T here is a calm after every great battle, while the boiling passions and unstoppered violence slowly retreat into the darkest places of our hearts. Some of the military might have congratulated us, even celebrated with us briefly, as our mutual enemy fell.
But others looked at us as if we would betray them at any moment; an ally who with one hand offered peace and with the other sold their greatest enemy their most powerful weapons. Park and Casper’s squad were formidable human allies, but I worried about the growing hatred and fear from Stacy and his ilk.
I winced away from Aideen when she pressed around the cut on my neck.
“Stay still. We have to heal this. I can’t be sure that wasn’t a poison dagger.”
I gave Nixie a mournful look. “Can’t you just tell if there’s like bad juju in the wound?”
“Bad … what?”
I let out an exasperated sigh and leaned on the wooden kitchen chair in the back room of Death’s Door. “Fine. Do it.”
The familiar sting of the healing began, like a line of wasps stitching my neck together, before the feeling changed. It burned, and the burning spread far past the wound. That odd sensation told me Aideen had been right.
The queen had sliced me with a poison dagger, which made me wonder where the blade had gone after she’d dropped it, after Casper had taken her with a shot to the head. And I wondered how that moment would be remembered by the water witches. Would they remember a human had brought down one of their strongest? Or would they remember Nixie plunging the dagger into the queen’s heart? Or the horror of the fairy bottle?
The light of the healing, and the sting, slowly faded. “Okay, okay, you were right.” I grunted and rubbed my neck.
“It will leave some trace of a scar,” Aideen said.
“Really? I thought you were good.”
Aideen huffed. “It was at your queen’s request.”
I smiled up at Nixie. “I knew you’d dig the scars.”
“It is a trophy of our victory,” Nixie said.
Frank’s voice grew louder in the front of the room. “And then a freaking skeleton threw me a blunderbuss like an actual pirate. It blew that water witch to pieces!”
“Only because I didn’t let the other one rip out your spine,” Sam said.
“Tearing out spines is really hard,” Foster said. “There is a serious art to it, and I doubt it could be accomplished on a moving ship in the middle of an undine storm.”
I smiled and listened to them chatter about the battle as I stared up at Nixie.
She frowned slightly, and I didn’t think I’d like what she had to say.
“I have to go back.”
“For how long?” I asked.
“Until I prove Lewena is dead.” Her hand cradled the fairy bottle, which hung on a thin chain around her neck. “And the coronation.”
I nodded. “I’ll miss you.”
She put her hand on my cheek and smiled. “I’ll miss you too. But the fight lies in Falias now. I’d ask you to come with me, but I know you can’t leave your place in this war, either. One day it will end, and things will be different.”
“You two are so sappy,” Aideen said, a completely unmasked disgust in her voice.
I grinned at the fairy, and we slowly made our way to the front of Death’s Door, and down to the damaged riverbank by the harbinger’s body. Aeros stood close to its head, pointing out at the river and saying something to the soldier at his side.
The man shifted, and I could see it was Park, with Casper standing beside him. I raised my arm in greeting, and Casper waved back.
“We were just talking about how to clean up this mess,” Park said. “Aeros seems to think he can rebuild the river banks without much of an issue. Although, I was more interested in his ability to rebuild that old road. I don’t think the historical society will be thrilled with this.”
I smiled. “Yeah, tanks and cobblestones do not mix.”
Park rubbed the back of his neck. “I think it’ll be good. If Aeros helps.” He glanced up at the Old God. “After what happened with the tank, I think it’d help a lot in explaining things to my superiors.”
“Your bullet saved the mortal prince of the water witches,” Nixie said, turning to Casper. “I thank you, and am in your debt.”
“The mortal what?” Casper and I echoed the same time.
“It’s only a title,” Nixie said. “I must go. Alexandra’s waiting to escort me.”
“I’ve given the order not to engage any water witches.” Park paused, and then released a chortling laugh. “I’ve never seen a look on the general’s face quite like when you said Damian is not to be fucked with.”
“Yes,” I said. “It was very subtle.”
Nixie smiled. “Most of the water witches have disbanded. Though, should you have trouble with any of them, you need only ask.”
“I thank you,” Park said.
Nixie nodded before she kissed me, long and deep, until I grew a little uncomfortable with the eyes all around us. But that discomfort vanished as I realized I didn’t know how long it might be before I’d see her again. I pulled her close and held her tight, until she finally broke away. She grew translucent, and stepped into the waters that had so recently been boiling with blood.
Thank you for spending time with the misfits! I’m blown away by the fantastic reader response to this series, and am so grateful to you all. The next book of Damian’s misadventures will be arriving in spring, 2018.
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Eric