She took a quivering breath in. “I will.”
Nate took her hand, led her over to the mattress, and tucked her in. A swinging beam of a flashlight appeared on the far side of the underpass. To my surprise, Nate kissed his fingertips and pressed them to Audrina’s forehead, before melting back into the shadows.
That was interesting.
We watched from a distance, hidden under Nate’s shadow concealment spell, while the two police officers approached the pile of blankets. They gently roused Audrina and helped her to her feet.
Cecil gave a snort. “She’s not giving them nearly enough attitude.”
“She’s been through enough.” A throb of guilt rushed through me as I watched the policemen lead her away. “But at least, she’s safe and uninjured.”
“That makes one of us,” Cecil said, rubbing his neck.
I exhaled with relief. “That’s one of my problems taken care of.”
“Hopefully, Donovan and Cress will be taking care of all the others,” Cecil added dryly. Both Prince and Princess were on the hunt, trying to chase down Connor while he was still injured. Apparently, a unicorn stab wound was very hard to magically heal, so they were trying to find him before he recovered.
I smiled down at him. “You were so brave, saving Audrina like that.”
Cecil blushed. “Ah, it was nothing. Like you said, sometimes it’s better not to think. And, if I’m being honest, I’ve been wanting to get my head in between some royal asscheeks my whole life.” He walked back to the limo with a little more of his usual shimmy in his hips. “I can tick it off my bucket list.”
I sank into the back of the limo gratefully and closed my eyes for a second. Because Cecil’s neck was still sore, he drove very slowly, easing the car around corners gently. I felt like I could sleep for a million years. But in only six more hours, I had to get up and go to work.
The thought wasn’t unpleasant. In fact, I itched to get back to the office.
The desire for the mundane overwhelmed me. I longed for an inbox filled with petty customer complaints. I yearned for passive-aggressive arguments with Human Resources. My soul cried out for budget allocation negotiations with the executive team. My thoughts drifted on the edge of sleep, wrapping me in comforting blankets made of spreadsheets and graphs, lying me down to rest in a meadow filled with desktop icons—Donovan lying next to me, holding me in his arms, stroking my hair, whispering in my ear that he loved me…
“Home sweet home!”
I jolted awake. “Are they back?”
Nate opened the door for me. “No, Chosen, not yet. Cress sent word that they found traces of magic downtown, near a nexus of other Middle World portals. He may have disappeared to hide in another realm. They are still searching, though.”
I exhaled heavily. “I wish I’d realized what he was up to sooner. Now, we’re going to have a battle on our hands convincing everyone that I’m not the bad guy.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it, Chosen. None of us realized what he was doing. It would have been much worse if we didn’t interrupt the summit,” Cecil said, gingerly climbing the steps in front of me. “He had a hundred thousand powerful creatures ready to pledge their lives to him and join his army.”
“He won’t stop,” I sighed. “He knows he needs bodies to fight us with. And he knows that whoever has the most bodies on their side will win. He’s going to keep smearing my name and planting misinformation to try to fool people into joining him.”
We reached the ground floor. Violet rubbed the marble tiles together with an excited squeak, welcoming me home. “I’m happy to see you too, Violet,” I said, hitting her elevator button.
A little chime rang through the air. “Is that my doorbell? Again?” Turning towards the front door, I spotted a big figure hunched over in the entrance, punching my button aggressively. A surge of irritation chased away a little of my fatigue. Who the hell was it now?
It was Vincent. His suit was rumpled, tie askew, bright-blue eyes narrowed. His tousled blond shoulder-length hair was messier than usual and hung over his face.
Violet bristled. The maintenance closet door next to us creaked open. Inside, she had stashed some spears, several broadswords, and a row of Kalashnikovs on a rack.
“No, it’s okay, Violet. You guys go on upstairs,” I said slowly. “I’ll take care of this.”
Cecil let out a growl. “He might attack you.”
“It’s fine, Cecil.” I shot another look back at the door. “You know I can take care of myself.”
Nate let out a chuckle. “I’ll never forget how you used Grisela as a hammer and threw her into the forest.”
Truth be told, I was still exhausted. The chances of me being able to channel any berserker magic right now were very slim. Vincent wouldn’t hurt me, though. Not physically. It wasn’t his style.
“Besides, practically speaking, it’s a good thing if he does try to attack me. Violet has cameras, and I could use it in court. Go on.” I jerked my head upstairs. “I won’t be a minute.” I hustled Cecil and the boys into the elevator, swiveled on my heels, and marched back to open the door.
Vincent’s head turned towards me. “Bitch,” he hissed.
I narrowed my eyes against the waft of stale whiskey on his breath.
“You fucking… bitch.” He stumbled backwards, falling off the steps onto the sidewalk.
I’d never seen him so drunk before; I was truly shocked.
Lurching back up, Vincent stabbed a finger at me. “What’s your game, Susie? What fucking game are you playing, here? Are you trying to ruin me?”
I mouthed for a second. “Like you ruined me?”
“I didn’t do shit to you,” he spat out. With visible effort, he climbed up one step, then two, holding on to the banisters. “I didn’t do shit. You were the one who went nuts and tried to kill me.”
No buzz rolled over my skin. He really did think that.
“And now you’re trying to get us all in trouble,” he slurred. “Tryna mess everything up. Wally and Nico turned on me, but I guess you knew that already, right?” He let out a bitter bark of laughter. “They retracted their old statements, submitted new ones. Sayin’ we blackmailed them into giving Sera an alibi, some shit like that.”
It took me a second to understand what he was talking about. Wow, Martina was quick. She must have already found footage of Vincent’s interns having lunch—without Seraphina—and threatened them into providing new statements. She’d gotten the ball rolling with the civil suit.
