I needed time with them, but I feared I’d lost Lee. He would transition as soon as he could, and then he would involve himself in the vampire world. One day he would find a companion and we might see him every now and then.
Like I’d seen my dad.
“I’ll make sure you have at least three,” Danny promised. “Myrddin enjoys listening to himself speak. I’ll ask him some questions and let him give me a history lesson on demon politics or some shit.”
“You have to be careful. If he thinks for a second you’re covering for me, he’ll unleash the hounds.” Or the cats. I bet there were a lot of cats in the Council building now. Or the coven house.
There was a knock on the door and Dev sat up. “I’ll get it.”
Danny kissed my cheek and his hand went to my belly. “You will get that bag and nothing else. No matter how tempted you are.”
There were a couple of pairs of shoes I’d been thinking about nabbing. “If I see my crown I’m taking it.”
“I’ll get you another one,” Danny promised.
But I wanted that one. I wanted the one he’d placed on my head on the day of my coronation, the one that was rumored to have been worn by the first companion to marry a vampire millennia ago.
“Z, are you okay?”
I sniffled, trying not to lose it again. “As okay as I can be. I’m going to miss him.”
“Me, too,” Danny whispered. “I loved that old man.”
Tears pierced my eyes again. I thought I didn’t have any more tears left, but there they were. I might always cry when I think of those precious moments with my father. “He loved you, too. I’m sorry you didn’t get to see him.”
“He wanted time with you, baby. And he wanted to protect Shy. We’ve got to make sure she understands that she’s part of us no matter how any relationship with Rhys plays out.”
Oh, my vampire husband and I were so in synch. “I agree.”
“Zoey, the Hidden Ones are back.” Dev looked grave. “And they’ve brought a friend with them. Well, part of her.”
“Part?” I didn’t like the sound of that.
“They found a head.” Dev had seen a lot of crazy shit, but even he was a little pale now. “And she apparently wants to talk to you.”
It looked like I was going to have an interesting conversation.
* * * *
I stared at the head in the box and while the simple act of staring at a head in a box is weird, it is made infinitely weirder when the head stares back at you.
“Where the hell have you been, Zoey? Do you have any idea how long I’ve been in this fucking box? And I blame you. What the hell were you thinking? How could you not know what was happening? Do I look like a woman who hates a dude one day and the next is like hey, I think I’ll spend decades with an asshole who would love some revenge on me?”
The legendary Lady of the Lake had some issues she wanted to work through. And she wasn’t wrong, exactly. “I didn’t know what a thrall stone was back then. You know Danny and Dev had them, too, and I only recently managed to get them out of their heads. How did you get yours out? Is that when you got the…you know…axe?”
“I don’t know. That line is quite straight. I’m thinking guillotine.” Dev stood next to me.
“Nah, I could totally do that with an axe. Or a sword,” Danny mused. “Hey, Nim, do you have any idea where my sword is? I know Z’s all up in arms about getting Gladys back, but I think I’d like Excalibur back as well. Is that what he used?”
“He’s a witch. He used a damn spell, and this box keeps my body from growing back.” Nimue’s violet eyes flashed with irritation. “As to how I got rid of the thrall stone, my body eventually rejected it. Oh, it took fifteen years, but it finally came out, and I was pissed.”
“How long have you been in there? Also, how are you talking without vocal cords? Don’t look at me like that. I have questions.” I got that she was upset, and I would be, too. But I definitely had questions.
I did some quick math in my head. Myrddin had placed the thrall stone in her head when he’d healed Danny’s heart—the same time he’d placed the stones in Danny and Dev. After that, Nimue had announced she would stay with Myrddin while he traveled the plane, learning about this new age. They’d been gone for roughly ten years and then they’d started showing up at the Council house. So the thrall stone had come out of Nim’s head years after we’d fallen through the painting.