“You have to stop trying to save me, Brennus!” I growl. “I don’t want you to save me.”
“I’m na concerned wi’ whah ye want. Dere’s opposition to yer very existence everywhere now. Ye tink da Werree wanted ye before? Dey covet ye, ta be sure, but dat is nuting compared ta whah dey want ta do ta ye now. Dey know dat if da fallen get ye, ye’ll annihilate da Divine and da Fallen will control everyting on Earth and in Sheol. No one wants dat; jus as we do na want da Divine ta have dat much power. Once da aingeal war ends, if dey were ta stop fighting one another, whosoever wins will focus on us—da na so divine craiturs. Dey’ll reign down on whoever is left. So every craitur will either have ta begin ta choose sides so that dey have a chance of surviving whah comes after, or dey take ye out demselves.”
I flinch at this information. “I’m not your problem. I thought we covered this in my dream.”
“Dat’s where ye’re wrong. Ye’re everyone’s problem, but I take care o’ whah’s moin.”
“I’m not YOURS!”
“Ye are. Moin and no other’s. Dere will come a time when ye’ll need me more dan ye need him. When dat day comes, I’ll be dere for ye.”
“It’s not today,” I state with heat.
Brennus’ smile is iniquitous. “Den I’ll see ye tonight and every night dereafter. Maybe ‘twill be one o’ dem.”
“Until my blood runs out you mean. You don’t have an endless supply, just two small vials. It won’t last forever.”
“’Twill last long enough, and who knows?” His eyebrow rises cunningly. “Do ye forget dat I know where ye live? Perhaps ye’ll see a way ta give me more.”
The shattering of glass from the bedroom window behind us hardly registers before Zephyr is beside Brennus, slashing a sword in broad strokes through his shadowy form. Brennus ripples; his image distorts and roils but it does little to Brennus but make him angry. Zephyr stops swinging at him when it becomes apparent that it’s ineffective.
A moment later, Russell crashes through the bedroom door. He scowls as he enters the room assessing us all. His unfurled red angel wings make him look even bigger than six foot five. “Brennus, you maggot! Come here and let me kill you.”
Brennus smiles. “Da other,” he says, “ye get a bye dis time, but only because ye healed Genevieve. When I’m ready, however, ye best be, too.”
Russell comes to stand next to Zephyr; his wings brush up against light brown ones to form a wall of angel. “Oh, I’m ready,” Russell responds, but his brown eyes are on me. He sees the blood-soaked bandage on my chest that covers Reed’s binding mark. “I bought scented candles for the occasion.”
Brennus’ smile widens. “He’s amusing, mo chroí, except for when he’s na.” He glances at Russell. “Do na worry, someone must get hurt soon—it will na be me. Half of ye will na make it. Care ta take wagers on yer Anya being among da casualties?” Brennus asks before he turns his sultry smile back to me. “We’ll take dis world. Ye’ll have no choice.”
“There’s always a choice,” I whisper.
“Dere is. Either ye run tings or dey will. I’ll see ye tonight, mo síorghrá.”
Brennus’ image falls apart like a dry sandcastle, running in grains onto the wood floor. A cloud of dusty smoke stirs up, and then fades away to nothing.
“He was with you while you slept?” Reed picks me up in his arms.
I wince, avoiding his eyes. “He showed up in my dream. I thought he was gone when I woke up—”
“He took possession of you, Evie,” Reed masks his emotions. He lays me on the bed. I can no longer avoid his eyes.
“It wasn’t me trying to kill you, it was him. I tried to stop him.”
He touches my hair. “I know, but you weren’t trying to kill him. You were trying to kill yourself.”
“It was the only way I could see to make him leave before he hurt you. I’m his weakness. He won’t let me die.”
“That was a gamble, Evie,” Zephyr says from behind Reed. He eyes my bandage. It’s soaked through. He walks to the foot of the bed and squeezes my foot lightly. “Maybe you should have just pushed him out of you.”
“He wouldn’t go! I couldn’t afford to let him stay one second longer and risk him gaining control of me again.
“What if he decided not to go?” Reed asks.
“He couldn’t stay if I was dead,” I murmur.
Reed’s face completely changes from calm to stormy in a few breaths. His hand, resting on the wrought-iron headboard, crushes it with the whiny squeak of bending metal. He takes a deep breath. “And you thought that was an option?”
“It worked.”
Reed’s nostrils flare as he attempts composure. “Killing yourself is never an option. Are we clear?”
I glance at Zephyr. It’s always been in my mind that if I ever need a way out of this, an alternative fate, he’d be who I’d go to for that kind of help. Not to live, but to die. “I protect what’s mine,” I say, sounding very much like Brennus.
“With your life?” Reed asks.
“With my life,” I nod.
“Then Brennus is right. I make you weak,” he says bitterly. “You can’t end your life because you’re afraid of what will happen to me.”
I put my hand on his cheek. “You are my life. It begins and ends with you.”
Reed pulls away from me. “Don’t say that, Evie, or I’ll be forced to leave.”
I pale. “What?” I ask and an ache more painful than the stab I just endured squeezes my heart.
“I won’t be the one who makes you weak.” The conviction in his tone makes me shiver.
“Then don’t be. Never leave me,” I say, reaching out and touching his arm.
Russell snorts in derision. “Shoooot. Like you two could stay away from each other. Tell her another fairytale, Reed.”
Reed ignores Russell as he touches his hand to his chest. “I’m a Power—an assassin. I don’t need you to protect me. I’ve been hunting and killing creatures like Brennus for so long that you’d think it was forever. I won’t let him touch me again.”
Russell chimes in, “Reed and Zee are Prostat Powers, Red. You didn’t get to see them stalk the Gancanagh while you were Brennus’ queen. They freaking owned those evil freaks. So can you be a little less ridiculous and start explainin’ what Brennus meant by ‘see ye tonight?’” Russell asks while doing his best Brennus impression at the end.
“He’s not the same, Russell,” I say quietly. “Brennus is even more powerful now. His magic works on angels.”
Russell walks to the bed and sits beside me on the opposite side from Reed. I push myself up on my pillow and wince as pain makes me dizzy. Russell frowns and reaches toward the bandage. His hand begins to glow. My eyes narrow as my hand leaves Reed’s arm to knock Russell’s away from me.
“Don’t!” I prevent Russell from healing me with the magical power that we both share. I don’t want to watch him transfer my wound to himself and see his chest break open and bleed. “I’m fine. I’ll heal soon.”