“Right.” Knight took a deep breath. “So, I felt someone trigger the wards I’d set on the house—”
“The what you did what now?”
“I’d set wards on the house,” Knight confessed sheepishly. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry. I just didn’twant a situation like what had happened with Knight the Dog to happen again.”
Saint was quiet for a moment. Then the corners of his lips ticked up. “You called him Knight the Dog.”
Knight rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I felt someone trip the wards. I came to check and found your mother here.” Saint hissed in a sharp breath. “She was holding something. A doll made of straw. Whatever it was, it must’ve been some kind of jack; it sent me right back to Hell and blocked my ability to traverse the Veil.”
“Fuck,” Saint cursed. “Fuck! I knew she hadn’t come here last night just to “warn” me,” he spat. “They must’ve sent her on purpose to scout, knowing I wouldn’t hurt her. But how could they have suspected about you?”
“Ah.”
Saint narrowed his eyes. “Knight.”
“Okay, so, there may have been someone who’d triggered the wards before she had. I scared them off and didn’t erase our encounter from their memories on purpose. I thought it’d be enough to make them stop,” he said guiltily. Instead, it had made them suspicious.
Saint squeezed his arm to show him there was no harm done. Knight exhaled shakily with relief.
“There’s no way we could have known. Pastor Zeke has someone magical on his side, it seems. I don’t think it’s a demon; possibly a Native Doctor—a witch. He most likely didn’t think he had anything to be afraid of.” Saint’s jaw clenched. He looked up. “If he was able to make a spell like that—how did you manage to come back?”
Knight shrugged. He ducked his head to place a kiss on Saint’s bare, round shoulder, hiding his expression in the process. “I heard you,” he whispered. “For a moment, our link connected, and I heard you. And nothing mattered more than getting to you immediately.”
Saint’s pointer finger and thumb came underneath his chin, tilting his face up. He kissed Knight lightly on his lips.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t.”
He smiled. Then his smile disappeared. He looked apprehensive, suddenly, as he whispered, “The bond ... the contracts ...”
“Still there,” Knight confirmed, watching him carefully.
Saint rolled over until he was lying on his back so he could stare at the ceiling. Knight shifted closer to his side, his left hand resting on Saint’s bicep. He couldn’t place his scent. His expression was completely devoid of emotion.
“He’s not going to stop,” Saint said quietly.
Knight shook his head. Maybe Knight’s attack at the church would make him pause; maybe he’d leave Saint alone for another month or two, heck, even another three years, but ... “No, he’s not.” His grip on Saint’s arm tightened.
“I think—” Knight’s heart pounded at the finality in Saint’s tone. “—that you should do what you need to do.”
Saint sat up when Knight didn’t immediately respond. Knight sat up as well. Saint turned to look at him. He was deadly serious. His scent, his heartbeat, his breathing—every inch of him was steady.
“This is me giving you permission to do what you have to do to make him stop,” he repeated.
“You understand what that means, yes?”
“Yes,” he said unwaveringly. “I’ve had to solely focus on myself after I ran away because there was fuck all I could do to stop him—to stopanyof them. But now—I have you.”
“You have me,” Knight confirmed, squeezing his arm again.
“I could’ve taken it all—for the rest of my life if I had to—as long as I had you.” Knight trembled.Almighty. It felt like his heart was caught in a clenched fist. “But being back there mademe realise I can’t let him keep hurting anyone else. There’s no true justice to be had when it comes to powerful men like him in this country. And itdoesn’tmake me as bad as him, wanting him to pay.”
“You’re nothing like him,” Knight said vehemently. He slid his hand down, tangling their fingers, squeezing Saint’s hand tight. “Sometimes, the only way to get a tyrant like that to stop is tomakethem.”
Saint began blinking rapidly again. Knight could almost taste the salt of his tears. It made him want to pull Saint closer, but he resisted, feeling Saint needed his space right now.
“I just ... I need you to do one thing when you go back. I know this bit isn’t my responsibility, and that some of his “followers” haven’tbeen manipulated by him and are there because they’re just as despicable, but I at least want the true victims like me to be ... all right.”
