Page 121 of Demon's Bane

“Careful with the patient, please.”

Chagrined, Allie steps back and lets her finish checking me over. The bandage comes off, with only a small twinge of pain and a warning from Vayla to be careful about the stitches there to remind me I had a knife sticking out of me not even…

With a start, I turn to Allie.

“How long have I been out?”

“A little over two days,” she says softly, like she’s trying to dampen the blow. “Whatever was on that knife… fuck, Joan. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“You and me both,” I mutter, rolling my shoulder a little to ease the ache there.

Vayla rubs some ointment on the wound and keeps up a steady stream of conversation about everything they did to heal me. She describes all the potions and salves and what sound like some truly heroic measures, but I’m only half listening.

Because even though I’m thankful as hell to still be alive, I can’t help but feel anxious, restless, when I realize whoisn’trushing in to see me.

More hazy memories crowd in.

Steady arms lifting me off the ground outside the Veil. Murmured words of reassurance and strength, offered like a prayer against the backs of my fingers and onto my damp forehead. Even during the last couple days of being—for all intents and purposes—dead to the world, it’s like I somehow know he’s been there.

I feel it. In my bones. In my soul.

Allie rests a hand on my uninjured shoulder. Squeezing lightly, comfortingly, she interrupts Vayla.

“Would you go find Rhett? He’s been exhausted these last couple of days. He might have gone somewhere to get some rest.”

Vayla nods and turns to go. I offer Allie a weak smile as she sinks into the chair beside the bed, but I can’t shake my unease.

“So,” I say, doing my best to push it aside. Rhett will be here soon. Of course he’ll be here soon. “What’s been going on since I got stabbed?”

Allie pales, but lets out a shaky laugh. “Does it count as stabbing if the knife is thrown?”

“Definitely counts.”

She shakes her head. “Fine. Stabbed it is, then. And as far as what happened, it’s… complicated.” Her expression darkens. “Between Tyvar and the rest of his crew being involved, and the help David got from a Crescent witch, all of this is such a clusterfuck.”

“An inter-realmclusterfuck,” I chime in unhelpfully.

Allie groans and slumps back in her seat, rubbing at one of her temples. “No one ever mentioned that, you know? When I was shoved into this whole ‘queen’ thing, no one mentioned the inter-realm clusterfucks or how to handle them.”

“But you do look good on the throne.”

She laughs and shakes her head. “Small wins.” Pausing for a moment, she sobers. “They caught David and have him in a jail cell.”

“And Tyvar?”

“He hasn’t come back out of the Veil. We’ve sent some soldiers to a few other realms to track him down, but so far… nothing.”

The memory of the deep black pulse of the ether as Tyvar disappeared sends a shiver down my spine.

“Who is she?” I ask quietly. “The witch David conned into getting him into this realm. Do you know who she is?”

“Hailey. I don’t really know her. She would have only been like eleven or twelve by the time we left for college.”

My gut twists. Eleven or twelve. So she’s probably barely an adult now, still in training, trying to find her place in the coven hall. Desperate for it, like all witches that age clawing for power and a place in the spotlight.

“She’s so young.” Allie continues. “Fresh out of training and looking to make a name for herself in a vacated spot to be the ward master’s apprentice. A pretty competitive role, apparently.”

“So she took out the competition.”