The only thing Nos could think of was a question he knew he was going to ask himself many times over before all was said and done.
What have you done, human?
Ava had fetchedthe bottle of wine from the table and brought it over to a tree opposite the train in the clearing. She sat with her back up against it, Book beside her, and drank straight from the neck.
She didn’t enjoy getting drunk. Fluffy, sure. But notdrunk.
But as she sat there, staring at the crumpled remains of an abandoned turn of the century steam train she’d pulled from thin air—to kill someone—she decided she’d earned it.
She didn’t know if whatever was left in the bottle was going to do it, but luckily, she hadn’t eaten much in the past day and change.
So, she sat. And drank from the bottle. And stared at the train in silence. Part of her hoped that Rig would come crawling out from underneath it, laughing and vowing unholy vengeance on her for hurting him. Or that he’d simply blinked out of the way or done some sort of Unseelie trickery to survive.
Because that part of her wasn’t sure how to handle the fact that she’d justkilled him.
But the other part of her? The other part of her was staring at a multi-ton train that she’d summoned out of thin air. It was insane. Absolutely insane. All of it.
So, she sat. And drank from the bottle. And stared at the train in silence.
Ava didn’t know how long she was there before the fae found her. It seemed dropping a multi-ton train on somebody was pretty effective at garnering attention in the Web. And it was dangerous to stay as she was, exposed to whoever could come up and do whatever they wanted.
She honestly didn’t care.
Let ’em.
She’d just killed somebody.
So she sat. And stared. It could have been minutes, or it could have been an hour. It didn’t matter. She heard voices before anyone approached her. It appeared that nobody wanted to come close to her at first.
Good.
She wasn’t in the mood.
“Ava!” It was Ibin. A stork, all white and black feathers, came flying at her at breakneck speed. As it landed, she changed her shape, standing in front of her with her back to the train. “Are you okay? Oh, by the Morrigan, I was so worried, and—and where’s Rig, and how?—”
“You’re a bird?” She blinked.
“I—oh. Yes. I am. Focus on that later. Where’s Rig? What was?—”
“Huh. You’re a bird.” She wondered if that was what shock felt like. Very likely.
“Ava. Rig. Focus.” Ibin frowned down at her. “Where?”
Ava pointed behind Ibin.
Ibin turned. Paused. “Fuck.”
“Yeah.” Ava took another drink from the bottle. How was it still half empty? Weird. She didn’t care.
Ibin was now staring at her with wide eyes. “Wait. You…youdid that?”
“Mmhm.” It was the best Ava could muster. Nos was now walking into the clearing, but more warily than Ibin. He had some other tiny little fae woman walking next to him that Ava didn’t recognize. She could also see other figures in the shadows of the trees, keeping their distance and watching.
Ibin let out a rush of air, before moving to sit down next to Ava. She reached for the bottle. Ava passed it to her. Ibin took a heavy swig and passed it back. “He’s dead?”
Ava took a swig. “I’m going to bet a whole bunch of that steam train is made out of iron.”
Ibin took in a breath, held it, and let out the swear in another long exhale.“Fuck.”
