I sprinted across the room and leaned out the window.
Mayan jumped the final few feet from the fire escape to the ground.
“Mayan!” I clambered out onto the fire escape. “You’re a bitch, but you aren’t a killer. Give me the antidote.”
Her features twisted in an ugly sneer, illuminated in the moonlight. “There isn’t one.”
A curtain in a neighboring apartment twitched. A face briefly appeared and then quickly moved out of sight.
“There has to be a way to stop this,” I said. “You went to Levi. He sent me here. Let me help.”
Mayan’s expression softened; she looked lost. “You can’t.”
No. I wasn’t losing her. Or Alfie. This wasn’t ending in tragedy.
I hefted a blood rock in my hand and whipped it at Mayan’s retreating figure, blessing all those hours of darts.
It hit her square in the back, knocking her to the ground. Her knee cracked against the cobblestones and she cried out, tumbling onto her back. Not gonna lie, that was eminently satisfying. Really, I was to be commended on my considerable restraint in not throwing a dagger instead.
“You cunt!” She cradled her injured knee in her hands.
Even if I could have discounted every other aberration about Mayan, this demanded my attention. Mayan despised the “C” word. She’d torn a strip off kids numerous times at camp for using it. She had to be compelled somehow by this Gunter or someone acting on his behalf. Like Jonah.
Behind me, Alfie wheezed, spasming. The black lines had invaded every inch of exposed skin.
It was a minor miracle that the Queen’s guard hadn’t arrived to check out the commotion and cause problems, because saving Alfie was my utmost concern. But how? He was barely breathing. There was no time to find him a healer and if there was no antidote, then he’d die.
Unless…
“Hold on, Alfie.” Running like the hounds of Hell were nipping at my heels, I sprinted down the fire escape, and ripped Mayan’s necklace off.
She clawed at me, biting my arm, so I decked her. Her head lolled back against the dusty street. Unconscious was safer than dead. It may not have been the most optimal overall, but if we broadened the definition of “unharmed” from “not a scratch on her” to “still breathing, thanks to yours truly” then I hadn’t broken my promise to Levi.
I hauled ass back to Alfie and pressed the pendant against his skin. His eyes fluttered shut.
I forced his mouth open and made him lick it.
His heart stopped beating.
With a strangled roar, I shattered the stone in my fist.
Blue powder erupted in a puff, coating Alfie’s face.
There was a sizzling noise and the smell of bitter licorice, then the black lines on his face disappeared.
“Come on.” Tossing back the covers, I ripped his pajamas open, rubbing the powder into, well, not every inch of him, but all the PG inches. I left his underwear intact.
His ribcage jerked once before falling into a steady, if slow breathing. The black lines were gone, and when I sent my magic inside, I confirmed that he was poison-free.
One murder charge down. One problematic woman to bring home so I could solve what, exactly, was going on.
Alfie opened his eyes. “Gunter?”
“You’re safe. Do you need a healer?”
He wiggled his fingers and toes and took a couple of deep breaths. “No. You saved me.”
“No more stealing people’s shit, okay?”
He gave a shaky laugh. “No promises.”
Grabbing my clutch, I climbed out onto the fire escape to find Mayan’s prone body surrounded by two of the Queen’s Guard, both with mesh covering their faces. They were determining whether or not to lift her. I jogged down to them.
“I’ve got this, thanks,” I said.
One of the guards, a woman from her build, crossed her arms. “Who are you?”
“Her sister. Idiot had too much to drink and fell.”
“You want help?” she said.
“Enhanced strength. I’m good.” I’d gotten Mayan on her feet, my arm around her waist, supporting her, when she woke up and started screaming that I’d tried to kill her.
She moved with a flailing panic.
“She’s lying,” I said. I tried to grab Mayan, accidentally elbowing the second guard who was attempting to help her.
The first guard blasted me back against a streetlamp with some kind of psionic wave. The metal post clipped me hard in my shoulder blade and I swore loudly.
Priya’s beloved tiara snapped into two pieces, clattering to the ground, and bouncing along in a half-roll until they came to a stop.
I gasped, but it was a clean break. I could fix it.
“Don’t move.” Producing a pair of magic suppressing cuffs, the first guard advanced on me.
Did the Black Heart Rule apply to the Queen’s Guard? If Mayan escaped, I might never have the chance to question her and stop this once and for all. However, if I saved myself by attacking the guards, I might well end up a living statue in the Queen’s garden.
Alfie! He’d corroborate my story.
“I can prove—” I began.
The guard with the cuffs deliberately stepped on one half of the tiara, grinding the crystals to dust.
An inhuman cry tore from my throat. Locking my blood armor into place, I rushed the guard, tossing her across the alley.
No alarm went off. I hadn’t triggered the Black Heart Rule, but I was beyond caring. Priya’s tiara was ruined and Mayan was laughing like a hyena, about to get away with attempted murder.
The second guard ran at me. Grabbing him in a headlock, I patted him down for another set of cuffs, and suppressed his magic, dumping him onto the ground.
Mayan was limping away.
I caught up to her and spun her around.
Her eyes gleamed maliciously. “You can’t watch me all the time. I will finish what I started.”
That’s when a very familiar voice said, “Rumors of a disturbance and who do I find? Hello, Ashira.”
Moran was flanked by a half dozen more guards who’d cut off our escape route.
Mayan whirled on me, her
