Chapter 62
elaine
With the bullet wound in my side still burning, I shouldn’t have had the strength or the reflexes for it, but something else awakened in me, seeing Vera falling, and the next thing I knew, I was bent over the railing, holding her by the hand, straining to keep her up and out of the fire.
“Vera!” I gasped. “Stay… with… me. You promised we’d get out safely!”
She looked up at me with wide eyes, her focus sharpening again—I’d watched as the focus had blurred out of her gaze as she crossed the room, and she swallowed hard as she pulled herself together again.
“Elaine,” she said, quietly, simply. That was it—all that needed to be said.
She grimaced, and with a momentous effort, she pushed her other arm up, the one covered in blood from her shoulder, and she grabbed my hand with both of hers, kicking against the wall to rappel up as I dragged her up.
It was slow, agonizing, and I felt like my strength would vanish, but eventually, finally, I managed to pull her up over the railing, where she collapsed against me with her arms around me, breathing raggedly.
“Vera,” I whispered. “I was… scared for you.”
“You saved my life,” she breathed.
“You’re my wife. I’ll do anything to protect you, too.”
She squeezed me tighter. “You’re a damn good shot after all.”
I laughed thickly. “I couldn’t hit the support beam. But I knew how it had to be fixed on the ceiling, and I couldn’t miss the ceiling, so… I aimed there.”
“Smart woman. And I’m alive because of that.” She choked, spitting up blood, and I grimaced as I took the radio from her, holding her weakening form as I activated it.
“Rail!” I shouted. “We’re in the archives. They’re burning now. Glenn and Quayle are both here, both dead, but we’re both too badly injured…”
“I’m coming,” Yulia’s voice said right away.
“We’re in the car waiting for you,” Petra said.
“I’ve gotten the emergency doors at the back of the building unlocked,” Caitlyn said.
“I have a team ready for both of you,” Jenna said. At the end of it all, Rail’s voice was quiet.
“They’ve got you taken care of. Good work today.”
Vera and I both collapsed to the floor, breathing hard, and we held each other firmly—both of us holding onto our reasons for staying—before the door burst open and Yulia ran in with a whole team behind her, and she shouted orders as she stooped to pick up Vera, another Whitecliff operative helping me walk.
It was all a blur, but somehow, we made it up through the building and out through the side doors, out to where Petra had the car waiting for us. And as I collapsed against Vera in the backseat, I watched the building engulfed in flames behind us.
The Blackbirds burning away to nothing as Vera left with her new family.
The Whitecliffs let us use their full-fledged medical facilities, and I wasn’t really sure what was happening at any point—Petra got us there so quickly it felt like I’d only just gotten into the car, but somehow I was in a hospital bed, and the Whitecliff physicians worked together with Jenna on both me and Vera, two beds in the same room, and I took strength knowing she was right there, staying strong for me.
I drifted in and out of consciousness, a blur of pain and doctors’ voices, but slowly, eventually, I woke up to quiet, feeling the gentle tightness of bandages around my waist, and in the peaceful moment, I found Jenna, squeezing my hand with a small smile.
“Welcome back,” she said. “Feeling all right, dear?”
“Where’s Vera?”
She laughed. “Of course that’s the first thing you’d say. Vera’s just fine, sweetheart. She had a bad injury, but we have the best doctors, the best facilities, and one damn hardy patient. How are you feeling?”
I wiped the tears on my face that I’d only just realized were there. “I’m feeling… tired. Everything aches. But we’re… safe now, aren’t we?”
She squeezed my hand, but she didn’t get to say anything before a knock came from the door, and it slid open, Vera coming inside with crutches that she maneuvered quickly on, rushing over to my side.
“Elaine!”
“Hey—what do you think you’re doing, running around like that?” Jenna said. “You slow down and take it easy, young woman.”
Vera ignored her, and I sat up laughing incredulously, tears in my eyes as she got over to me and draped herself on the edge of the bed, pulling me into an embrace.
“You scared me half to death,” Vera said, her voice shaking.
“No,” Jenna said flatly, “you were stabbed half to death. And you need to take your recovery more seriously if you want it to heal up correctly!”
“I’m okay,” I laughed through the tears, running my fingers through Vera’s hair, holding her close to me. “I’m okay. We’re okay.”
“You took a bullet for me,” she said thickly.
“And you took a knife for me. Well… and a bullet. And a knife again.”
“This is what I’m saying,” Jenna said.
“I promised I’d protect you,” Vera whispered.
“You did. We’re alive because of you. And I want to keep you safe, too. You’re my wife, Vera. And I love you.”
The door banged open again, and Jenna looked up with exasperation as Petra came into the room. “Vera Farkas!” she shouted, and Jenna put her hands up.
“You are not fighting her right now.”
Vera glanced back at Petra. “I could take you even like this. The crutches make for a nice weapon.”
“I don’t know which of you is worse,” Jenna said. I laughed thickly, holding Vera closer to me.
“I’m not letting you hurt my wife.”
“Dammit,” Petra said. “Shame you’re both so cute, I can’t beat Vera up when she’s like that. You’re okay?” she said, coming over to my other side. “What the hell happened in there?”
“We walked into a trap,” I said. “Glenn and Quayle were waiting for us in the archive.”
Petra’s expression hardened. “Quayle… you had to fight him?”
“He killed Glenn,” Vera said. “Elaine was negotiating with him, and Quayle didn’t like it. Put a bullet through his head and would have done the same with me if Elaine hadn’t jumped in front.”
The door opened again, Caitlyn coming in with her eyes flooded with emotion seeing me, and Yulia came in behind her, her expression unreadable. Caitlyn hurried over to my side, and I hugged her. “Oh, God, Caitlyn,” I gasped. “Are you okay?”
“Am I okay? You’re the one who got shot!”
“You’re my little sister, I just worry about you!”
She laughed, squeezing me. “Everything’s safe.
It’s okay. I’ve been working nonstop, so I’m exhausted, but I’m not hurt.
It’s been a battle nonstop against their hacker, trying to track us down, but I managed to hold them off long enough that they had to give up when the complex went down.
Their systems are scrambled, and without headquarters, they’re locked out of half their own logistics networks. ”
“And,” Yulia said, standing opposite me with her arms folded, “with Glenn dead, leadership will have collapsed at the same time. Down their leader, their best operatives, and all their networks, the Blackbirds are out of the picture.”
Petra gritted her teeth. “You killed Quayle?”
Vera let out a short laugh. “It was two against one, after all.”
“It was… technically, I killed him,” I whispered.
It was a strange thing to realize—part of me knew I should have felt worse, that I’d pulled the trigger, that I’d sent a man to his death.
But it had been him or us, and he’d hurt Vera.
I would have done it a thousand times over without even thinking about it.
“He fell into the inferno,” Vera said. “Baptized in flame… it’s the only way to kill a demon.”
“Good riddance,” Yulia said. “I’ve never met a man who deserves it more. And I’ve met a great number of men who deserve it. Elaine Whitner… I have to say, I’m impressed.”
I looked down. “I didn’t do that much, in the end. Everyone else—”
“That’s enough.” Yulia stepped closer. “You led your clan to victory against one of the largest and most powerful in Merona.”
“It’s not my clan, it’s just… our family.”
“Call it what you will, but you are, unquestionably, recognized as the leader of a full-fledged clan. And I’m here to talk to you as the representative for Penumbra.”
“A representative,” Jenna said pointedly, “who got shot in the liver and needs extensive quiet time and bed rest.”
Yulia ignored her. “The Whitecliffs would like to broker an alliance. We harbor no ill will towards you, and we’ve worked together to bring down one of our greatest threats in the Blackbirds.
You played an instrumental role in stopping the Horizon project that would have been an existential threat to our clan.
To that end, Whitecliff extends an offer of alliance and partnership to Penumbra. ”
My heart raced, a wild and wondrous feeling sending me reeling. I hadn’t really thought about the after. I wasn’t some kind of mob boss.
But I could be part of a change. To help make things better, to help stop the conflicts.
And I could be part of a family.
“Thank you,” I said. “We owe you an incredible debt of gratitude for your help. We couldn’t have done it without you.”
Vera spoke gruffly. “Your people still tried to kill my wife.”
“You tried to kill your wife,” Yulia said flatly.
“It’s okay,” I laughed, holding Vera closer to me. I felt so safe whenever it was like this—even with both of us injured, it was like nothing could hurt me when I was close to Vera.
And I could be close to her all I liked now.
My wife.
“I think it’s safe to say Penumbra accepts your offer,” I said, looking around the room. “What do we say, everybody?”
“We need all the help we can get at this point,” Caitlyn said, putting her hand forward. “I’m on board.”
Petra put her hand in too. “We’re stronger together.”
“An alliance serves us all well,” Jenna said, adding her hand. “I’m on board.”
“If Elaine agrees, then I agree,” Vera said, putting her hand in. I put my hand in the center with the others, and I gave Yulia a little smile.
“So… you’re in too?”
Yulia blinked slowly, looking at our hands together. “I am… not a part of whatever this is.”
“Ah, quit pretending you’re too cool for us,” Petra said. “You’ve been shot at right alongside us. You’ve petted the cat and eaten Elaine’s cooking. You’re an honorary Penumbra now.”
Yulia let out a deep, existential sigh, and reluctantly, she put her hand in the middle. “This isn’t how I’m accustomed to making agreements.”
I laughed. “It’s never too late to start something new, is it?”
“It’s too early to,” Jenna said. “We should be doing this in the morning, after everyone has been able to rest.”
“It’s an agreement,” I said. “Penumbra isn’t going anywhere.”
As the crowd chattered and came alive with me, Vera squeezed me just a little tighter into her side, a small, quiet gesture that felt bigger than the world in that moment.
Me, my wife, and our family.
I never thought that would feel so right.