Page 93

Remy understands, but the queen is quaking, her hands on Bianca’s shoulders, shaking her.

“Wake up! Wake up! Come back. Argue with me! Please!”

“My Queen,” Remy says calmly, “let Pennie help her. He can do more without your presence in the liquid. Please, come away.”

The queen surrenders her position, allowing me to grab Bianca’s wounded body before it submerges completely. Remy assists the queen out of the pool, but only a few steps away, Archie lunges for our sovereign, seizing her neck in his massive, clawed hand. She’s instantly pinned against his massive chest, unable to move, barely able to breathe, her life completely dependent on the smallest movement of his hand.

“If she dies, you die,” he snarls and Remy predictably draws his sword, while his knights follow suit.

I ignore them and all the drama I can’t affect, instead ripping through my robe and sitting while pulling Bianca and Bastien close. I kiss them both, my heart aching from what comes next. The liquid pulses, straining for more energy. I know my kind. The Pendragons desire to save the day, but they’ve already depleted what stores they had.

“Take care of them, Archie,” I say in the tone that always silences all others, inspiring a chill that no amount of evolution or distance from my violent origins can suppress.

“Why? Where are you going?” the queen asks, barely noticing or even caring that her life is at risk. She brushes away Remy’s concern, her attention entirely on me.

“I’ll do what I can,allI can.” In this moment, I understand perfectly how Nico walked through that portal, knowing he would never return.

Love’s proof is revealed in our willingness to pay whatever price is demanded of us. For Nico, that price was a one-way ticket to a purgatory realm. For me, the price is this body, the ability to touch and be touched, to love and be loved. To breathe, to feel, to connect. The price is this life. It’s unlikely I’ll be able to return for centuries—after depleting myself so completely, I’ll be trapped until my reserves rebuild. But I will return, and I pray that my kind provide long lives for my family, so that when I arrive, I find them thriving.

“Archie,” I say sharply, his feral nature at the helm when I need his mind. “Lord Clumberton!”

His focus is on me then. “Pennie.”

“You need to get her—them—home. The pool in Clumberton Castle will continue to heal you all. This one is spent. Get them home as fast as you can…finda way. I can only do this. I’m sorry I can’t do more.”

Compassion battles the rage that owns him. “I will find a way. Iwillkeep our family safe. Andwewill see you again.”

I block out everything but these two cherished beings in my arms. I hold them tighter, their heads touching now. Odd, I think I hear the faintest hint of music. Is this what they hear in each other, tender notes creating sweet lullabies?

As hostile words are volleyed beyond the sphere of my influence, I encourage my life force into the liquid. After willing my body into existence and living millennia, there is peace in reclaiming my past, breaking the dam, and releasing the river to run its course.

Seconds later, I become the liquid that will heal my loves. I no longer possess a voice, but I can hear and sense Bianca and Bastien collectively drawing breath, their bodies healed. For now.

Chapter60

Bianca

When consciousness returns, I’m caught in a disorienting twister, feeling wrung out from every direction. Thankfully, my body knows what to do. My lungs seize air like it’s on a two-for-one special. My heart finds its rhythm minus that obnoxious piercing blade. And my arms encircle my sobbing Bastien and pull him close, cuddling into him as grief washes over us.

Out of the plethora of sorrows to choose from, I know exactly the origin of every one of our tears. Pennie’s sudden absence shakes the foundation between us, beneath us, within us.Noneof us would be here without him. My father would have died without him—Iwould have died. Bastien would have been lost many times over without Pennie’s care.

But it’s more than that. Pennie wasn’t just the best and most intriguing mystery of my life… he was—is—pure energy in a way I’m only beginning to understand. He’s the living example of the power of an uncompromising life force. As sexy and steamy as he was, he didn’t showboat because he didn’t need to—he knew exactly who he was and what he had to offer. He gave the gift of his full intention in every moment we shared and that he’s gone, sacrificed himself for us… I’m heartbroken but not even slightly surprised.

What does surprise me is the faint notes of a decidedlyPennie-ishsong inside Bastien and me.

Bastien pulls away, his shimmering eyes bright, a hint of hope finding a home in them. “He’s still here.”

I drag my fingers through the now-dim liquid, opening our song and hoping he’ll hear it,achingfor him to answer us. When the first slow, sensuous blues chords begin to play, I smile tearfully and hug Bastien. Pennie’s not gone. He’s here. He’s immortal. Our family still lives, at least for now.

Still feeling embraced by Pennie in the way the liquid teases along my skin, I release a deep breath and hold Bastien’s hand as I ready myself to do battle with the forces working—intentionally or not—to destroy my family.

I turn my attention on the scene before me, grateful that Bastien, Pennie, and I managed to distract them and delay the violence about to be unleashed. Remy and his knights point their blades, crossbows, and general rage at Archie, who’s gripping the queen’s tiny neck in his enormous hand.

“What did I miss while I was busy being stabbed through the heart?” I’m not bothering with pleasantries at this point in my rapidly devolving relationship with the current ruler of the land.

When my eyes finally meet the queen’s, I find proof of her terror, her tears, and her obvious relief that I’m still alive. And yet, with my heart-stabbinessso fresh in my mind, I’m unmoved by her concern. It’s almost like I can hear the ticking clock counting down the seconds until the next weapons tear through my flesh. The next time will be the last time because Bastien and I are completely out ofGet Out of Deadpasses.

I throw up my hands and shake them at her. “Just kill us already,QueenDeirdre theMalignant, theToxic Baggage-Carrying Monarch of the Damaged-est Realm, and because I have a thing about the wordpants, QueenStagnantPants. Just show some commitment and kill us.” She recoils but says nothing, so I proceed. “But really, you don’t have to, do you? You already planted the bomb and twisted all the wires, got your timer all set up and ready to go. You just have to wait a little while longer and your murder spree will detonate with a bang. Then you can roast wieners over the carnage.”