The smoke cleared. Venus was gone. The remains of her Armageddon surrounded us. Fire trucks, ambulances and police cars lined the dark road, their flashing lights illuminating the trees.
I watched the ambulance drive away with Davin strapped to a gurney inside. Only when the crimson taillights had disappeared into the distance could I look away.
“He’ll be all right” Adrius reassured me.
“That’s what they’d said. But for how long? The spell suppressing her magic worked. We might never get another chance like this again. She'll be on her guard if she doesn't just kill us all first.”
I searched Adrius’ face. He looked different. “What did she do to you?”
He shrugged, indifferent, but there was something in the tense set of his jaw that indicated otherwise.
“Nothing that had any lasting effect.” He handed Zanthiel a key. “Take Lorelei back to my house. I’m going after Venus.”
I didn’t have the strength to object, and he’d disappeared into the forest before I could find it.
My head buzzed, and every thought was fuzzy around the edge. “I need to get out of here.” My words slurred a little. In the aftermath of chaos, the three drinks I’d had at the bonfire were having an effect.
Zanthiel sighed. “Let’s go.” He snatched the keys out of my pocket. “I will be driving,” he said firmly, leaving no room for argument. Not that I planned to.
We walked to my car without speaking. He opened the car door and I climbed in. I squinted at him as he got in behind the wheel. His silver eyes reflected the moonlight.
“Do you even have a license?” I said, leaning my head back. Exhaustion filled every cell of my aching body, and my eyes drifted shut.
He ignored me and we drove the distance in silence.
We pulled up to a darkened house. Adrius’ house.
Zanthiel parked my car in front of the double garage and climbed out. He opened my door for me before I had time to unbuckle my seatbelt. “Get out of the car, Lorelei.”
I glared in defiance. “Don’t tell me what to do. I don’t need your help. I’m fine.”
Folding his arms, his eyes cut into me. “I need to get you into the house and I will carry you if I have to,” he warned.
“I’m not going in the house until you leave,” I said stubbornly.
“I’ll leave when you’re inside the house.”
I frowned at him and didn’t budge.
He gave me a patient look and his lips curved slightly. Then he lifted me out of the seat, hauled me over his shoulder and marched me into the foyer.
“You should probably keep your distance from the sweets table,” he said, righting me on my feet.
“You can leave anytime now,” I shot back.
“Indeed? Because you seem to need a babysitter.”
“I’m not a child, so stop treating me like one.”
“I will stop treating you like one when you stop acting like one,” he countered evenly.
“And we’re back to this again.” I rolled my eyes. Bad idea. The room started doing that spinny thing again.
“Now come on. I’m getting you into bed,” he said. An amused look crossed his face as he watched my expression.
“You wish,” I huffed indignantly but then teetered a little. I reached for the wall to steady myself, but my hand met with his instead.
“I have you,” he said.
Without further protest, I let him lead me up the mahogany staircase to Adrius’ room.
He effortlessly kept me upright, though my head spins had finally slowed. I sat down on the bed and Zanthiel sat next to me.
Seeing Adrius at the bonfire with Venus… it did something to me. Awakened a crazy jealousy that I knew was totally uncalled for, but couldn’t shake. He didn’t love her. Not anymore. Neither of them did. Both Zanthiel and Adrius claimed they were over her. Decades ago. But… she still had Adrius under her control, and I couldn’t stand to watch it a moment longer. The one drink Brianne had given me had turned into three very quickly.
Now Adrius was off with her, and I was here. With Zanthiel. Would it be equally upsetting for Adrius to find me here alone in his room with his former friend? Or would he know without a shadow of a doubt it meant nothing? That no other could possibly come between us? Of course he would. I was the only one insecure. This whole thing had been my idea, I had no right to be upset because it had worked.
On Zanthiel’s insistence, I made my way to the bathroom and changed into one of Adrius’ T-shirts.
He wasn’t leaving until my head hit the pillow, so the sooner I complied the sooner he left me alone. Besides, I wasn’t entirely certain he wouldn’t change my clothes himself if I refused.
After splashing cold water in my face, I padded back to the room, feeling more embarrassed than tipsy.
He surveyed me from head to toe with a satisfied nod. The blankets had been turned down and he patted the bed. “Now be a good girl and climb in,” he said in that patronizing tone that made me want to smack him. Instead I wandered past him to the window.
Rain trickled down the pane, distorting the view of the distant trees. The forest was a place I longed to return to. Before all of this it was a place people feared. But I’d never been afraid—the forest called to me. It held secrets, mysteries… answers. Only now did I understand why. Although my real life had been utterly upended, I still found comfort in the bleak, rain-streaked view of my mystic forest. Despite its many perils.
Zanthiel eyed me warily, taking in my sullen mood swing. “Your friend will be fine, so what causes your sadness? You are the drinking party-girl now. Although clearly a lightweight.”
I pulled away from the window and worked up the nerve to face him. I felt like an idiot. He was right, none of that was me. I wasn’t the party-girl type, so why was I acting like one? A dull ache throbbed in my temples and I was two spins shy of emptying my stomach content.
“What is this really about?” He refused to let go of my gaze now that he had it.
I exhaled a long heavy sigh as my shoulders sank. After everything we’d been through, I was still afraid. Not of death or dying or even the dark fate awaiting me, but of being alone.
“I can’t lose him,” I murmured.
Zanthiel’s expression shifted, softening a little even as his voice darkened. “I know. You won’t.”
There was something to the look in his eyes, a fierceness that had little to do with a desire to save Adrius and more to do with not wanting to see me hurt.
I smiled, a faint and weak token of my immense appreciation for what he was yet again willing to do… all for the sake of my wellbeing.
Zanthiel narrowed his eyes. “Do not think this means I hate him any less.”
I shook my head. “No, of course not.” I cut my smile.
“That will never change, so if it’s a cozy reunion you’re hoping for, then you are in for more heartache,” he said, “But I will do what I can. For your sake.”
I stepped toward him and in an unprecedented act preceded by an unprecedented flood of emotions, I threw my arms around him and squeezed tightly. He stiffened at first, but then slowly his arms circled me and he pulled me closer. When he inhaled, I released him.
The look on his angular face blended confusion and vulnerability. It threw me off guard. These types of moments were a first for us. We had more of a chemically volatile, mutually irritating relationship. A physical attraction I couldn’t ignore, but because there was no substance behind it, I brushed it aside easily. This was different. There was an exchange that happened in that embrace, and it set my nerves on edge. Warning bells sounded in my head, and I backed up instinctively as fight or flight self-preservation kicked in.
Zanthiel returned to his normal cool stance as he watched my reaction to his reaction. He looked smugly satisfied by the effect he’d had on me. It was too late to take back the hug, and regret, I’d learned, was a pointless emotion.
I cleared my throat. “Thanks, Zanthiel,” I said with as much impersonal distance as I could summon, given how close we were to one another.
“What was that for?” he asked, keeping his tone and gaze even. He took a small step toward me.
I shrugged quickly. “I told you. It was just a thank you. Don’t read anything more into it,” I warned.
He flashed another fully loaded grin and in self-defense I looked away. I was neither emotionally equipped nor sober enough to withstand the charms of a Shadow fey.
“I mean it, Zanthiel, I’m grateful you care enough about me to help Adrius.”
His dazzling smile faded as I knew it would. Any mention of Adrius was sure to have that effect. He receded, giving me a curt not. But then he turned and rushed to me, catching one of my wrists in his hand.
“What are you doing?” I stared wide-eyed. My wrist tingled under his hold and he clamped down tighter.
“I will help you hold on to your prince, Lorelei. But just this once I want to hear you say that if things were different, and I was the one who needed saving… that you’d be willing to ask his help to save me as well.”
I sucked in a gasp of air, not realizing I’d been holding my breath for some time. My head spun from the lack of oxygen in the room and his close proximity. His words permeated me unexpectedly. The thought of something happening to him… my angel of music… it wasn’t an event I could bring myself to contemplate. Not even hypothetically. There was no question in my mind of what I’d do. I pressed my free hand against his chest. He inhaled sharply.
“Zanthiel,” I said quietly. “You’ve saved my life… more than once. I would never let you die either. I couldn’t bear it.” I choked on the words. “I’ve already lost so much… so many people I love. I couldn’t bear…”
“Shhh.” He pressed a cool finger to my lips briefly before pulling his hand away. “I know.” He spoke in a voice thick with emotion. “I’m not going anywhere, your highness. I will always be just a thought away.”
He was gone before the last word reached my ears.
Alone in the darkened room of an empty house, I laid in bed wide awake, staring into the void. I felt something while I was folded in Zanthiel’s arms and the cold penetrated my clothing. I’d always thought it was this town, and its wet damp climate responsible for my constant chill. Zanthiel’s embrace led me to a realization… something I didn’t want to admit to myself. I wasn’t cold because of the Drearyton Cove’s horrible weather, or even because of Zanthiel’s chilled embrace. Cold was already in me. I was part Unseelie fey, the blood of the Winter Court and the magic of the ice witch flowed through my veins. I wasn’t cold because I was in it. I was of it. And my core body temperature was dropping.