Ever After

suddenly, his voice holding a frantic determination. “I can’t help you, even after you find something to bind multiple strengths together. I have to stay here and keep Lucy safe.” He took my shoulders and gave me a shake. “I will not leave her. I’m going to do everything he tells me to. You have to find what you need, get it, and make it work. Understand?”

His resolve scared me, and I nodded. “Yes.”

He let me go, and I breathed again. “Quen maybe,” he said. “He will protect you when you move the imbalance, show the demons what Ku’Sox has done, and if they do nothing, I will be here to kill him.”

I blinked fast. “K-kill him?” I stammered, my thoughts flashing to Pierce. “Trent, you are not a warrior poet. If Ceri and Pierce couldn’t do it, what makes you think you can!”

Trent turned, looking furious. “Don’t—” he shouted, a finger pointing to make me drop back, and he lowered his voice, his eyes still virulent. “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do,” he whispered. The scent of spoiled wine and broken fern grew strong.

Frustrated, I rallied my courage. “No one else will! I know you’re upset. I’m upset. But you can’t kill Ku’Sox!”

He walked to the nursery wall and stood looking out at his handiwork. “Your morals are going to be the end of two worlds.”

Morals? I could not believe I was hearing this, and I got in his face, standing between him and the nursery. “This has nothing to do with my morals, and everything to do with how strong he is! You were there! You saw! I don’t care if the one ring to rule them all is in that museum, we can’t overpower him. You don’t have a plan, you have an obituary! Ceri tried with the help of an experienced, powerful witch, and now Ray has only one parent!”

Trent’s hands clenched. “You don’t think I know that?” he shouted, and I could hear babies crying through the window. “Why do you think I burned out the fuse to the vault? You shouldn’t be here, either. Why are you here?”

He was going to try to kill him. He was going to dump the task of proving Ku’Sox’s guilt onto me, and if the demons turned a blind eye, he was going to sacrifice everything to save Lucy. Ceri’s death and Lucy’s vulnerability had tipped him over the edge. “Please,” I said, taking his hand and forcing him to pay attention to me. “Promise me you won’t try to kill him. You’re right about everything you said last night. Give me a chance to make it work. Trent, you came to me asking for trust. It goes both ways.”

Trent grimaced, his head down to look at my hand in his. His fingers moved against mine, his delicate touch skirting my burned fingertips. “You don’t know how powerful he is,” I whispered, pity surging in me, and he brusquely pulled away.

“I’m sorry,” I said, trying again, and this time, he let my hand stay on his shoulder. It was rock hard with tension. “I’m sorry. I loved her, too. Just . . . breathe,” I continued, and listening, he took a ragged breath, holding it. “It’s going to be okay.” I moved closer, the bitter scent of burned cinnamon mixing with the burnt amber stench and making me ill. “Stay here and do what you need to do to keep Lucy safe. I’ll find something to allow us to work together. It’s a good plan, and it won’t get us killed.” I hope.

For a moment, he stood before me, and then he slowly went back to his book, brushing his hair from his eyes before he made a hasty notation. “I thought I could do this,” Trent whispered to the uncaring pages. “I thought I could sacrifice anything to save my species.” He looked up, shocking me cold. “I can’t. She’s my child, Rachel. I can’t. If I can’t find a way to make Lucy safe, I will do everything he tells me to. I will fail everyone and everything. I will sacrifice even my species for her well-being. It’s upside down, and I . . . I can’t change it.”

My heart went out to him. He had changed, and everything was painfully new. Now . . . he might understand me. “You aren’t doing this alone,” I said. I knew the anguish of knowing what to do but not wanting to pay the cost for it.

Heartache showed in his eyes. Behind that was a desperate need to believe. “No?”

There was the barest hint of air movement, and Trent’s eyes shifted over my shoulder. His expression went ugly, and heart pounding, I spun.

Nick. At least I thought it was Nick. My relief was short-lived, adrenaline shoving it out for my hatred. “You!” I exclaimed, sure it was him when I saw his smug expression. He was in jeans and a casual tee, slippers on his feet, looking thin but satisfied, with a clean-shaven face and a haircut that showed every one of his scars. “Did you know Ku’Sox killed Ceri and Pierce?”

Nick leaned back against the window, his ankles crossed confidently. “Who do you think helped cover Pierce’s absence from Newt long enough for them to attack Ku’Sox?”

My jaw dropped. For three seconds, I took that in, the awful truth sifting through my brain. He had . . . Nick had lied to Pierce? Pretended he was helping them kill Ku’Sox and then left them in the lurch? “You son of a bastard!” I screamed, launching myself at him.

Nick put up a hand to ward me off, shifting at the last moment to shove me into the wall.

I floundered at the change of direction, snagging Nick’s shirt. I yanked him down with me. I had time for one good breath before his elbow landed on my middle.

We were a tangle on the floor, and my abdomen felt like it was on fire. Struggling to breathe, I grappled with him, slamming his back into the floor and straddling him. He pushed at me, and I pinned his arms with my knees. Grabbing a handful of hair, I thunked his head into the floor.

“You betrayed Pierce?” I wheezed, hearing babies start to cry, muffled from the glass. “He killed them! You helped him kill them! Ceri is dead because of you! Ceri and Pierce are dead, and I could have loved him!”

Twisting, Nick shoved me off, a nasty snarl on his face. “You could have loved me, too.”

He jumped at me, and I rolled, my back crashing into one of the machines. I shook my head to get the hair from my eyes. Nick was still coming right at me, and I braced myself. We went sprawling again. Nick hauled me into a sitting position, slamming my back up against the machine. “This is for bringing that putrid witch of yours into my apartment.”

My eyes widened and I gasped in pain as his open hand met my cheek in a slap that sent stars through my vision. Trent was yelling, the babies were crying, and my eye felt like it was going to explode.

“And this is for the hell of it!” Nick whispered.

I put a hand up to stop him, and he grabbed it. His other hand was coming at me, and I struggled, trying to get him off!

But before his hand could connect, he was yanked backward and up. Knees going to my chest, I tossed the hair from my eyes at the sodden thunk of fist meeting flesh. Nick reeled into the counter, his feet slipping on the tile floor until he went down. Trent stood between us, his back hunched and shaking the pain from a bleeding hand.

“Son of a bitch.” Touching his bleeding lip, Nick got to his feet. I could feel him begin to gather power, slowly but gaining momentum as a weird keening from the damaged line he was pulling on grew in the back of my head. I stood, so frustrated that I was almost crying. Nick had lied to Pierce and Ceri both. Told them he was helping when he was really setting them up. How could I ever forgive that?

“Rachel!” Trent shouted as he dived in front of me. I jerked my attention from him to Nick. A ball of green- tinted aura was headed right at us. Without thinking, I flung up a hand.

“Rhombus!” I shouted, and Trent stooped as Nick’s spell struck and slithered down to the floor where it bubbled into nothing.

Nick was grinning when I brought my attention back up, and I felt sick. Now I’d done it.

Trent was holding my arm. “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head. “I just rang the doorbell,” I said, then added, glowering at Nick, who knew exactly what he’d been doing, “I tapped a line. Ku’Sox knows I’m here.”

Trent stiffened, and then he spun as Lucy’s childlike voice rang out in delight. “Daddy!”

Trent went down on one knee as if he’d been shot, his breath a quick gasp as he stared at Ku’Sox, Lucy on his hip. His expression was fierce with love and desperate hatred, and I don’t think I despised Ku’Sox more than at that moment. He was going to pay. Neither Ku’Sox nor Nick had ever loved anyone, and they would pay.

My pulse thundered in my ears, and I forced my arms to remain at my sides as I backed up to stand by Trent. Dressed in a casual black kimono, Ku’Sox had misted into the room beside Nick before the nursery window. Lucy’s