"One he honored only when he felt like it," Christian said with a wry twist to his lips. "Bael was a danger to us, as well as mortals."
"Oh. So we really can go?"
"Yes." This time he did smile. "Although Allegra would like to meet you. She enjoys meeting other Beloveds. If you decide to stay in Vienna, I would be happy to introduce you to her, perhaps over dinner."
I looked from him to Alec. "The man who put you in the Akasha to die wants to do dinner."
"We would be delighted," Alec said politely, pinching my behind as I tried to wrap my brain around this sudden change in the situation.
Dammit, Alec, I was all prepared to fight for you!
I know you were, and I appreciate that. But there is no need. I had a feeling that once the council realized that you were instrumental in ridding the mortal and immortal worlds of Bael, they would look kindly upon my case, since they could not damn you to any punishment they wished to mete out upon me.
If you thought that, I said as Alec bowed his good-byes and gently herded me toward the doorway full of liches, then why did you not take me with you?
Ah, he said, somewhat abashed, there was the issue of you having the messenger removed from Abaddon. I simply wished to ensure that they weren't going to make a case out of that before I brought you here.
"From now on, we tackle trouble together, OK?" I told him as we stopped in front of the mass of liches. "It's what couples do."
"So long as it doesn't endanger you, yes," he said as Jane shooed her liches out the door ahead of her. We followed behind her.
"Not acceptable. Oh, by the way, we owe Jane a whole ton of money for portalling everyone here to save your butt."
"You portalled all the liches? " he asked, looking horrified as his eyes roamed over the stream of bodies moving their way down the stairs and out of the house.
"You said you were rich, and I had to do something to save you," I muttered to him.
"Comfortable, mi corazon. I'm comfortable, not rich."
I shot him a look.
"All right, I'm relatively wealthy. But still, you couldn't have had them take the train?"
"A lich army doesn't ride a train," I scoffed, my heart singing a song of lightness and happiness, one that would be suitable for the end of a Disney movie, the kind where birds sing, squirrels dance with chipmunks, and the hero and heroine gaze swooningly at each other.
The squirrels and chipmunks have gone to bed, Alec said, his eyes alight with a familiar glint. But I will tell you how much I love you if it makes you look swoonily at me.
I would, but there's still that one concern. That de Marco guy - why did he want Ulfur to lock you away? Do you think he had some evil plans for you?
Possibly.
And what about Brother Ailwin? He seemed pretty pissed at us. I wouldn't put it past him to try to get revenge for the fact that I'm no longer a Tool. Man, I have got to stop saying that!
He laughed into my brain and, as we reached the street, pulled me up tight against his body, his breath mingling with mine just as our souls seemed to do. My love, my heart, all will be well. Let go of those concerns, and give yourself up to your happy ending with your prince.
"You are so not a prince," I said, punching him in the shoulder as he scooped me up and carried me down the street to where one of those horse-drawn carriages that drove tourists around Vienna was slowly making its way. He yelled something in German at the driver, who obligingly stopped. "You're an annoyingly arrogant bloodsucker who thinks he's going to get his way in everything, and you're dead wrong there, Alec. I mean it. Stop thinking that you're going to let me believe I can have my way but you'll secretly have yours anyway. Alec! You just did it again! Oooh, with the silk rope? Really? That sounds . . . oooh! All right, maybe you can have your way about that, although the feathers and leg restraints are just downright kinky. . . ."
"What do you see, Corazon?"
"Um. Mud." I sensed the hypnotherapist's disapproval of my answer, and qualified it. "Well, mud and grass and stuff like that. But mostly just mud."
"Are you sure she's under?" Patsy asked, her voice sounding dubious. "She doesn't look hypnotized to me. CORA! Can you hear me?"
"I'd have to be five miles away not to hear you," I said, cracking open an eye and peering at her from where I lay prone on the couch. "I'm hypnotized, you idiot, not deaf."
"Is she supposed to know she's hypnotized?" Terri asked, sitting on the floor across from me, watching with bright, interested eyes. "That doesn't negate the regression, does it?"
"Hypnotism isn't a magical state of unknowing," Barbara the hypnotherapist answered. "She is simply relaxed, in touch with her true inner spirit, and has opened up her mind to the many memories of lifetimes past. I assure you that she is properly hypnotized."