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“If anyone else dies—”
“It’s not your fault. Everyone here has made a choice, and if they want to walk away, they can. No one is forcing them to remain.” Something crunches ahead, though I don’t worry because I already sensed our newcomers the moment they left the house.
“Yeah, stop taking all the credit, auntie.” Rainey and Delaney emerge from the shadows, hollow smiles on their faces.
The moment they come into view, though, Bronywyn relaxes. I can feel her relief through the bond—her joy at their arrival—and it overjoys me that she doesn’t feel so alone. That even should something happen to me, if she survived the bond breaking, she’ll still not be alone.
Rainey and Delaney take seats in front of us.
“I’m sorry,” Bronywyn chokes out.
“For what?”
Rainey scoffs. “Look, I don’t do the victim card shit. And I certainly can’t tolerate illogical shouldering of blame. This is war, Bronywyn. You, your father? You didn’t start it; the councils did. Shit, this is something that should have happened decades ago.”
“None of us saw it coming,” Delaney adds, softly. “Every time they enforced the laws, the amendments to The Accords, they all seemed so small, so insignificant. But when you look at the big picture, the councils have been abusing their powers since—shit—since the beginning.”
“I know that. Logically, I know all of that, believe me, but I still—she’s not going to leave. Our whole idea of having the councils scatter—”
“The councils will scatter,” Rainey interrupts. “We saw that tonight. Odette is a different story, but the rest of them? I’m willing to bet they’re already gone.”
“We won today.” Delaney reaches forward and covers Bronywyn’s hands with her own.
“We lost people.”
“I know you’re new to this whole hunting business, but unfortunately, that’s how it works.” Rainey smiles, but it’s empty. “But their deaths were not in vain because we’re not going to give up. We’re going to put an end to this.”
“And what happens then? Have any of us actually given much thought to what happens if we manage to terminate the councils? We have a plan, sure, but do we even know what that will mean?”
“What did you think would happen when you started trying to recruit against them?” Rainey questions.
Bronywyn chuckles, darkly. “I was going to be queen.”
Both Delaney and Rainey exchange glances. Then both burst out laughing. Bronywyn jumps in, and soon, all three women are grinning.
“Queen Bronywyn does have a nice ring to it.”
She grins at Rainey. “Yeah, well, without the arrogance of the dark magic, I’m not really interested in ruling anymore.”
“No?”
She shakes her head. “Honestly, I’d really rather go into retirement after this. I’m not made for the fighting.”
The mood grows somber, and I look to Delaney and Rainey for their visible disappointment. Surprisingly, I see nothing but understanding. “Retirement, huh? You’ll have to let me know what that’s like.”
Bronywyn smiles softly at Rainey. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Understanding.”
“You get to be immortal even if you retire. Me? Elijah? We’ll get old if we stop kicking ass, and I don’t think either of us is ready for that.”
“That’s true.” Bronywyn shifts her gaze to Delaney. “And you?”
“I had two years to relax. No way I’m giving up the fight just yet.” She winks.
“You’re about to have a kid.”
