Magic shuddered around him and left Sean the Selkie treading water in human form.
The Billiards had been anchored closer to shore, so that was where their rescuers had brought them.
“Yes.” His dark eyes bored into mine. “Thanks to you.”
An awkward moment lapsed where we both stared at one another in utter exhaustion.
“I’m sorry for what was done to your friend.” His black eyes glittered. “For what was done to you.”
“All part of the job,” I joked, but it fell flat, seeing as how I had no job. “I’m just glad you’re all okay.”
“What will happen to Sue?”
“Seeing as how the Grande Dame is in town, I imagine she will make that ruling personally.”
As much as I hoped Sue would walk out of Atlanta unscathed, I couldn’t promise him that, so I didn’t try.
I would do everything in my power, which might not amount to much after this, to ensure she was pardoned for her unwitting participation in Clan Jefferies’s scheme.
There was nothing I could say or do to make this any better or easier on anyone, so I changed topics.
“Sue told us the vampire who kidnapped you had your pelt.”
“Selkies have been controlled with their pelts since our beginning. We guard them with our lives. The vampire found my decoy.” Sean’s breath rippled across the water. “I didn’t let them know otherwise. I was biding my time in case they gave me an opportunity to escape with the children.”
A yell from the manmade beach drew his attention to where a lanky teen waved his arms over his head.
“I should go.” His skin rippled as his pelt began to merge with him. “The kids need me.”
“Sean?” I caught him as the change swept over him. “I’ll do everything in my power for Sue.”
With a dip of his chin, the seal slid under the water, carving a wake as he sped toward the shore.
Footsteps drew my attention to the dock behind me, but I was too tired to turn my head. “Yes?”
“Thank you.”
Okay, scratch that. I must be hallucinating. I whipped my head around to find Cruz standing there with puffy eyes, dressed in saggy pack sweats. Lost in my own head, I hadn’t noticed the cavalry had arrived.
Cruz filled his lungs like a man who hadn’t breathed in years. “He’s alive.”
“I’m sorry we didn’t find him sooner, but I’m grateful for the outcome.”
“You took the correct steps.” He spun his wedding ring. “In the event the worst had happened...”
“I was aware of your wishes for him to be resuscitated, but I wanted your express permission.”
“I appreciate that more than you can know.” He lowered his head. “I hope this won’t cost you the potentate seat.”
“If it does, it does.” I dipped my toes in the water. “I made the only choice I could live with.”
“I need to get back to him.” Cruz met and held my stare. “I’m in your debt.”
The edge of my lips curved an upward path. “There’s no debt between friends.”
While Cruz didn’t agree we were friends, he didn’t disagree, which meant we were totally friends now.
Ambrose manifested then jerked his chin behind us.
A second or two later, a set of footsteps I would recognize anywhere padded toward me.
Warm fabric smelling of Midas slid over my head as he clothed me in his tee. “Hey.”
Grunting, he sat beside me then hauled me onto his lap. “Hey back.”
“Any update on Sue?”
“She won’t be running gauntlets anytime soon, but she will make a full recovery.”
Moonlight rippled on the water, drawing my eyes to the soft glow, and we listened to frog song.
Midas rubbed his chin over my hair. “Ready to go?”
“In a minute.”
I was in no rush to return to Atlanta.
I was too afraid of what awaited me.
Thirteen
The crowd remained where I had left them hours ago, which surprised the heck out of me. I’d expected them to ditch when it got boring. Then again, learning the two rats dumped in a maze had chewed a hole to escape rather than capture the cheese at the end was drama enough to make them salivate.
Or something.
I was frakking tired.
I could be forgiven a cheese metaphor. Was it a metaphor?
No clue.
Brain too mushy.
Midas held my hand as we took the stairs to the small, raised platform erected for the Grande Dame. She rose when we reached the top and slid her gaze over me. I was mostly dry, dressed in my gauntlet finest, but I smelled like lake water.
“Hello again, Ms. Whitaker.” Her lips pulled tight. “Imagine my surprise when I discovered the woman who professed to love this city enough to want to be its protector disappeared without a word in the middle of her trial.”
“I—”
“I’m not finished, Ms. Whitaker.”
The way she said my last name gave me chills, as if she were taunting me with it. As if she knew.
Forcing my knees to quit wobbling under her regard, I straightened my spine and squared my shoulders.
“Only slightly less shocking than an apprentice abandoning her trial was discovering the woman who pled her case for a second chance so passionately had also exited the gauntlet without permission, of her own free will.” Her gaze touched on Linus. “That leaves us with a draw, by my reckoning.”
For what felt like the first time since Neely was taken, I took a full breath.
“Crimes were committed tonight,” she continued, leaving me in a cold sweat as I waited for the other shoe to drop. “Crimes against the Society, against the Office of the Potentate of Atlanta, and against yourself and Sue Billiard, as well as her family.” Her lips thinned. “Six members from Clan Kretzmer were killed so that members of Clan Jefferies could take their places in the gauntlet.”
A shuddering exhale parted my lips as her wrath swung away from me.
“Given the involvement of several out-of-state factions, such as Clan Kretzmer and Sue Billiard, I have decided the trial for this conspiracy will not be held
