I don’t know if it’s enough. Honestly, I don’t know what would be enough right now, but it’s a start. That has to count for something.
“Okay,” I tell him, even though I’m feeling anything but. Still, we’re out of time. We have to get to the assembly.
Maybe if I just breathe for a little while, the pain will go away. And so will the sense of betrayal that’s ricocheting through me.
As I head for the door, I dread having to field Hudson’s snark in the middle of all this. But for once, he doesn’t make a sound.
90
Fire and Bloodstone
I’m still reeling ten minutes later as we make our way to the ceremony. I tell myself that it’s no big deal, that everything is going to be okay—with Jaxon, with the ceremony, with the Unkillable Beast. But how okay can I convince myself things are going to be if Jaxon was willing to sever our mating bond?
Everything feels wrong now, off-kilter. And the fact that Hudson is back to haranguing me definitely doesn’t help.
“Which part of my father murdered every gargoyle in existence do you not understand?” Hudson demands as we make our way down to the auditorium. “Do you think he killed all of them in secret? He did it right out in the open and dared anyone to question him. And if they did, he killed them, too—or at least discredited them. You think he can’t make one silly little girl go away?
“His words, not mine,” he hastens to add when I turn on him, infuriated. “I’m just saying, that’s what he’ll be thinking. It’s not true, but that’s how he’ll see it.”
“Yeah, well, that’s ridiculous,” I mutter and glance up at Jaxon talking to Mekhi.
“Absolutely. But he’s a ridiculous man. Evil. Monstrous. But ridiculous. You’ll do well to remember that.”
He doesn’t say anything else, but then neither do Jaxon, Mekhi, or I as we take the last flight of stairs two at a time. The others are waiting for us at the bottom, looking a million times happier than I feel. Then again, the king probably doesn’t want to kill them.
“Looking good, Grace,” Flint tells me, holding up a hand for a fist bump.
“You’re looking pretty good yourself,” I tell him, because it’s true. All the guys look amazing in their dress uniforms, especially since they get to wear blazers tonight instead of those absurd purple robes.
“Everybody ready for this dog and vampire show?” Mekhi asks as he holds an arm out for Eden. She looks a little surprised at the gesture—I’m guessing the combat boots and kick-ass attitude tend to limit the gallant gestures aimed her way—but then she smiles wider than I’ve ever seen her.
“Damn straight!” she tells him, taking his offered arm.
Xavier offers his arm to Macy, and she giggles like a schoolgirl before she also takes it. But I can’t help grinning at the way she and Xavier keep stealing glances at each other out of the corners of their eyes when they think the other one isn’t looking.
“Guess that leaves you and me,” Flint says to Gwen with a waggle of his eyebrows.
She looks at him like he’s a little strange, but she nods as she gingerly takes his arm. She’s doing so much better, but her arm is still badly bruised and cut up.
Jaxon reaches up and smooths my curls off my face. “It’s going to be okay,” he tells me. “I promise, I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know you won’t,” I answer as he takes my hand in his. But his words from earlier keep playing in my head.
Sometimes it feels like Jaxon tries to protect me from everyone but himself.
But as our palms meet, I can’t help but realize how drained he is. I fed him energy down the mating bond right after we got back from the Boneyard earlier, and he seemed to be doing better, but right now I’m not so sure.
We have to get the last item. We don’t have any time to waste.
“So anxious to get me out, huh?” Hudson asks.
So anxious to get your brother back to normal, I answer. It’s not the same thing.
I wait for the obnoxious comeback, and it doesn’t take long. “Jaxon doesn’t do normal, or haven’t you noticed?”
Says the guy who lives in my head, I shoot back, fed up with everyone at the moment. Hate to be the one to break it to you, but he’s