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Reese slapped Quinn’s cheeks. “Don’t you dare give up now.”
His eyes had rolled up so far she couldn’t see anything but white.
Daegan walked up, now in his human form and dressed like a medieval warrior. “How is he?”
“He’s going to be dead if he doesn’t answer me,” Reese said, trying not to show her panic.
Fingers curled around her wrist. “Stop beating me,” Quinn ordered in a rough voice, blinking and squinting until he could hold his eyes open.
She stared at his beautiful blue gaze and felt her soul come back to life. She’d almost lost Quinn and Phoedra. “Don’t do that crap again.”
“What crap? Kill a crazy witch?” He lifted his head and Reese helped him sit up. “She is dead, right?”
Evalle walked up. “Yep. Dead, dead, deadski, as Beetlejuice would say. Looks like someone lit a cherry bomb behind Veronika’s eyes.”
Reese looked up, smiling. “I’ve watched that movie with Phoedra. She loves it.”
Quinn lurched to his feet. “Where is she?”
“Phoedra is safe,” Evalle assured Quinn. “She’s over with Storm and he’s using his native majik to keep her calm, which is a good idea. I don’t think she’s ever seen any of this supernatural stuff before.”
Reese stood next to him. “She hasn’t, but she’s bright and intuitive, so she’ll get there.”
Daegan said, “Devon, would you take some warriors and dispose of those bodies? Use the same procedure we do for witches.”
“You got it.”
Reese fell into step with Quinn, who had started for Phoedra, but he stopped and turned back. “What about all the other missing children?”
Daegan answered, “Cathbad made good on his word. His warriors delivered them as agreed.”
“That’s wonderful. It’s unfortunate that we owe him a favor, but—”
“I owe him the favor,” Daegan clarified. “I have no issue with that as long as the kidnapping ends as well, which I believe it will. Just as we discussed, Cathbad stayed long enough to remove the ward when Veronika’s ancestors dispersed as soon as she died.”
Quinn agreed, “When Cathbad claimed that had all been Queen Maeve’s doing and that he would not stop the attacks, I had my doubts. But he didn’t light up like a red bulb in the Tribunal when he made those statements.”
Daegan nodded. “There is still a price to be paid for those of ours she killed, and I will collect in full, but I wanted the children returned and to know the other families would be safe first.”
“One question, Daegan. How did you survive Veronika’s attack? It appeared you had been killed.”
“As a dragon, I’ve always had the ability to go into a deep sleep that mimicks death. I’ve used it only when I needed to heal a serious wound.”
Quinn murmured, “Interesting.”
Reese asked, “Are we really done with Veronika?”
Quinn appeared to ponder his answer. “Possibly. We were always worried about attacking because we had no idea what power she drew from her ancestral realm and whether she might be stronger after death.”
“That was freaky.”
“One way to describe it.” He sighed. “To be honest, I think only time will tell.” His gaze swept across the scene, taking in the field of warriors and the two dead bodies.
If Reese had to guess, she’d say he was struggling between walking away to be with Phoedra and staying to supervise the rest of this operation as the Maistir.
Quinn told Daegan, “If you don’t need me right now, I’d like some time with my daughter.”
“Granted. Take all you need. I intend to continue spending time with our warriors for quite a while.”
“Thank you.”
Reese tried not to let her thoughts show on her face. She had a difficult decision to make in about twenty-five steps.
Quinn walked with her, putting an arm around her shoulder and whispering close to her ear. “I was terrified when you walked out to face Ossian. I don’t want you doing that crap either.”
“Somebody had to break up that party.”
Two more steps and he said, “You heard Daegan. I’m free to get to know Phoedra. I’d like for you to stay and help us transition. In fact, I’d like you to stay, period.”
Her heart thumped at a crazy pace.
What was she going to do?
When they stepped inside the tree line, Storm looked up from where he kept an eye on Phoedra.
Quinn said, “Thank you for watching over her. You can release her from your majik now.”
Storm nodded, whispered something, and stepped away from Phoedra.
Until that happened, she’d been standing there staring forward with a relaxed look on her face. The minute Storm released whatever he had been doing to keep her calm, Phoedra turned into a panicked, hot mess.
She started crying and screamed, “Reese!”
Reese put a hand out to get Quinn to wait, and he did as she ran forward to hug Phoedra. The poor girl was shaking hard and not making sense. “What’s going on? What, Reese? Did you ... I saw a dragon? No ... that’s wrong. Cathbad said ... I don’t ...”
Reese held tight as Phoedra cried and started hyperventilating.
People were running into the area, asking what was wrong. Someone used kinetics to lift a body. Phoedra saw it and started keening.
Reese turned to Quinn, who looked pained, unsure what to do to help Phoedra. He took a step forward.
Grabbing her medallion with one hand and keeping her arm around Phoedra with the other, Reese said, “I’m sorry, Quinn.”
His face fell, then the world shifted and blurred as she teleported away.
