CHAPTER TWENTY #2
The tension between us eased, and it felt as if we’d backed away from the edge of something.
I fought the urge to heave another sigh.
To hide it, I hurried to fill the silence.
“You asked what I’m doing tonight. Everyone is meeting at the loft for another strategy session. You’re welcome to join us.”
“That’s why I’m here, actually,” Laurie replied. “You weren’t answering your phone, and I volunteered to fetch you.”
My curiosity piqued. “Fetch me for what?”
“There was a delivery this morning. A gift left by the Queen of the Unseelie Court herself.”
Laurie wouldn’t say more, and I was suddenly eager to get home.
He walked with me back to the car, and I blinked in surprise when Laurie got in with me.
But I didn’t comment on it, and I put the key in the ignition.
Music floated around us as I started the drive back to Granby.
Laurie and I talked the entire way. An easy, surprising conversation that only made me love him more.
When I pulled into the driveway, some of my family members were outside. Danny and Damon chased Matthew around the yard, and my nephew’s face was wreathed in smiles. It was his favorite game, but I hadn’t seen anyone play it in a long time. Not since Finn.
The second I saw them, I forgot all about Viessa’s gift. The sound of laughter rang through the air at the same moment I pressed on the brakes. I put the car into park and sat there for a few seconds, just watching them. My mind churned.
“I’ve seen that look before,” Laurie remarked.
In response, I took my phone out of the cup holder. I unlocked the screen and opened my contacts list, where I’d saved one phone number without a name. I pressed CALL and held the phone up to my ear, my heartbeat slow and steady.
The ringing cut off abruptly, but no one spoke on the other end. I pulled the phone away from my ear to check the screen, confirming the call hadn’t ended. Then I pressed it close again and said, “Tell Samael that he has a deal.”
I hung up without waiting for a reply.
Laurie’s voice was low. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I do.” I kept my gaze on Matthew, and my heartbeat was steady with certainty. “For once, I know exactly what I’m doing.”
By the time the sun reached the opposite horizon, my entire family sat around the dining room table.
The surface in front of us was littered with boxes of pizza, grease-smeared plates, beer cans, and glasses, along with all the latest reading material Viessa had supplied.
Letters, manuscripts, records, anything and everything that mentioned interdimensional travel or the Dark Prince.
Viessa’s other gift gleamed in the corner of the loft.
It was a suit of armor fit for a conqueror …
or a nightmare. A brutal kind of beauty, wrought not for ceremony, but for survival.
Dusk-colored steel shaped into plates that echoed bone and shadow.
Every edge spoke of violence, every curve of intent.
I didn’t need to try it on to know it would fit me perfectly.
I left the Unseelie Queen a voicemail to thank her, but I hadn’t touched my phone since to see if she’d replied.
I’d been a little distracted trying to save the world.
I’d started reading the second I finished the voicemail to Viessa.
Within a couple hours, everyone else arrived to help.
Damon and Danny. Savannah. Emma, Lyari, and Collith.
Gil and Seth. Cyrus and Ariel. Even Nym was here.
Stanley panted in front of the fireplace, which I’d turned on because Emma had seemed cold.
The only one missing was Laurie, who left hours ago, probably to spend time with his friends and say his own goodbyes.
At some point we’d all realized how hungry we were, and that’s when things sort of dissolved.
None of us had touched a manuscript since we’d finished eating.
Savannah still held Matthew in her lap, and she bounced her knee, prompting happy sounds and smiles from him.
The sound of his soft babbling floated through the dim room as I stood and stretched.
How long had it been since I’d drunk any water?
I pushed my chair back, and the sound jolted Seth awake, who’d dozed off with his head on his hands.
He tried to subtly wipe the drool off his chin as I left the table and padded into the kitchen.
I stopped in front of the refrigerator and looked over my shoulder, reacting to the sound of Gil’s voice.
He said something that made Emma cackle while Cyrus choked on the bite of pizza he’d just taken.
Gil had probably told them the same dirty joke he’d shared with me last week—it was bad.
I winced in sympathy and turned to get the water pitcher from the fridge.
When I turned back around, Seth was trying to shove Gil off his chair.
As I watched them, I felt a swell of protectiveness.
It filled my chest and created a hot, unbearable pain.
If I didn’t stop Lucifer tomorrow, he’d come for them.
Maybe not next week, or next month, but he’d come.
I had to close that Gate. None of the weapons or armies would matter, in the end, if I didn’t figure out how my predecessors had done it.
“I’m not sure if anyone has ever told you, but frowning is terrible for the complexion,” someone murmured in my ear.
I turned quickly, my heart stumbling like I’d walked over an uneven surface.
Laurie leaned his shoulder against the fridge.
His hair hung loose and slightly wavy, as if he’d gotten out of the shower and run his fingers through it while it was still damp.
He wore a soft but expensive-looking sweater, which was casual for him.
“Hi,” I said with soft surprise. I set the water pitcher down and moved closer to Laurie. “Two times in one day. It really must be the end of the world.”
After he’d greeted me with a small, secret smile, the Seelie King’s attention went over my head. He took in the room and nodded at someone. “You mentioned this morning that you were hosting a last-ditch effort at finding a miracle. I like miracles.”
“Oh, yeah?” I smiled back at him and crossed my arms, angling my body to follow his gaze.
Gil was trying to convince Lyari to eat a piece of pizza now.
She looked at him with a dangerously speculative expression, as if Lyari was considering how much trouble she’d be in if she killed him.
My lips twitched, and I glanced up at Laurie.
“What was the last miracle you witnessed? I could use a little hope right now.”
Laurie didn’t answer straightaway, and after a few seconds, I half-forgot what I’d asked. Gil was making airplane sounds now and carrying the pizza toward Lyari’s face. I thought about warning him that it was a good way to lose his fingers, but I wanted to see how this would play out.
“You,” Laurie said.
I made an absent sound, still watching my family’s antics. “Me what?”
“The last miracle I witnessed. It was you.”
I turned to look at Laurie and discovered that our faces were closer than I’d expected. My heart did that strange little thing again, but I didn’t pull away. My eyes flicked between his. “What do you mean?” I asked quietly.
His breath was the barest whisper of cool air as he told me, “It was the night you killed Jassin, just after you’d won your queenship. You bent down and picked up the crown, and put it on your head. Then you stood there and looked out at the entire Court … do you remember what you said?”
Of course I did. That was not a happy memory for me, but it was one I’d never forget for as long as I lived. My gaze fell from Laurie’s while my body filled with the cold, hard certainty from that night. Even then, I’d known what I was capable of.
If you fuck with me and mine, I will return the favor tenfold.
“I looked at you and thought, This creature is a goddamn miracle. I fell in love right then and there,” Laurie concluded.
My eyes snapped back to him, widening, but now Laurie was the one gazing off into the distance.
I watched his lips curve with an amused smile.
“Or maybe it was earlier, when I first met you in Collith’s chambers.
You looked like you wanted to kill him with your bare hands, and you asked if he actually had a plan for getting your brother back.
God, the way you can take someone down with a single look.
I’d never seen anyone get under Collith’s skin like that, besides me.
You were magnificent. That hasn’t changed, regardless of whatever else has. ”
Laurie’s voice softened, but he still didn’t meet my gaze. Maybe he was afraid to. I couldn’t exactly blame him—every time we opened this door, I slammed it in his face.
But tonight was different. Tonight could be our last chance.
A shriek from the table made my head jerk away, and then a sound escaped me when I realized that Gil’s sleeve had erupted into flame.
The vampire put it out instantly, his hand a panicked blur.
He shot an indignant glare at Cyrus, who calmly bit into his pizza and didn’t say a word.
But judging from the begrudging, grateful look Lyari shot the silent dragon, I could guess what had happened.
Another smile tugged at my mouth. I relaxed again while Gil clutched his arm and snapped something about a lawsuit.
“It took me a little longer,” I said abruptly.