’t make it, help her rescue Shazam. ASAP. And that means as-soon-as-the-fuck-possible-nothing-else-has-priority. Swear it.
I nodded.
Take care of her.
Always.
And tell her not to vibrate on the kid. His heart can’t handle it. It generates a subtle electrical charge.
I blinked. Well, I had my answer. The brand broadcast pretty much everything. I nodded again and he looked swiftly away.
Christian. I met his gaze and he smiled faintly and shrugged as if to say, I never thought it was going to get better anyway. Then he threw back his dark head and laughed.
Dani shot him a look. “Dude,” she said admiringly.
How Christian had changed. How we’d all changed. Keeping the best parts, letting the worst drop away.
I looked at Barrons.
It was entirely possible in a very short time only Dani, Dancer, and I would still be standing here.
Barrons glided toward me in that eerie, fluid fashion, stopped and laced our hands together.
We would hold on to each other until the last.
Sun, moon, and stars, I told him.
He inclined his head. Of all the years, this one with you has been my finest. Fire to my ice, Mac.
Frost to my flame, Jericho.
Forever, we said, and it was a vow far more powerful and binding than any ring or piece of paper.
There was nothing more to say. If we hadn’t said it already, we’d fucked up and no reparations could be made at this late hour.