A Hippogriff for Christmas - Zoe Chant Page 0,70
she hasn’t committed.”
Annie wanted to argue against that – to tell them that no, it wasn’t fair, and that Rosalind shouldn’t get to escape justice just because she’d chosen to self-immolate rather than face up to the consequences of her actions.
But at the same time, she could see how it wouldn’t be fair to punish a new life for something the old one had done.
Maybe she’d choose differently in this life, Annie thought.
She hoped so. And that was really all she could do.
Because the alternative is a little scary.
“Well, if she really doesn’t remember anything –” Annie started, but stopped when she saw Beau nodding, as if he’d read her mind.
“If she doesn’t remember anything, then there’s no chance that she’d still be pursuing any vendettas she had in this life,” he said, answering her unasked question. “She won’t remember anything about Scott, and whatever money he might owe her.”
Annie nodded, letting out a relieved breath. “Okay. Well, as long as there’s no chance of that.” There was something she still didn’t quite understand, however. “Why was she so intent on getting it back, anyway? She kept talking about ‘balance’ – what did she mean by that?”
Beau and Declan exchanged a glance.
“I’m not really sure,” Beau said slowly after a moment. “But one thing about phoenixes, from what little we know about them, is that they like things to be even – if you do a favor for a phoenix, you better bet they’ll do one for you in return, and vice versa. And if you wrong a phoenix, you had better believe they’ll extract their revenge. Perhaps it’s for the best Rosalind rebirthed after all. I wouldn’t want a mad phoenix on my tail.”
Annie swallowed, looking down at the ashes before her.
Maybe so.
“All shifters have their quirks,” Declan said, taking up the explanation. “Griffins have a huge sense of loyalty. Dragons don’t hoard gold anymore, but they still get pretty weird about what belongs to who, and they’ll go to the ends of the earth to return lost property – but similarly, borrow five dollars from one and don’t pay them back within the week and you’ll never hear the end of it. Unicorns are obsessed with clans and bloodlines.”
A shadow passed across his face as he said the last one, and Annie wondered what it was that had caused it.
“You sound as if you’re speaking from experience,” she said cautiously – she didn’t feel she knew him well enough to ask him why unicorns being so interested in their bloodlines seemed to affect him the way it had. She turned to Beau. “Well, what are hippogriffs’ little quirks, then? Just what am I getting myself into here?”
“Oh, only how hilarious and charming we are,” Beau said, smiling dazzlingly at her. “But you know about that already.”
“And modest,” Annie shot back at him, and Beau laughed.
“I guess you could say we put a lot of importance on family – but not in the same way as unicorns do, where bloodline decides everything. Hippogriffs… we’re more open to letting people join our families, no matter who they are or where they’re from. We’re pretty communal.”
“That sounds… actually really nice,” Annie said softly. A family. Just like she’d always wanted. She opened her mouth, not sure what she wanted to say – but then she felt her knees wobbling, her head suddenly feeling light as a balloon –
“Annie!”
A second later Beau’s strong arm was around her shoulder, holding her up as she blinked, waiting for her stomach to calm down and her vision to clear.
“I haven’t fainted since I was a kid,” she said breathlessly, still feeling dizzy. “Sorry – I can stand up by myself now –”
“Not a chance,” Beau said, his face serious. “You’ve been through a lot, Annie – it must have taken more strength than I can imagine for you to heal me the way you did, no matter what else was involved. You passed your strength to me, and to be honest, I’m only surprised it’s just hit you now.”
“I think I’ve been running on adrenaline for the past two hours,” Annie admitted, happier than she was willing to acknowledge that Beau was still pressing her against his side. She resisted the urge to snuggle closer in.
“I’m getting you out of here,” Beau said firmly. “You’ve gone above and beyond, Annie, in every possible way. You need to go home and rest. Let other people deal with this for now.”
Annie looked up, half afraid Declan or