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“Stop them!” he cried out to the guards he’d brought with him. “Don’t let them near that—”
Ruiz cut off his voice with a hand smacked across his mouth, but the guards were already charging after the other Assembly officials. The enforcer with them whipped out a spell, but the nearest guard deflected it and sent her stumbling backward. Frankford’s forces were well-trained.
I sprang up and dashed after them, but Thalia was even faster. Her breath rasped as we chased after the guards.
The enforcer tossed out another spell, managing to tangle one guard’s legs so she crashed to the ground. Remington whirled around at the sound of pounding feet as we reached the trees. She swept aside the spell another guard cast with a snap of her hand. The third guard hurled herself straight at the International Relations head.
“No!” Thalia cried. Her arms flung out. The magic she sent with them was more an instinctive parry than a consciously constructed spell.
The force of it smacked into the guard, shoving the woman to the side. Toward the edge of the cliff. Her arms wheeled, but she was already tipping. She plummeted over the edge.
Her body hit the rocks below with a sickening thump that made me wince.
The enforcer had just caught up with us. “We need another medic,” she muttered to herself, striding up to the cliff. “We…”
She glanced down. Her jaw set. She closed her eyes and turned away. She didn’t need to say anything for me to know there was no saving that witch.
“Go back to the house,” she ordered me and Thalia. “Keep away from the cliff.”
“We were just trying to protect—” I started.
“Go.”
Remington hesitated and then walked on toward the cliff’s path. I wavered, torn between wanting to confirm that they’d witnessed the horror below and not wanting to witness it again myself. The enforcer glowered at us. Thalia gripped my arm, and I turned back toward the trees.
The rest of my group and Ruiz was clustered around Gabriel, who was lying on the ground now. My heart stopped for a second before I saw him blink. Naomi looked up at me from where she’d crouched by my side.
“I think he’ll be all right as long as he’s seen to soon,” she said.
“The medic should be here in twenty minutes,” Ruiz said.
I caught her eye and gave her an apologetic bob of my head. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you everything earlier.”
“It’s quite the story,” she said with a ragged chuckle. “I think I’m going to have to see it for myself when my partner gets back.”
I sat down next to Gabriel, stroking his hair as he rested. He tucked his head closer to my knee. The other guys surrounded me, Seth setting a hand on my shoulder, Damon posing protectively at my other side, Jin rubbing my knee, Ky squeezing my hand.
We sat there for what felt like a long time, but it might have only been a matter of minutes. Then the Assembly officials trudged over to rejoin us, and I realized I hadn’t needed to be there to be sure of what they’d seen after all. Gwen Remington’s face was nearly green. Justin Brimsey swayed a little on his feet, his eyes blinking fast. A tremor ran through Miriam Travers’s shoulders.
Remington stopped by our group and peered down at me. After a moment, she found her voice.
“We’ll need to talk further about your behavior here today, Lady Hallowell,” she said. “After we’ve dealt with Charles Frankford and his allies. I understand you have documents we could make use of?”
I nodded, feeling dazed. Ky scrambled up. “I can start transferring them to you right now,” he said. “I just need a little information to access your network.”
Another car pulled up, and we drew back from Gabriel as the medic knelt to do her work. I stayed close by, my hand still resting on his head. He flinched at one of her spells, but then his bright blue eyes opened and found mine. A pained smile crossed his face that sent an ache through my chest.
I forced myself to smile back. We’d done it, what we’d come here to do. How huge a price we’d be paying for that victory, I didn’t know yet.
Chapter Thirty
Rose
Imight have been happier to see the gate to my home if I hadn’t known leaving it again in the next few days would essentially be a crime. “Stay on your estate until you hear from us,” Remington had told me sternly as we’d been piling into our two vehicles, and Investigator Ruiz had given her statement additional weight with a firm nod from behind her. I had to assume that applied to all of us, not just me. Not that I would have wanted to let my consorts leave my ring of protection until I knew where we stood with the authorities anyway.
Naomi parked the rented minivan next to Jin’s Nissan near the garage. I gave Gabriel’s hand a squeeze, and he stirred where he’d been leaning against my shoulder, dozing. The medic’s work had patched him up just fine, it seemed, but it’d also left him drowsy.
“Do you need help getting out?” I asked him.
