Nigellus had basically said as much—that the peace between the Fae and the demons wouldn’t last forever. The question was whether he intended to be the person responsible for restarting the war with the help of a Fae-resistant vampire army. And if that was, in fact, Nigellus’ intention, then what sort of timetable was he on?
The worst part of it was, Nigellus wasn’t even our biggest concern right now. Because I was apparently incapable of having fewer than three separate crises going on in my life at any given time these days, there was also the small matter of my incubus grandfather being after us.
Myrial—the gender-swapping sex demon who’d impregnated my grandmother—also appeared to be hell-bent on trashing the peace treaty. Unlike Nigellus’ approach to restarting the war, however, Myrial’s approach involved killing Rans—and thereby breaking the treaty—rather than using him to raise new vampires. I’d managed to escape from Hell to warn Rans about what was happening. But in order to do so, I’d had to leave my father behind with very little protection. To say I was worried about what Myrial might do to him in my absence was putting it mildly.
And as if that wasn’t enough, we had yet another thing to worry about, as well...
I paused in my rushed packing job, looking up as I remembered a message from Rans’ former Fae informant that I’d been supposed to pass on. Albigard had agreed to bring me here to York after I escaped Hell, but he’d asked me to tell Rans something in return. I’d completely forgotten about it until now. “Well, shit.”
Rans looked up, meeting my eyes. “As reassuring conversational gambits go, that ranks fairly low on the list, love.”
I shook my head, as though I might somehow be able to settle all the broken pieces back into place. “Sorry. I just remembered—I was supposed to tell you something, and I almost forgot,” I said. “Albigard asked me to let you know that someone in the Unseelie Court is colluding with a demon. A high-up one, he said.”
Rans’ expression closed off at the mention of Albigard’s name. “Tinkerbell should worry about keeping his own house in order.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what he’s trying to do,” I said pointedly. “Maybe it’s about time you got over the fact that Albigard helped get me into Dhuinne when I asked him to, and stopped trying to skewer him with pointy iron weapons on sight?”
Once upon a time, Albigard and Rans had been allies—of a sort, at least. I wasn’t pleased with the fact that I’d unintentionally driven a wedge between them by seeking Albigard’s help to go behind Rans’ back, but I still thought Rans was the one who was overreacting.
The vampire raised a stubborn eyebrow to match me. “Tell you what,” he said. “I’ll get over the fact that the backstabbing arsehole dragged you off to Dhuinne to be tortured... right after you get over the method I used to save you afterward.”
I pursed my lips, sensing a possible avenue to victory. “Oh, will you? That’s good—because I’ve been thinking a lot about the life-bond recently, as it happens.”
I’d traveled to Dhuinne in hopes of freeing my father after he was kidnapped by the Fae. And I’d done it with the full knowledge that by doing so, I’d be putting my life at serious risk. At my request, Albigard had gotten me into the Fae realm. He’d also arranged for my dad to be shipped off to Hell with the Tithe—which had seemed at the time to be a safer place for him.
But it was Rans who’d gotten me out of Dhuinne in one piece afterward. Unfortunately, the only way he’d been able to do so was by binding our souls together so tightly that the death of either of us would cause the death of both. Now, the moment my mortal life ended, so would his centuries-long one. But last night I’d realized something important.
He continued to watch me, frowning. “As I’ve stated numerous times, you’re the only one here who’s bothered by the end of my life. Personally, I’ll be relieved to have done with it... especially when the alternative would be living in a world where you no longer existed.”
I sucked in a breath, taken by surprise at the sudden onslaught of emotion I felt in reaction to his words—as visceral as a kick to the chest. He must have seen something in my eyes, because he straightened from his luggage and crossed to stand in front of me, gathering my hands in his.
“Zorah,” he said quietly. “You need to know, love, that the demons guard their bonding crystals jealously. There’s only one reason vampires or humans ever risk a demon’s wrath by trying to acquire them.”
“What reason is that?” I whispered around the lump in my throat.
He lifted my hands to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “So that two people who care for each other can be assured that neither of them will ever be forced to live without the other, of course.”
I opened my mouth to say... something... and burst into ridiculous, girly tears instead. God... bravado aside, I was still a hopeless emotional wreck after the past several weeks. Rans let go of my hands in favor of wrapping his arms around me, and I clung back shamelessly.
“Shh, I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I still forget how little practice you’ve had at being loved. It’s all right, Zorah. I’m right here. I know you still don’t quite believe it, but I promise you that I’m not going anywhere without you. Not even into death.”
I cried harder, unable to stop myself despite my overwhelming mortification at being such an idiot—but something about these tears felt different than all the
