Neither.
I lifted my sword again and advanced on another guard—one Haley had identified as one of the riders. He clutched a dagger in his hand, but the booze had left him unsteady. He stumbled backward against the courtyard wall, and I shoved my blade into his belly, eviscerating him.
The remaining guards roared in fear, scrambling to mount an attack. But they were drunk, and I was…
Not alone.
Suddenly I felt a presence at my back, and turned back just long enough to confirm my suspicions.
Haley’s men.
The demon, the blood-drenched gargoyle who’d apparently just returned from some other fight, and the vampire-fae—my brother, if Haley’s presumptions were correct.
I didn’t know whether to be repulsed by the idea or glad of it, but right now, there was no time to contemplate the family tree. No time to ask why they’d followed me out here.
Only time for vengeance.
We were bound by it, this blood and madness that had brought us together. And that, more than anything, made themallmy brothers, even if it was just for tonight.
Without another word, we charged, our individual strengths merging into an unstoppable force—the vampire-fae’s speed and lust for blood, the demon’s fear manipulations, the gargoyle’s raw power, and my unwavering determination to end the lives of anyone who dared harm Haley Barnes.
It felt like only minutes before the gardens were awash with the blood of our enemies, the chokeweed twisting out of the soil to claim the bodies—all but the heads we’d so dutifully severed, clutched in our blood-stained fists like an offering, all for her.
25
HALEY
I’d paced the suite for so long I was sure I’d worn a groove in the stone floors. But then, after a damn lifetime, Keradoc and my monsters finally returned.
Covered in blood and gore, reeking of death, but I’d never been so relieved and happy for such a homecoming.
“I take it you found them?” I asked.
“We did,” Elian said. Blood dripped from his hands onto the floor.
Pat-pat-pat-pat-pat.
“And?” I pressed.
“They won’t touch you again,” Keradoc said. There was a massive canvas bag slung over his shoulder, and he dropped it at my feet, spilling its contents.
Heads. A bag full of severed heads. At least a dozen of them.
“I am sorry for the mess.” He sketched an apologetic bow, but his eyes held a joyful malice that sent a spark right through my core. “I wanted you to be assured that the situation had been… dealt with.”
“No it’s… it’s great. I… thank you.”
“We all helped,” Elian said, puffing up his chest a bit.
“I bet you did.” I covered my smile with my hand, trying not to laugh. Gratitude bloomed inside me, as if the monsters had brought me a chocolate peanut butter milkshake and a burger and fries smothered in cheese rather than the heads of the mercenaries who’d hurt me.
I tried not to think about what that said about my ever-darkening moral compass, but still, Iwasappreciative. I’d always said I was a chocolates-and-weapons kind of girl. Guess I needed to add the severed heads of my enemies to the Haley Barnes gift list, too.
After a quick recap of the fight, my guys went to wash up, leaving me alone in the suite with Keradoc.
He watched me in silence, his eyes still holding a glint of that malice, a hint of the dark well of depravity I suspected ran bone-deep inside him.
Suddenly, completely uninvited, Jax’s earlier words echoed.
