than Ashan, and if she gets thrown at us again ..." I couldn't think of words to describe how bad that would be. Ashan had been bad enough, but having Venna bent on destroying us ...
He gazed down at me for a long while, and then said, "Come with me."
I let go of his collar. There was something in the quiet, almost miserable way he said it that made me gulp; I didn't want to see Lewis feel beaten. He'd always been the one who just didn't give up. He cheated, he schemed, he lied, he manipulated--but he didn't give up.
If he did now, I didn't think I could bear it at all.
He took my hand and led me past the silent Wardens. There were only thirty or so in the room, and half of those were wounded, some badly. I stopped to touch a few hands.
Nobody had anything to say. I saw the same beaten weariness in every face. Well, maybe not Cassiel's, but she was always the exception. That would require she actually gave a crap.
Lewis led me into a side room--probably some fancy sitting room where countries were bought and sold, never mind companies. It was empty and still. The air conditioning blew on my face and reminded me of the hot stinging spots that remained on my neck, arm, and leg.
Ow.
He shut the door and turned to face me.
"You left me to die," I said. "Didn't you?"
"Jo, I couldn't risk it. We need David here, and there were no guarantees that we wouldn't lose you both. Rahel told me how bad it was out there, and I put him back in the bottle."
That raised the hair on the back of my neck, and I knew my posture shifted into something that was a hairbreadth short of attack. "You put David back in the bottle. You stopped him from coming to me."
"Yes. I got it from Cassiel. Don't blame her. I didn't give her a choice, and she didn't know why I was asking."
Screw that. Cassiel had known. Deep down, I
had known, too. I'd felt it, I just hadn't wanted to admit it.
Lewis was still talking. I struggled to hear him over the angry buzz in my ears. "Jo, I trusted you. I believed you'd find a way, and you did."
"No," I said. "You left me to die, and you didn't see that out there, Lewis. You didn't see what was going to tear me apart!"
He didn't answer that. I understood the misery, now. He really had stood there at that table and made the cold-blooded decision to pull my rescue party, and consolidate his resources.
And leave me trapped and alone.
"Enough," I said. "Enough.
If this is what it takes to win, fuck it, I don't want to win anymore. Give me David's bottle."
"What are you going to do with it?"
"I won't break it, if that's what you're worrying about," I snapped. I felt that I hardly knew this man anymore, even though I'd spent half of my life thinking of him, loving him just enough to be able to not let go. "I want my husband, and I want to leave."
"And go where? Do what? Jo, this is the end
! There's nowhere to run! She's hunting us down, all the Wardens, everywhere. Most of us are already gone, for God's sake. Did you see them out there? We're dying!
And when we're gone, everyone else dies. Maybe it'll take a few more days, maybe a week, but in the end, she won't let a single human stay alive. I know that. I feel that!" Tears suddenly welled in Lewis's eyes and spilled down his face, and he just--folded up, as if I'd gut-punched him. No, as if a Djinn had gut-punched him. I realized how tired he was, how shaky, as he sank to his knees on that fine Aubusson carpet. Funny how the wine red color looked like blood, as if he had--like me, back in the plant in Amarillo--already spilled every drop he had to give. "I've tried everything. Everything. And they keep coming, killing, destroying. Imara won't let us near her. The Air Oracle is destroying entire islands
out there. The Fire Oracle--"
I knew about the Fire Oracle; I'd seen it in my dream. As angry as I was, his horror and grief struck me, and I sank down to a crouch across from him. He was weeping uncontrollably, the tears of a man stretched too far, asked for too much.
"Listen to me," I said, and