"I was starting to suspect as much," Nireas murmured in my ear, turning his head and kissing my lobe.
He was already turning as I started to wrestle myself free, and he stepped to the side, setting me down gently in the grass, directly in front of Constantine.
My demon had an arm wrapped around his own waist, one horn chipped at the end. But he was whole. Free. His eyes caught moonlight and reflected it back at me, and his arms opened at his side, body hunched into his wound. I stepped forward once, clasped my hands around his warm jaw, and drew him down into a kiss.
He tasted of blood. When he clutched me to his chest, arms tight around my ribs, his wound was hot and wet, seeping through my dress to mirror the spot on my side. Briefly, two arms became four, and I moaned into a pair of sweet lips as I shuddered and seized with agony and ecstasy, and then Con and Antin were one again and I was climbing higher into Constantine's grip, our tongues tangled and hearts hammering together.
Behind Constantine, the house roared, beams and brick snapping. Familiar voices approached us, but no one interrupted. Constantine's lips were patient, his kisses slow and deep, and he trembled against me. I petted his face, stroked his neck and shoulders, rubbed my cheek to his as our mouths finally slid apart.
Don't leave me again, I thought, but then a last gasping flicker of firelight caught on the gold still wrapped around my palm, the chain biting into my flesh, and I pulled away.
"This is yours," I said, holding the round talisman between us.
"Mine," Constantine said, blinking down at the mark. "Mine, and yet I can't touch it. Sir Gabriel Anson found it in his travels." Constantine's eyes widened, and his arms tightened roughly around my waist. "Sir Gabriel Anson. Sir Gabriel Anson summoned me."
"And now he's dead," I said, watching the understanding wash over Constantine in a kind of horrified joy.
"After a century," he whispered, gaze distant. "He's dead. And I'm…"
"I can't keep this," I said, although my fingers closed over the talisman protectively. "I don't want to be your next jailer. I don't want to possess you. Not like that at least."
Constantine's head tipped, gaze focusing on me once more, lips curving ever so slightly. "Then don't learn to summon a demon. That is the tool, but it does nothing unless you do." Constantine set me on my feet, still pressed comfortably to his chest. We were surrounded by the others, safely sheltered from any prying eyes. Constantine's hands slid between us, wrapping themselves around my fist. "Keep my talisman. Keep it safe, and I remain free."
My fist tightened firmly around the gold. I would cut open my own chest and tuck the coin inside if it would work. Constantine leaned forward, and my eyes fell shut as his lips pressed to my forehead, warm and soft, a charged touch.
"Thank you, sweet creature," he whispered into my skin.
"It's coming down!" someone shouted.
"We should move away," Nireas said.
I was bundled between their larger frames and shuffled back on the damp grass, into the shadow of the broad old oaks.
The black stone was knotted in roots, the building pulled in on itself. The fire had sputtered out, strangled by new green life, and the red lamps had shattered. The screams and sobs were quiet now, the whole audience rapt to the destruction before us, cast in silver moonlight.
"Hazel, this is… You did this," Ronan whispered in terrified awe. His hand reached out, cupped my shoulder gently, a balm to my own minor alarm.
Thank you, wild sister, the trees called, a sigh of relief in their collective voices.
"This woods wanted the house gone," I said. And Birsha had embedded the ground with the magic of his kills. I'd given the signal, the initial push, but he'd left the fuel for his house's destruction surrounding the property. "But Eston said Birsha left last night. He wasn't here."
"He ran when he realized Miss Reed and her companions had returned to London," Hunter said, a slight smirk on his lips. "He's shown his own cowardly hand now. And you've given him more reason than ever to fear young women and monsters."
The house was growing quiet now, the rubble cracking and bubbling like stew in a pot. The woods would erase all evidence by morning.
"Then he should be terrified of me. I am both," I said, lifting my chin in pride.