“We have a plan to keep Frankie safe,” Ankou called out, just as guilty, “but it requires you to suffer.”
Head bowing under the weight of details as Ankou heaped them on him, Kierce stared at his hands.
“Well?” I craned my neck to see his profile, hoping to read his expression. “What do you think?”
“It might work,” Kierce allowed, eyeing Ankou with speculation. “Do you have a god bone to spare?”
“We have everything we need.” Ankou covered for me to avoid explaining where we came by our surplus bone. “It’s your call, Kierce. Make it. Be selfish for once. Otherwise, you’ll lose Bijou forever.”
“I just want her to be happy,” he said, his voice cracking on the last syllable.
“Get over yourself, Birdfriend.” Josie throttled a frustrated scream, clenching her fists near her face. “Do you know how rare it is to find someone you like, who likes you back? Someone who is honest with you? Who cares about what’s best for you? Who would bend over fucking backwards to stay with you?”
That last bit felt directed more toward Carter than Kierce, but Josie was on a roll.
“Josie,” I warned, not wanting him to cave under the pressure and regret it later.
“You know why you and Frankie are a match made in heaven? Neither one of you believes you’re worth the effort. You put your lives on the line for others, you sacrifice your own happiness at every turn, then you refuse to let anyone return the favor.”
“She’s right.” Harrow ran a hand over his head. “You don’t want to make my mistakes, Kierce. I thought I was protectingFrankie from my uncle, and I let her go. You see how that worked out. I cost myself years that we could have spent together, but I decided I knew best, and I lost her. Ichoseto lose her.” He gave Kierce a moment to soak that in. “Frankie is an amazing woman. She’s worth paying any price to keep.” His lips hitched to one side. “Things might have shaken out differently if I had realized that sooner.”
An ache throbbed behind my breastbone, but time had dulled its edge until it no longer cut as deep.
“I’ve always considered love a vulnerability.” Carter kept her eyes off Josie. “Relationships are complicated. Distracting. They make you question your sanity. They put you at unnecessary risk.”
She fell silent, and we all stared at her, waiting for her to finish her thought.
“Usually there’s abutthere.” Josie frowned at Carter. “You list the bad things and then you saybut…”
“No.” Carter materialized a bag of cheddar puffs and proceeded to stuff her face. “That was it.”
“When the gods of man stole my mate from me,” Anunit said, “I slaughtered my way across continents.”
“I would slaughter my way across continents—” Kierce locked gazes with me, “—for you.”
Of all the shared anecdotes, I shouldn’t have been shocked that the person who got through to him was Anunit while he was in this primal state. But I would be lying if I denied the burst of warmth flushing my chest over his murderous declaration when I felt the same. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be standing here.
“And so you have, love.”
Shock jolted down my spine, and I whirled to find the omen gliding over our heads.
Damn it.
No wonder Badb hadn’t been waiting with Kierce. The crow I saw earlier wasn’t her. The omen had been stalking us, and my rescue team’s arrival had merited her racing to report to her master.
Now she wasn’t bothering to hide and was engaging with us. Neither of those were good things.
“Help me catch her.” Ankou leapt for her, but she flew too high. “She’ll tell Dis Pater we’re here.”
A solid and rather final sounding click rang out behind me, and I spun to find a crow wing hanging out of Anunit’s mouth. The rest of the bird was still whole—and alive—inside her jaws. I couldn’t scrounge up an ounce of pity for her. The omen was no friend of mine.
First she taught me how to mark a soul for Dis Pater to collect, resulting in my death. Then she urged me to eat the fruit from the divine apple tree Ankou grew to sow dissent among women living in Commune Doom, the ones who stole the Alcheyvaha bones and kickstarted the avalanche that snowballed into the mantle of guardian of the divine beasts falling onto my shoulders. Whatever she wanted now could only spell more trouble. For all of us.
“Well.” Ankou blinked as the wing grew still, then shook off his surprise. “Problem solved.”
While I had no sympathy for the omen, especially if she reported to Dis Pater, I wanted a straight answer out of her before Anunit swallowed the pest. Like whether she had been acting on his orders both times.
“Spit it out.” I hesitated only a moment before tapping Anunit’s muzzle. “I need to question her.”
