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“Because she could serve as a witness without the details getting out any further. At the time you sent the message, you weren’t a captive. It was safer for her to be with us as we searched for you than to waste the power by sending her back or simply leaving her in the forest.” Joan’s measured voice implied reproof.
I bristled.
Walker put his hand gently over my mouth and I nipped his fingers, hard enough for him to jump.
“We’ve had this discussion about hushing me before, Walker.”
His finger was warm and calloused. I focused on the texture of his flesh, using it to block out all the thoughts and emotions storming at my mind’s gates. Even with Chance and Walker toning them down, they were still at the edges of my awareness. And Kara was loud and clear.
“You came back human.” Joan’s voice was flat and clear as water. “How?”
“You held off nineteen battlemages, Joan. How?” Lightning arced across the sky, emphasizing my words. I tried to stop it, but it happened anyway.
Rather than annoyance, a brow flicked up and the line of a smile appeared by her mouth. “I love fantasy novels. Tell us a story, Alys.”
Irritation prickled down my spine and I glared at her. “I’m a Stormdust. How do you think you know whether or not we will come back if that happened? Did I miss seeing you in Kalderon?”
The thought of saying that loving Dmitri and Walker had brought me back was embarrassing. Even if it was true, it felt very sentimental and I didn’t want to hold it up to her ironic, cool scrutiny. Also, it was private. And I didn’t answer to anyone anymore but myself. But it was fair to give her a little bit of an answer.
“If you want something enough, anything is possible,” I answered. “I wanted us to live.”
Chance cleared his throat. “Planning on staying human this time, Alys?”
“The accommodations here are terrible. I’d prefer somewhere with working showers and soap, not coated in human suffering and greed.” I shrugged. “But I’ll make do.”
But now I was free of the geas and responsible for my own actions.
Had the geas on me been so tight because Silver knew how easy it would be for me to Change and be an elf? Had he tied me up in knots these two years in an asinine attempt to protect me from myself? It was very like him.
On the other hand, I was lucky to have found Walker, lucky that I’d come back. Without him and Dmitri, I might now have. Though Walker was going to explain to me why he’d hidden the fact he was Rope from me. Let me enter into a relationship with him not knowing he’d been one of those who sentenced me.
Thunder rumbled in response to my annoyance. Kara glanced up nervously.
My nose suddenly cleared, and I gagged. The odors of burned plaster, stone, and flesh all mixed in a nasty brew.
“Can we move?” I asked, my voice plaintive. I tried to shift. My body was slow to remember how. Walker helped me to my feet, still holding my hand once I was upright. His touch allowed me even better access to his emotions. The velvet touch of love, the warm iron of pride flowed through him, the thoughtI almost lost herstill tinged with grief and fear.
Without an elf’s essential detachment, I felt as if all the emotions were hitting me with sticks.
“We need to talk before I leave. About the mask you wear and how it affects us. And that you lied to me.” Despite my hard tone, I didn’t move away from his touch.
The pained and weary expectation of rejection burned through me as he nodded. “We do.”
“You know I can’t stay much longer in the Guild,” I said, wincing at the resonances still lurking in the corners of my voice as I gazed up at him. Power had leaked into my voice. I was going to need to learn how to control it better. “It’s not safe for the Guild. I need to go home to people who can teach me to control this better.”
Walker brushed my hair back from my face. “You’re a free woman now, the geas is gone. Stay a little and talk to those coming about what happened here. I give you my promise you’ll walk free from this place.”
I nodded. With the onyx and geas gone, they had no power over me unless they dogpiled me, and it was plain Walker would fight on my side. If I wanted to get technical, when I Changed to elf, Alys Stormdust-Quinn had died. Death ended most prison sentences.
Joan inspected Kara’s arm. Her wary awareness still on me, she spoke. “I need to take her back home. There’s going to be hell to pay when her parents find out what happened.”
Chance’s sardonic laugh split the silence.
Kara said hesitantly, “Do we have to tell them?”
“Yes,” said Joan and Walker at the same time. The firmness of their tones made Kara wilt. It would have given me pause, there wasn’t any room for argument in that certainty. There was barely room for the letters that made up the word.
Joan held her hand out to Kara, who took it, and called the Road. They stepped on it and faded from view.
