“I can hear her heartbeat but it’s slow,” Fenrir said, his hands clutching her as though he could physically keep her soul here.
I tipped the thermos and managed to get some blood into Evan’s mouth.
She immediately started drinking, and I breathed a shallow sigh of relief because she would live.
And we would face the consequences.
“Kelsey,” a deep voice said. “What the fuck happened? Are you all right?”
“My mistress!”
Trent and Eddie stood among the throng of bodies, Casey beside them.
He turned and saw Liv. “Oh, god. Oh, god, no.”
He dropped to his knees, and I could feel his heart break.
“She’s alive.” I wasn’t sure which tragedy to deal with first. Now that I didn’t have Gladys’s power running through me I was back to being overwhelmed, back to caring about everything.
Not caring had been so tempting. Power with one purpose and none of the horrible human emotions involved.
That was Myrddin Emrys. That ruthless will—devoid of love and vulnerability—was what we were up against.
I’d felt his utterly addictive power, and I would have to pull it out of Liv.
Evan coughed and sat up, pushing the thermos aside. “What happened?”
Trent rushed over to me, panic in his gaze as he took me by the shoulders and looked me up and down. “Are you all right? We couldn’t get back. Eddie tried and tried but we couldn’t get through until now.”
“I guess I killed enough of them to break the wards.” I let him hold me and breathed him in, letting his closeness soothe me.
“I was on the sword and then I was here,” Evan was saying.
Fen pressed the thermos to her lips again. “Take more.”
She pushed it away. “No. Eww. I don’t need it. I feel fine.”
“What has happened to the princess’s hair?” Eddie stood beside me, looking to Evan.
Sure enough, a big portion of her auburn hair had gone a pitch black, and I would have sworn she was far paler than normal.
“It doesn’t matter,” Fen swore. “You’re fine. You’re alive. And hey, you always said you wanted to color it.”
Evan was staring at a long strand of midnight hair. “Yeah. It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m sure taking Dad’s blood stopped whatever transformation was going to take place. I feel fine. I do. Christopher, thank you.”
Fen stood and picked Evan up, not caring a bit that he was naked. “Yes, thank you. She wouldn’t be here without you, Father. I will never be able to repay you.”
Christopher shook his head, and it was easy to see he was torn. “I hope you still feel that way over time. Evan…well, I pray the king’s blood works as you hope it will.”
We all did.
“Why is there a hellhound here, mistress?” Eddie frowned.
“His name is Puff,” Evan said as Fen started taking her back to their rooms. “Come on, Puff! Eww, don’t lick that. We don’t know where that’s been.”
Sure enough, Puff was reveling in the chaos. He was running through the bodies like they were a field of daisies.
Eddie took off after Puff, vowing to clean him and the room up and swearing that his sweet brownie staff was going to require therapy.