Page 31 of Raven in Midwinter

“Oh, he’s gonna…eat him.”

“Yes.”

“I doubt Corvus will release the rest of⁠—”

The rumbling sound stopped him from speaking, and when the body hit the snow in front of us with a sickening splat, he nodded.

“You all right?”

“Chief of police over here,” he reminded me, breathing through his nose. “And I’ve seen much worse back in Boston.”

“I’m sure you have, but that still doesn’t mean watching Argos eat that creature will be good for you.”

“I would agree.” He let his head fall back and stared at the stars. “Not at all necessary.”

We got moving after that.

Corvus had released the real—and now unconscious—Giles easily, but as we carried him back to the house, I thought that had he not been magical, frostbite would have been a real concern. Once inside, Lorne, who’d taken over the carrying, dropped Giles not at all gently onto the heavy rug in front of the fireplace, and Giles immediately started pinking up from the heat.

“Good,” I said, covering him with quilts.

“I want all that blood off you,” Lorne told me, “and I want you to rest, but when he gets up, with his magic, I’m no match for him.”

“We don’t know what he’ll do, but without Corvus, I won’t be much of a challenge either,” I replied, feeling the weariness of this never-ending night wash over me.

“Okay, so for now we should check and see what there is to eat and drink here. This is still the Corey cottage, so there must at least be some tea.”

The kitchen was laid out the same as it always had been, counters and cupboards lining the wall on the right, beginning with the hearth and stretching back, in our time, to the edge of the sunroom and the steps that led down. Now it stopped at a wall where a broom leaned that I hadn’t seen before.

“Lorne,” I said softly, the besom concerning me as I noted the handle was carved with runes. Not the ones I liked—Wunjo for kinship or Algiz for protection—instead with power runes for movement and victory and transformation. When I heard something, I glanced back toward the fireplace, and Giles was sitting up, smirking at me.

“You play dead well,” I complimented him, hoping he couldn’t hear the fear in my voice.

“Thank you for killing the wraith. I needed it gone, but it was draining my power, so I couldn’t do it myself.”

“How did you know I could help?”

“I’ve been here many times, Xander,” he said like I was a child. “I’ve seen Corvus change, become more and more powerful, and finally, now, become a place strong enough that I can remain here, live comfortably, and never age. I didn’t know when I was younger that it had the potential to be what it is now. The land will sustain me, and my presence will not drain it and turn it into a wasteland.”

Looking over my shoulder at Lorne, I saw that he was frozen, unnaturally so, not breathing, eyes open but not blinking, both hands on the counter, caught, it seemed, in a moment of time.

But nothing could happen to me, or my love, inside our home. That wasn’t possible.

“Have you figured it out yet?” Giles asked, his tone dripping with condescension.

It hit me all at once, the understanding of what he’d done.

“This isn’t the cottage,” I whispered. “You made a duplicate slip.”

“The real one is twenty or so yards to your right.” He sounded so smug. “Cloaked of course. Surely you’re smart enough to figure at least that much out.”

It was getting hard to breathe.

“Your man is branded and will make a fine companion.”

“No. My lord Arawn will⁠—”

“Your lord stops here in the fall to ride across Corvus and bless the land. The sole reason you had further interactions was due to your continual jeopardy. You’re so very weak, Xander,” he said, belittling me, enjoying it from the smirk on his face. “Unlike you, I won’t need him to intercede on my behalf. Imagine how pleased he’ll be to never be called on again.”