I leaned back and looked up into the Blue Dragon's exotically handsome face. “Maybe a bird and a fish, if their love is strong enough, can make a home together after all.”
Verin smiled softly and stroked my cheek then he stepped back and vanished.
Chapter Fifty-Six
“So, what did you really do with the knife?” Slate asked me.
We were in the crystal palace, out on the bedroom's balcony, enjoying the “moonlit” view of the garden, which had flourished even as its master had succumbed to divine possession. The other men were in guest rooms, including Cerberus. Darc had returned from Zuja empty-handed and as relieved as I to see the last of that Jinni. We'd go home to Tír na nÓg in the morning—there was much there that had been neglected during the Slate incident and I still needed to lower the ward around the castle—but for tonight, I belonged to the Zone Lord. And I was good with that.
I snuggled closer in Slate's arms before sighing and lifting my head to answer. “Before I met you, Torin, Banning, and I had a run-in with magic bombs.”
Slate stepped back. “Say that again.”
“The Copper King—the previous Copper King,” I amended, “found a way to create a bomb that destroyed magic. I won't go into the details of it, but Darc and Torin recreated the bombs to kill Gargo.”
“You used a magic bomb to kill a God?” Slate lifted his brows.
“But we're not sure if it worked.” I grimaced. “It's a little hard to tell, what with Gargo being in spirit form. And in that box.”
“Hold on.” He held up a hand. “Let me get this straight. You stabbed me with that dagger which sucked Gargo's soul out of me then you put it in a steel box?”
“With a bomb.” I nodded. “They activated the bomb, set in beside the dagger, and Declan wrapped them both in steel.”
“Then Darc added a layer of water and Declan added another layer of steel?”
“Yes.”
“Just in case this magic bomb didn't destroy Gargo.”
“Yes.”
“But it's unlikely that he survived?”
“Yes. Highly unlikely. Gargo's soul was in the dagger and the dagger definitely would have been destroyed by the bomb. At least, the magic in it would have been and a lot of the magic inside it was Gargo.”
Slate let out a long breath and grinned. “That's a huge relief.”
“It is?”
“I would have worried about Gargo getting out of that damn box for the rest of my life. But at least now I know it's unlikely that he's even in the box.”
“Sort of like Schrodinger's Cat,” I said with a grin. “We won't know if Gargo is alive or dead until we open the box. Which we'll never do. So, I guess he will forever be neither.”
Slate laughed. “Tanager's God.”
“What?”
“Instead of Schrodinger's Cat,” Slate said as if it were obvious.
“Ah. Yes, it has a nice ring to it.”
Except it should be the Cock Collective's God, RS interjected. Since it was all of you together who got the God in the box.
Could you refrain from ruining their romantic reunion? Kyanite snapped.
How did I ruin it?
By simply speaking you ruin it but especially by calling them that absurd name.
“We are not the Cock Collective,” Slate could barely say it with a straight face.
See? Ky huffed. You've angered the Zone Lord.
Oh, whatever.
“Could you both please go away until morning?” I begged.
Yes. Of course, my love, Kyanite said immediately. You won't hear a peep from us for the rest of the night. Right, RS? He growled the last bit.
Fine, RS sighed dramatically. But I'm partially responsible for this reunion.
How exactly are you responsible? Kyanite scoffed.
Without me, we wouldn't have had Verin with us, and without the Grexer, we wouldn't have gotten Slate back.
I don't think that's accurate, Kyanite said dryly.
“Go away!” I nearly screamed.
They both went silent, and Slate chuckled.
“Watching you argue with the voices in your head is surprisingly arousing,” Slate declared.
I snorted.
“Snorting is less so.”
My snort turned into a laugh. Then I went serious. “I missed you.”
“I missed you more,” Slate's expression went grave. “At first, I didn't even know Gargo was there. I thought I was just going through a phase or perhaps still recovering from the battle. I just felt... off. Then it got worse; I was so angry. When you sang to me, Gargo retreated and then, when you fed me Darc's blood, it felt as if he had left completely. I felt like myself again. I thought I was in the clear but he was only biding his time. Gargo came back even stronger, and I knew he'd never leave. My only comfort was that you escaped him.”
“Because of you.” I went back into his arms. “You saved me. Twice. Thank you.”
“I love you, El. Nothing's stronger than that.”
“Not even a God.” I stretched up to kiss him quickly. “In fact, I think your love for me made it possible for us to beat Gargo.”
Slate nodded. “I think it helped. I watched him change or felt it, rather. Heard it.” Slate shook his head as if to clear it from unwanted thoughts. “The things he would think about you, sweetheart. It was hell to listen to.”
“Do you want to talk about it? Unload a bit?”
Slate shrugged. “He's dead, that makes the memories easier to bear.”
“I don't mind listening.”
Slate sighed and leaned against the crystal railing. “What happens when a creature beyond the capability to love, one who has never experienced it, even for himself, is filled by the emotion?”
“I don't know; we wondered.”
“You and the others talked about it?” Slate asked in surprise.
“It was clear that Gargo was changing; he said as much.”
“Right.” Slate made a bitter sound. “Well, at
