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She shook her head by way of answer and leaned into his embrace. All around them, she could feel the other residents of the house draw nearer, forming a loose circle around Tezzel and Aussen. Everyone else was smiling or sniffling, surreptitiously brushing their cheeks to flick away tears. No one else spoke, and no one seemed able to break away from the dense magnetic pull of that powerful emotion.
A flicker at the doorway caught Jayla’s attention and she felt her body revert to readiness before she had even gauged whether or not the motion constituted a threat. It was a moment before she recognized the man on the threshold, whom she had only seen once before—the muscular priest who had accompanied Pietro here earlier today. Then he had seemed confident and hopeful; now he looked worried.
“What do you suppose he wants?” she asked Cody.
“Who?” He followed her gaze. “Oh—that’s Stollo. I wonder if something’s happened to Pietro.”
She freed herself from Cody’s hold, and the two of them threaded their way through the tangle of people to meet the newcomer at the door. No one else seemed to notice his arrival.
Stollo greeted them with relief. “Cody. Maybe you can help.”
“What’s wrong? Where’s Pietro?”
Stollo shook his head. “Heinsistedon coming all the way back here with Tezzel, because he wanted to besurethat Aussen was all right and safely reunited with her mother. But he’s utterly exhausted, and he basically just collapsed in the street.”
Jayla pushed past him and headed out into the cool darkness, trotting down the path toward the circular drive. Stollo had exaggerated slightly. Pietro was on the ground, but not actually in the street; he was leaning against the outer edge of the wrought-iron fence, his body looking frail and crumpled. She stepped through the gate and dropped to her knees beside him. “Are you all right?” she asked.
In the chancy streetlights, his face was pale and worn, but he tried to smile. “I am trying to make that determination,” he said. “It seems I am too old to be running back and forth across the city for hours, trying to save the world.”
Stollo and Cody had gathered behind her. “I told himIwould return here and check on Aussen, and then I’d report back to him, but he insisted on coming,” Stollo said. “We’ve been traveling all day. Even I am weary, and I’m thirty years younger than he is.”
Pietro rested his head against the fence and closed his eyes. “Stop reminding me that I’m too old for you.”
She heard Cody snort with laughter, and she had to hold back a smile. Pietro couldn’t be at death’s door if he was making jokes, however slight. “Pretty heroic, for an old man,” she said. “Since it seems you reallydidsave the city.”
He didn’t open his eyes. “Tezzel did,” he said. “Remind me to tell you about it someday when I have the energy to speak.”
Stollo crouched down beside them. “I’d hire a wagon to take him home, but I don’t know if I can find any at this hour. And with so much debris littering the streets—”
“He can spend the night here,” she said. “You both can. There will be an empty room somewhere.”
Pietro opened one eye. “I’m not sure that’s an invitation a hired guard is authorized to issue to an unexpected guest.”
Now she was grinning outright. “I think Madeleine would grant me any request I made right now.”
Pietro opened his other eye. “So does this mean you and I might be friends after all?” he asked. “No more threatening to kill me every time you see me?”
“You’rethe one who told me you couldn’t be trusted,” she pointed out. “I would think you would be pleased that I just did what you asked.”
He sighed and closed his eyes again. “I will be pleased—with the whole lot of us—after I’ve slept for about five days. I think.”
Jayla rose to her feet. “Come on,” she said to the other two. “Help me get him inside.”
It was another twenty minutes before Pietro and Stollo were settled into a small cluttered room that was mostly used for storage but still offered a bed and some welcome privacy. Madeleine herself had flown down the steps to offer Pietro assistance, and Jayla remembered that the two of them had known each other back in an earlier time. She didn’t know what their relationship was or how it might have been altered by recent events, but clearly Madeleine was ready to provide succor to anyone who had played a part in tonight’s tumultuous events.
Jayla herself was so tired that just the sight of Pietro’s bed made her long for her own, but she didn’t want to overlook anyone else who might need her attention. “Where’s Aussen?” she asked Madeleine as they stepped onto the balcony and shut the door. “Where’s Tezzel?”
“In my room,” Madeleine said. “I think they’re both already asleep. I’ll stay in Reese’s room tonight.”
Jayla nodded. “Is that everybody?”
Madeleine laughed softly. “Everyone you’re responsible for, you mean?” she said. “Yes, Jayla. You’ve taken care of every single one of them. Everyone is safe. You can rest now.”
Jayla managed a crooked smile. “Maybe. Not sure I can ever relax.”
Madeleine hesitated, as if not certain the gesture would be welcome, then flung herself across the small distance between them to give Jayla a tight hug. “Thank you,” she said. “I don’t know which of the gods brought you into my life, but I will be grateful to you forever.”
Jayla was just as surprised as Madeleine probably was when she lifted her arms to return the embrace. “The day was just as lucky for me,” she said. “And I will be grateful for just as long.”
