By the time Rory and Zhang finished their rounds and walked back to the others, they found Zeppler unconscious on the ground. Gwen had her wedding band in her hand. Ellis passed her the ring box, and she closed the ring into it.
Rory tensed—
Gwen held the box out to Jade.
Jade blinked.
“This ring now holds Zeppler’s telepathy,” Gwen said quietly. “Do what you will with it. I suggest giving it to the de Leons; when they get their siphon back, they should be able to put it under protection with the relics.”
Ellis bent with a grunt and picked up the siphon. “Here, Ace,” he said gruffly, pushing it into Arthur’s hands. “Destroy that pomander, then give this back to Sebastian’s family. Maybe they’ll decide to destroy all the relics, or maybe they can figure out a way to use it to help subordinate paranormals instead of just making paranormal despots.”
Arthur held the siphon awkwardly against his chest. He still looked too pale, and deeply exhausted. His eyes were haunted, and no matter how hard Rory tried to catch his gaze, Arthur couldn’t seem to bear to look at him.
“So.” Rory folded his arms. “Ace getting snatched by the Puppeteer was your plan of last resort.”
“No,” Gwen and Ellis said, in the same breath.
“You getting captured by the Puppeteer was never part of any plan,” Ellis said, with feeling. “That would have been too far, even for revenge.”
Gwen bit her lip. “We hadn’t come up with anything better than switching rings. But when Arthur fell under blood magic, we ran out of time.”
“You double-crossed us,” Arthur said, his voice hoarse. “So you could triple-cross the baron.”
“And for what?” Jade looked deeply hurt. “I thought we were coming around, I thought maybe we’d get there again. How could you betray us?”
Gwen swallowed. “Thoughts are impossible to hide,” she said. “Rory and Arthur couldn’t know the plan. To fool a telepath, they had to believe the betrayal was real all the way down to their bones.”
“But why not involve, or at least tell one of us?” Jade said plaintively. “How are we ever supposed to trust either of you again?”
“You probably can’t,” Gwen said quietly. “And that’s why we couldn’t tell you.”
She gestured at the four of them, Arthur and Rory, Jade and Zhang. “Friendships like yours, feelings like yours—they are their own kind of magic. And a betrayal this deep, necessary to fool a telepath—your trust in one another might not have survived.”
She shook her head. “We would not destroy you like that. Better Ellis and I do it alone, and remain your villains, while your love for each other stays unspoiled.”
Arthur took a breath. Rory’s heart clenched as Jade stared at Gwen.
And then Jade suddenly pulled her into a hug. “I am so mad at you.”
Gwen hugged her back, something desperate around the edge. “Can’t exactly blame you.”
“I’m going to be mad at you for ages. Possibly forever.”
“Probably fair,” Gwen agreed, as her arms tightened around Jade.
Arthur looked at Ellis, blood smeared on his face from Arthur’s blows. “You’re still bleeding,” he started.
But Ellis waved him quiet. “It’ll heal. I’ve done you dirtier than this, and I wasn’t under blood magic,” he said. “Maybe we call it square?”
Arthur swallowed. “Give me time,” he said, tightly but not meanly.
Rory had a lump in his throat. The tenseness in Arthur, the visible pain, hurt Rory worse than any of his own scrapes or bruises. He moved behind Jade and Zhang to Arthur’s side and put a hand lightly on his arm.
Arthur flinched.
Rory drew his hand away as fast as he could. “Sorry, so sorry, I didn’t—”
“You didn’t,” Arthur said quickly, with so much emotion in his voice that Rory’s throat tightened. “You didn’t do a single thing wrong. You are so innocent in all of this, and I can’t—I didn’t—you’re fine.”
Rory bit his lip. “I was gonna ask if your aura’s all right.”
Arthur shrugged helplessly. “Everything about me is so very far from all right.” He ran a hand through his own hair, the normally perfect strands a disaster. His tuxedo was a disaster too, mud stained, dusty, and worst of all, the white shirt covered in blood.
Rory had so much he wanted to say. But they were surrounded by friends and enemies and whatever Gwen and Ellis were, so instead of words, he reached for Arthur’s hand. Arthur’s fingers were cold, his palm clammy, and Rory held on with his warmer one.
He looked back at the others, and found Gwen’s eyes on them.
“So what happens to Zeppler now?” Jade said.
Gwen shook her head as if clearing it, then turned to Jade. “I was thinking we’d give him to the French police.”
Jade raised an eyebrow.
“He has no magic left in him, and as long as you keep that ring away from him, he won’t be a paranormal anymore,” said Gwen. “He’s wanted for several murders in France alone. He murdered Mr. Zhang’s friend ten years ago, and we have Becker and Chance’s bodies that we can blame on him tonight. Let the mundane police have him.”
“You don’t want to torture him to death?” Arthur said tightly. “Because I spent mere hours in his company, and I do.”
“I admit, it is tempting to take him out into the Channel and see just what I can make the ocean do.” Gwen was staring down at Zeppler. “But no. Let him spend his life in prison without his magic.”
“And the guards?”
“They were under Becker’s blood magic. They’ll be free now.” Gwen looked at Ellis. “Maybe we’ll all be free.”
Rory felt Arthur’s hand in his, cold and clammy, stiff as a corpse.
It wasn’t gonna be that easy.
Arthur’s body was on a new kind of automatic, not the Puppeteer’s magic but an automation of his own. He jerkily went through with the motions to help the others clean up while his brain tried to bury every feeling, because if he thought too hard about what had happened, he might start screaming and not stop.
Doing even more damage was an unbearable thought.
Zhang found the manor’s telephone and Jade called the police, alerting them to Zeppler as a wanted murderer, with no mention of magic.
As they stood on the drive, hearing the approaching cars, Zhang was frowning.
“You’ve noticed too, then,” Gwen said to him.
Arthur glanced between them. “Noticed what?”
“Zeppler had a relic of his own, didn’t he?” said Zhang. “The brooch he stole from me before the war. But it isn’t on his body, and it’s nowhere to be found in the manor.”
“He isn’t bound to it anymore,” Gwen said quietly. “Two years ago, I could see it in his magic. Tonight, it was gone—or at least, it was gone by the time I got here. Maybe the connection was severed when he put on Ellis’s ring with the magic of the Venom Dagger. Or maybe something else.”
Zhang looked troubled. “But then where is the brooch?”
Jade touched his arm. “We wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves if we didn’t have a to-do list.”
Zhang snorted softly.
Ellis wandered back to them from a group of shaken-looking guards. “Guards are more than happy to corroborate any story we want to the police. They’re just grateful Becker’s dead. You freed a lot of people tonight, Ace. Glad you remembered how to shoot, because for a man who hates it, you’re damn good at it.”
Arthur took a breath through his nose.
“Hey,” said Ellis. “It was self-defense. He was trying to use you to kill me. He was going to use you to kill your little sweetheart. Good riddance.”
Christ. Arthur couldn’t even bear to look at Rory. He nodded stiffly.
Ellis put his arm around Gwen’s shoulders. “We’re going back to England, after tonight,” he said. “We’ll find Sebastian. He deserves to know he’s finally free.”
Gwen leaned into Ellis. “You all should go now.”
Jade and Zhang exchanged a glance.
“Let us handle this,” said Gwen. “We have ten of Zeppler’s henchmen happy to corroborate our story. We have each other.” She looked at Jade, but her head was tilted meaningfully toward Arthur. “Some of you need to rest.”
“Oh! Yes, yes, of course,” Jade said. “After all, Rory uses an alias—probably best he doesn’t meet the police anywhere. And Arthur, you’ll definitely have to come with us, because we need you to drive back to Paris.”
“You’re both completely transparent,” Arthur muttered, but it would be better if the police didn’t get too interested in Rory.
Rory was right behind him as they made their way across the driveway to the Delage Arthur had stolen. As Arthur reached for the driver’s door, there was a soft throat clearing behind them.
Arthur looked over to see Gwen standing alone. She was staring very hard at him, as she had in London.
“Gwen?” he quietly prompted.
She met his eyes, and she didn’t look despairing. She looked wonderstruck. “Rory’s magic sparks so brightly when it’s active, like lightning in a bottle. It makes it difficult to be sure what I’m seeing, and I wanted to be sure about this before I said anything.”
Arthur furrowed his brow. “Said anything about what?”
“About what’s happened between your aura and Rory’s magic.”
Oh no. Arthur’s chest clenched as Rory’s eyes widened. “Gwen, what do you see?” Rory said urgently.
“The link between you is gone.”
Arthur’s heart plummeted. No more of Rory’s magic—
“No,” Rory said, sounding devastated, just as Arthur blurted, “That can’t be—”
“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t finish,” Gwen said quickly. “The link between you is gone. But Rory’s magic is still there, because in place of the link, some of it has bonded permanently to your aura.”
Arthur stilled.
Gwen smiled. “I’ve never seen it before. His magic has entwined with your aura, and filled in all the tears like mortar strengthening a fortress wall. It’s permanent, it’s a part of you now. You’re not going to be able to do magic—but you’re going to live.” She looked at Rory. “And a little bit of Arthur’s aura is in your magic.”
Arthur’s eyes widened. “What, really?”
“It’s grounding the lightning,” she said. “You’ll probably have more luck controlling your ring and psychometry now, because Arthur’s aura will keep your magic from overwhelming you.”
Rory touched his chest. “I can’t feel where he is anymore,” he said, sounding distressed.
“No,” she said quietly. “Because you’re not linked. You’ve both given a part of yourself to strengthen the other, and even if you walk away, your gifts can’t be undone.”
Arthur glanced at Rory, and saw his own surprise mirrored in his face.
“Take care of each other,” said Gwen, and went back to the waiting Ellis.