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Jack’s grin was exactly the same as Roman remembered it. “You look like you got your ass beat.”

“I did.” He threw a grateful look in Darien’s direction. “I thought I might die.”

The corner of Darien’s mouth twitched. “What’s life as a Darkslayer if you don’t think you might die at least once a night?”

“You guys aren’t here because of Travis, are you?” A pit opened in his stomach.

“He’s alive and fine,” Darien said quickly.

“Unfortunately,” Jack added.

Ivy snickered and slapped his arm. “Stop saying that.”

Now that Roman could breathe again, his attention snagged on the girl standing near Darien.

His cousin noticed immediately—no surprise there—and stepped aside so he was no longer blocking her like a wall of muscle and tattoos. “This is Loren. Loren, this is my cousin, Roman.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said. Her voice was quiet and as gentle as she looked.

Roman lifted his hand in a tired wave. “Hey.” He used that hand to gesture between her and Darien. “You guys…?”

Darien’s answer was immediate and firm. “No.”

Roman lowered his hand.

Fuck that. There was no way there wasn’t something going on between those two. But he’d let it slide for now.

He leaned back against the couch, knowing full well that he was about to ruin it with his damp, filthy clothes. “To what do I owe this extremely random pleasure?”

The others turned their heads to look at Darien, who said, “It’s a long story.” He drew a breath. “A really long story.”

70

Roman’s House

YVESWICH, STATE OF KER

It took almost an hour to explain everything to Roman. Darien swore it was the most talking he’d ever done in his life. It probably was.

The Darkslayer named Shay Cousens wound up joining them toward the end of the explanation, looking a lot better than when she’d first limped in here. She managed to catch Roman’s brief recap—the summary he was giving mostly for his own benefit—as she took a seat on the ottoman near the couch. Joyce came in behind her and claimed one of the armchairs.

“I want to make sure I got all this straight,” Roman said. He was looking at Loren, who’d moved to the couch about a quarter of the way through the conversation to sit beside Ivy. “The Arcanum Well is real. It was created by your father, who used it to create hellsehers and then used it to create you. You have the Well’s powers and the ability to track it, which makes you extremely valuable. Darien was hired to hunt you down in the fall, and when he found out you were human, he became your bodyguard instead.”

He paused, and she nodded, looking like she was trying to absorb the information just as much as Roman was.

Roman glanced up at Darien. “Because that’s so like my cousin.”

Darien couldn’t help but smile.

Roman continued, “You worked with Darien to find your missing friend, who was kidnapped and taken as ransom because the kidnappers wanted you instead of her, but couldn’t get to you. This other piece-of-shit fake Darkslaying circle wanted the Well for themselves, and they were working for the imperator, who also wants the Well.”

Loren nodded again, appearing more lost the longer Roman spoke.

Roman said, “That’s a whole lot of Well wanters.”

Jack actually stifled a laugh for the first time in his life.

“He wants to use the Well to create his vision of a perfect world,” Roman continued, “pretty much abolishing mortals, and use the Well to heal people of the Tricking and to give himself unlimited magic—the selfish bastard. He tried to create a replica of the Well, but your dad,” he pointed at Loren, “arranged for all replicas to be cursed, so instead it turned into a bomb that destroyed all of Angelthene. You used your gift from Tempus the Liar—”