again. We'd saved Candace Dorn from whatever violence and misery the rider had intended. Go us.
Go me.
Now it turned out Aubrey had done himself permanent damage saving me, and I was furious with myself because of it. Furious and guilty and a little frightened. I'd brought him into the situation. My need to understand, my need for proof that had seemed so important before seemed petty now. If I'd just had faith, he wouldn't have been hurt...
I soaped up as best I could with a still-swollen knee and a shoulder that didn't bend as well as I was used to. The hot water made my stitches ache, and when I finally got out, the towel came away slightly red when I patted the wound dry. It hurt, but I figured I deserved a little pain.
I dressed slowly, in my own clothes this time. Somehow putting on another of Eric's shirts seemed wrong at the moment. Old blue jeans. Pink Martini T-shirt. Just me. Just Jayn茅. No demon hunting, no magic, nothing that would put anyone in danger on my account.
The bedroom door was still ajar. The sound of conversation had moved from the kitchen to the couch, but I didn't go out to join them. Instead, I slipped into the guest room and closed the door behind me.
Aubrey was still asleep. Now that I knew to look for it, I noticed his skin had a gray tinge I didn't remember. His breathing was deep and slow. I sat on the edge of the mattress, my weight pulling Aubrey toward me. He looked younger when he was asleep. None of the small lines that time was starting to etch in the corners of his eyes or mouth showed. I could see what he'd looked like when he was a child. I drew a lock of hair back from his face with my finger. The swelling around his left eye had gone down, but there was still the darkness of a deep bruise like a shadow inside his skin. A scab ran from his collarbone to hide under the sheet.
His eyes opened a fraction, hazel eyes looking up at me through sand-colored lashes. He didn't seem at all surprised to see me.
"Hey," I said softly.
"Hey," he said. He drew an arm free of the sheet and I took his hand in mine. I could feel my heartbeat ramping up, the adrenaline flushing into my blood as I leaned forward and kissed him. His lips were rougher than I expected, stronger. I sat back up and his smile had a soft humor in it, like he was amused by something that was also a little sad.
"I'm still dreaming, right?"
"Yeah," I said. "You totally are."
"Thought so," he said, and closed his eyes again. I held his hand for a moment, then stood up and made my way back out to the living room.
"All I'm saying is that we can sound out how worried Coin is by his actions," Ex, returned, said from a perch on the couch's armrest. "If he's moved the ceremony someplace else, then we can say for sure that he's still on high alert."
"And if he hasn't?" Midian asked, gesturing with a lit cigarette, an arc of blue smoke trailing the movement.
"Then we know he's not worried enough to move it," Chogyi Jake said. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor.
"A little reconnaissance," Ex said. "Once we have more information, we can make a better judgment on how to go forward."
"Could someone get me up to speed here?" I asked, sitting down carefully.
"Eric's notes," Midian said. "He knew where Coin's little party was supposed to be. A warehouse up north. The bare bones of the plan were pretty simple, but timing's an issue."
"After a certain point in the ceremony itself, riders under Coin's dominion are committed," Chogyi Jake said. "They can't break off until their invocation is complete. Even if Coin suddenly walks out, they won't be able to disengage quickly enough to follow him."
"They'd lose the whole crop," Midian said. "Thing is, I can pull Coin out. Well, I can't, but someone else can, using me as a focus."
"I'm lost," I said.
"There's a kind of connection that's made when you curse someone," Ex said, "so by cursing Midian, Coin also made a connection between them. Eric was planning to exploit that connection to pull Coin out beyond his protections, so that someone could kill him."
"I don't want to do something that's going to hurt anyone. I mean any of us,"