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I was too busy crying at him being proud of me to respond to the sexy threat. "We did it," I said in a squeak, sobs choking my air supply off. "He's really dead, and we're all here."
"We nearly weren't," Joseph groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "Fuck, we came so close. Look at you, Avie, we nearly lost you."
I batted a hand. Oof, my fingernail fell off. Not sexy. "I'm fine," I disagreed with slightly less confidence than I planned. "I just need a nap."
The magic rushed like a gentle wave inside me, agreeing. It had exhausted itself, too.Shehad exhausted herself? It was weird, and I couldn't sayhowI knew, but the power was feminine.
"No," Arkan growled, ice bleeding back into his tone as he reached for my face. "No sleeping, Avie. You have so many wounds, we need to get you looked at by a medic before you sleep."
"Nah," I disagreed, leaning my head on X's shoulder. "Night night."
"Don't you dare," Taj growled, so deep that my broken ribs vibrated and I gasped at the pain. "Fuck, Lina, I'm sorry, are you okay? Where does it hurt the worst? Look at me, tell me where it hurts."
I snorted through the pain. "You fuss like a mother hen. Also: everywhere. It hurts the worst everywhere."
"I'll get the Company of Murkyr," Dev rumbled. "They can fly us to the portal. Stay awake, babygirl. Just a little longer."
I'd like to say I valiantly held onto consciousness like a true hero, but the second he was gone, I let my eyes flutter shut and succumbed to unconsciousness.
Daddy was going to be so mad when I woke up.
EPILOGUE
Three weeks later
"Iswear to fucking god," Taj growled, chasing me down the hall of the fortress. Dev's fortress. I refused to call it anything else, even if I was technically, on paper, the devil. I'd refused to sign the contract—because yes, I literally had to sign a contract to be the devil—until it was amended to add Dev, Taj, Arkan, X, and JoeJoe as my co-devils. No fucking way was I doing this alone.
Dev made good on his promise to do the paperwork, so the only thing I had to do so far was scare a couple hundred people1and deal out instructions for cleanup. Both the rebuilding kind and the slaughtering traitors kind. Bel was handling the latter, gleefully murdering anyone who uttered even a gasp of support for the dead lizard tyrant. That's what they were calling him, not even giving him a name. He'd be fuming if he knew. I loved it.
"Oh, relax," I huffed at my overprotective mate. Taj had clung to me like a barnacle since we killed Eidolon, which was fair because I'd clung to all of them equally obsessively. "I've got my power back and I'm not oozing blood anymore; I'll be fine."
The Thenawist demons and the rest of Dev's armies made bloody work of Eidolon's zombies, so all the power used to make them returned to its source. Yours truly. It took a few days forallthe power Eidolon had stolen to come back, but come back it had. In full. The relics' power still thrummed inside me, but part of it lived in the rest of my mates too, so it didn't overwhelm me. We had to figure out how to put it backinthe relics one day, but that was a problem for another day. Or month. We had a lot to deal with.
Recovering from a coup and mini-war was a lot more time-consuming than I expected.
"Do something about this," Taj groaned, throwing up his hands and giving Joseph a pleading look.
"I tried," Joejoe replied sheepishly, brushing his hand over the small of my back. Nothing flaked off when my mates touched me now! I was so proud. "She's determined. And I can't argue that it's necessary."
I pumped my fist. "Hell yes! Revenge road trip is a-go!"
"It's not a road trip when we're walking," Taj muttered, but he snatched my hand and held it with a dizzying amount of care and gentleness.
"Is there a road?" I asked, batting my lashes at the grumpy bastard. He was back in his human form, and tragically without a shirt.2
"Yes," he said through gritted teeth.
Joseph snorted.
"So it's a road trip," I crowed victoriously. "Can I have a piggy back?"
Taj growled, throwing me a dark scowl. His eyes bled fire, but it was red not black so he was full of shit. I widened my eyes, pushing my bottom lip out. I hoped I looked extra pitiful thanks to the patch of burned hair that hadn't grown back yet; my mates kept looking at it and growling before grabbing me into viciously tight hugs.
Taj rolled his eyes, exhaled a rough breath, and knelt like a knight of old. I let out a giddy cry and climbed on, locking my arms around his neck and kissing the spot on his head where his broken horn sat in his demon form. He didn't miss the significance; a wobble of affection went through the bond. He was soft as fuck, and we both knew it.
"Onward, mighty steed!" I cried, wrapping my legs around him and grinning when he stood.
"You're never living this down," Joseph taunted Taj as we pushed open the big front doors.3
