"You will die alone, in a prison cell made of rock, on a windswept plain. You will be old and broken, and you will have lived in that cell for a very, very long time."
Then something inside me, something hard and cold and unforgiving, shattered, and I raced over to Jack's side, fell to the floor, threw my jacket aside, pulled my sweater off, and wadded it up to press to the bleeding wound in his leg.
"Jack! Are you okay?" I felt tears running down my face, but didn't even know when they'd started. "Aunt Ruby! Help me!"
But Aunt Ruby walked up and retrieved the dagger from where I'd dropped it, instead. She moved back to the center of the room and took a deep breath. "Right. That's entirely enough ofthat."
And then she waved the dagger in the air, pointing it at each of the four walls, and spoke an invocation that is so confidential I cannot put it in this report.
Turns out Aunt Ruby knew the secret after all.
37
Tess
Albert, who it turned out was still alive, moaned and rolled over to watch the golden portal, round and different in feel, at least to me, from the portal to Atlantis, appear in the center of the room.
Two of Queen Viviette's honor guards stepped through, looked around, and nodded, and then the queen followed them into the room, accompanied by a very pretty woman who looked a lot like Logan. She was holding the queen's hand.
"Iona," Logan cried out, pointing at me. "That woman stabbed me!"
Iona gave him a cool look. "You undoubtedly deserved it."
"Help me," he groaned, but his sister shook her head.
"I will not be used by you ever again," she told him. "You've treated me like property to be traded for our entire lives. It ends here and now."
"Take him," the queen said, and her guards obeyed with alacrity. The last I saw of Logan Mackenzie, he was being carried through the portal, screaming.
Good riddance.
"And the thief?" The queen ignored my Aunt Ruby and looked at me, where I sat on the floor in my bloody T-shirt.
"First, you need to heal Jack," I told her, raising my chin. I didn't care if I was being rude to royalty. She could stuff it. She'd caused all this.
Ice touched her expression, but Iona put a hand on her arm, and the queen's expression softened. "Ah, yes," she said. "We will forgive much for love."
She made a gesture with one hand from across the room, and Jack moved away from me and flowed into the magic of the shift. Within seconds, human Jack sat next to me, and he showed me that his leg was whole. I gave him a fierce hug, and then we both stood.
"Your dagger," Aunt Ruby said pointedly, holding the thing out to the queen, who took it, raised an eyebrow at the blood on the blade, and then made it disappear.
"The Bargain is fulfilled," Viviette intoned. "Dead End is safe. And now—"
Aunt Ruby held up a hand.
"Also, we are gifting you with the key to the city of Dead End," Mayor Ruby Callahan continued, pulling a large, silver, antique-looking key out of her pocket. "With this key, I grant you permanent guest right to all of Dead End and its domiciles."
"That means you are officially and always our guest when you come here," I added helpfully. If my smile was a little sharp, I didn't think anybody—or at least anybodyhuman—would really blame me.
Iona clearly didn't, because she started laughing. "That's you told, Viv. Neatly cornered. Let's go home."
The queen, her expression not entirely unamused, nodded and took Iona's hand. Before they entered the portal, she turned to Jack. "Your grandsire's health will continue to decline should he stay here unassisted. If he wants to return to the Fae lands, I will find him a home far from the bad memories of my Court, with my genuine apologies."
"I doubt he'll want anything to do with you," Jack growled. "YourHighness."
"Nevertheless. Extend the offer. And if he stays here, I have the power to return him to the age he was when … all the unpleasantness occurred."
Jack opened his mouth to say something that probably would have started a war, so I yanked on his arm even though I sympathized and agreed. "Unpleasantness," indeed.
