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I didn’t dare move, uncertain whether he’d let me go—or whether I wanted him to.
“Um, hello?”
We both looked over at the woman who stood on the balcony, eyes wide as she stared down at us. “Do you... Maybe you need help getting down?”
• • •
The woman’s name was Jolie Brennan, and she’d decided not to evacuate. She’d been mightily surprised to learn her condo had become a rolling hill, and we’d been grateful when we were able to slip inside the condo and take the elevator back to the ground.
Or Connor had been. I’d been a little disappointed that I wouldn’t get to jump.
When we finally made our way back outside, some of the fairies were being restrained and dragged into buses that lined the edge of the park. The CPD and supernaturals were being treated for their injuries.
Petra and Theo sat on the grass, and they climbed to their feet as we limped toward them.
“You okay?” Theo asked.
“We’re good,” I said.
I looked around at the park. Trees had been toppled, boulders were plentiful as thorns, and there was a long line of cracked and scorched earth above what I assumed was the route of the ley lines. Claudia stood near it, her expression defiant but sadness lining her eyes. She’d been betrayed by her people, or at least some of them. She’d be escorted back to the castle, where I guess she’d see what there was to rebuild of her community.
“Ruadan?” I asked, since I didn’t see him.
“Claudia imprisoned him in the green land,” Petra said. “He’ll live there, alone, for the rest of his natural life.”
“Cut off from her and the rest of them,” Connor said. “No one to fight for him, or stroke his ego. He won’t like that one little bit.”
No, he wouldn’t. It was a fitting punishment that he’d probably see as a victory, at least for a little while.
Gabriel walked over, looked at his son, at me. “You both look solid.”
“We are,” Connor said. “You good?”
“I am,” Gabriel said. “But I could use a drink.”
“A-fucking-men.”
• • •
As it turned out, the European delegates hadn’t needed a fancy party, formal talks, or expensive, fancy hors d’oeuvres. They just needed to be thrown together into the Cadogan House ballroom with chaos swirling outside—and my father’s best Scotch.
My father had opened Cadogan to all the delegates who’d wanted shelter, thinking the House’s stash of food and weapons would at least give them some respite and protection if Hyde Park shifted to the green land. While we’d been working on the plan to trick Ruadan, they’d cobbled together a rough plan for a new vampire council. They’d still have to get the French and Spanish delegates’ okay, but it was a start.
And when that was done, they’d all but taken over the House. They poured champagne and mingled with vampires in Cadogan T-shirts, shifters, and nymphs to celebrate Chicago’s return. The television monitors were tuned to the celebration, where people emerged from cars on the LSD, embracing one another and thrilled to be stuck in traffic again.
Theo flirted with a nymph. Petra and Lulu—who figured the magic was done so the party was just a party—chatted in a corner.Connor talked to his uncles, drinking bottled beer and occasionally casting glances my way. We’d need to talk about the kiss... about everything. But for now, we could just be.
I’d skipped the champagne for blood—I needed the boost—and watched revelers run up and down the House’s main hallway. My father would probably rein them in tomorrow. But for tonight, everyone was happy.
EPILOGUE
The night was warm, the air sweet with the last growth of summer. And on the breeze, the first chill of fall.
Two men sat in low chairs, the fire pit between them. Inside it, wood popped and sparked and flame flickered and danced beneath the slowly spinning rotisserie.
Father and son with fire and charring meat, reenacting the same moment that had been played a million times over the course of history. Gabriel and Connor Keene. Alpha and heir apparent, preparing for another historic moment.
“Alaska,” the son said. “You pissed?”
