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Emlyn brushed past me onto the top step, his jaw clenched and anger written in the lines on his forehead. "Answer her," he ordered the fake Renna. "Or you'll have all of us to answer to."
Fake Renna shook her head, dark hair swinging.
Asta unleashed a dark and throaty hiss, and magic rattled the air as she shoved her hand at Fake Renna's chest. No into her chest. She grabbed her heart, ripped it out, and crushed it into dust in the same second. I swallowed, watching it collapse into nothing, and then Renna's body disintegrated in front of me, too.
I backed up a step, my stomach trying out a convincing washing machine impression. She turned to ash. Disintegrated.
Unmade.
Wyn tightened his hand around mine, but it wasn't enough. Emlyn and Wane were ahead of us; I trusted them with my back, so I turned and buried my head in Wyn's chest, dragging his scent into my lungs, surrounding myself with him.
"I'm fine, honey," he promised, kissing my hair as I shook, trapped in that moment, the memory cruelly clear. He was heavy in my arms, cold leaching through the bond, my soul so numb as death stole him from me. And then I was covered in ashes—and then nothing. No sign that he'd ever lived.
"I'm right here, Haley," he murmured, lips brushing the shell of my ear. "You can feel me; you can hear me. I'm not going anywhere, either. I'm far too obsessed with you to leave for more than a few minutes at a time."
A smile tried to form on my face, but it was too soon. Too soon after he died, and after I came back from death. Kai and Harvey pressed in around me, soothing with their touches, and I wrangled my composure with effort. I expected Asta to be staring at me, confused, but she just snarled at the step where Fake Renna had stood, breathing hard, her teeth still bared.
I dragged my stare to Wynvail and looked deep into his eyes, reaching for his soul to reassure myself he was okay. He wasn't even in pain, wasn't stressed—just worried.
"Asta," I said, gentling my voice. "Do you want to come inside?"
She inhaled a shuddering breath and clenched her jaw. When she met my gaze, it wasn't rage burning in her eyes but devastation.
I stepped out of the warmth of my mates and opened my arms, expecting her to sneer, but she fell into me and clung hard. Fuck.
Renna was really missing.
And if a fake impostor had managed to find us, it meant our shields were screwed.
"Wane, Wynvail, renew the wards," Emlyn quietly ordered, following my line of thought. "Hales, take Asta into the living room. I'll make tea."
CHAPTER 16
Asta's hands shook as she brought the cup of tea to her lips, making a face when she took a sip. "Sugar?"
"For shock," Emlyn explained in his softest voice. His compassion was every bit as vast and all-consuming as his protectiveness, and my heart melted.
Asta nodded and swallowed. "After Olympus, and all that bowing bullshit … I couldn't find her. And then she came home yesterday and started acting weird, asking too many questions about you, pressing for where we'd hidden you. Cronus thinks Hell is shielding you. Like we're not a complete fucking shambles," she laughed bitterly.
I reached out to squeeze her hand, at a loss for what to say.
"Lucifer is gone," she muttered. "Lili and the guys are a fucking mess. Tali's rampaging her way through the realm, grieving two of her best friends."
"Two?" I asked, my heart hurting for all of them. I squeezed Asta’s hand, wishing I could help. Knowing I couldn't.
"Luc and you," Asta muttered, like I was an idiot for not figuring that out. "Last I saw her, she was ripping the head off a rebel. Good for her," she added, swallowing a gulp of tea. "You could have put brandy in this. Just saying."
"If he wants to use Renna against Haley, she'll still be alive," Wynvail said carefully, watching Asta. "He won't kill her."
"Yet," she laughed, a low, twisted thing. She glanced at all of us. "Come back with me. We've got the spirits under control now, and Iarlon is stable even if the rest of the realm is a bloodbath. Lili needs a friend, and I'm no fucking help. The ruling circle can't afford to fall apart right now; everyone's looking for a weakness to exploit. But five archdemons and—whatever the hell you are," she said to Wynvail, "it would make a difference. Appearances are everything."
"He's mine," I said coldly. "That's what he is."
Wynvail had clenched his jaw, but he shot me an adoring look now, softening.
"And," I sighed, releasing her hand, cold spreading through me, "I'm sorry, Asta. We've died too many times; I only just came back. I can't walk into danger again. I'll do whatever I can to help you find Renna, but I can only help from here. I can’t come with you. I'm sorry," I repeated when she threw me a disgusted look.
"My wife is missing and—"
