Fen sighed. “Baby, I told you we should ease him into that information.”
“He should know.” Evan’s expression had gone stubborn, and she moved her shoulders as if she was uncomfortable, but she made no move to force Fen and Puff off. “I was there. Duffy showed us that for a reason. He wanted us to know Myrddin thinks Mia will be powerful enough to be his queen. He wants her magic.”
“He won’t have it.” Lee stood, his hands in fists. “I will never allow him to touch her.”
Daniel was at his son’s side very quickly. “Take a deep breath. I know how you feel, son. Let’s go and hunt before you take this out on the furniture.”
Lee nodded and they moved to the door that would lead them out into the city.
Rhys watched the door close with a sigh. “He was always obsessed with Mia. We should have known he was a latent. I’m not sure how he’s going to handle the fact that now we know she’s alive and out there. Especially if she waited for him. We all know he didn’t wait for her.”
Hopefully Mia had been living it up in some tiny village on a minor Heavenly plane so Lee wouldn’t feel the guilt that would come with knowing he hadn’t been faithful. Personally I don’t care much about virginity, but I know how I would have felt if Trent or Gray had started a relationship with someone, or a whole bunch of non-relationships with many, many people. Many.
“I didn’t know those weird scorch marks were supposed to be a map.” Zoey paced, tears in her eyes. “Obviously I would never have blown up our only shot at finding Sarah and Felix and Mia. I was only thinking about hurting Myrddin.”
“Baby, we’ll find a way.” Devinshea put an arm around his wife. “I promise. We always find a way.”
Evan tilted her head up, brows rising. “Are you going to put her out of her misery?”
Trent brought me a plate of Albert’s mini cookies. “You really should, or you don’t deserve these cookies. If the queen is too upset, we’ll have to go back to our place, and Eddie’s spent so much time puppy proofing the house that he hasn’t been able to cook. You’ll be eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”
It wasn’t like I hated PB&Js, but Albert had made a bunch of tasty stuff and I wanted to try it all. “Fine. There might be another way. I’m pretty sure that’s the real reason Duffy wanted me to see what he showed me. Sneaky little angel.”
“He was a gnome and he was an angel?” Rhys asked.
“He was a warrior gnome,” Evan said with a grin. “He’s Kelsey’s guardian angel, and his axe is almost as tall as he is. I liked him.”
“And you believed him?” Rhys asked. “I’m sorry. I’m only asking because I’ve never seen a Fae creature become an angel.”
“You’ve never seen an angel at all,” his mother chided. “If your sister says she met one, I believe her. What did he say? Does he know the Days?”
“He’s one of them,” I explained. “He took Jude’s place. He’s now the embodiment of faith, and he’s a good one. I feel comfortable with him on my side. He’s sneaky, too. I’ve thought a lot about this and come to the conclusion that he didn’t need us to see what had happened with the Days. He already knew you were going to blow up the building. He told me not to kill you.”
Zoey’s lips pursed. “Well, that’s a bit over the top.”
At least she trusted me. “So if he knew, then he wanted to show me two things. One, he wanted me to see Liv before she lost a piece of her soul.”
Dev nodded. “She saved Sarah and Felix and Mia. She risked her own life and place in the coven to give them a chance. Have you talked to her about it?”
I winced at the thought. “Uhm, she’s pretty much only using four letter words with me right now, and I don’t mean the word love.”
Liv was pissed. She’d woken up in a magical prison and not liked it one bit. My bestie and I had some things to work out, but I knew I couldn’t leave her like this. I had to find that bit of her soul and shove that sucker back in because I did not like this Liv. She was difficult and had a big old potty mouth.
And she was mean to Casey, but he seemed to have turned a corner. When she threw bile his way, he simply sat and took it and told her he loved her no matter what.
“Okay, so the angel thinks we should save Liv,” Dev said as though trying to process it. “You think it’s okay to keep one of the Profane here in Frelsi? I’m sure someone has pointed out what an awful idea that is, right?”
I’d solved that problem, so I waved him off. “Oh, I have a new jailer for her. We’re taking her there when Gray gets back. She’s going to be hanging out at the House of Sloane where I’ve been assured as one of Hell’s finest ladies, everyone will follow my orders or Tix will roast them. Literally. They make their enemies into jerky.”
Fen groaned. “It’s not the same.”
I disagreed, and I wasn’t trying it. “So Liv will be hanging out in Hell and I have a lead on where Myrddin keeps the souls he steals. Unfortunately that’s also on the Hell plane, so we’re going to descend while you guys handle the whole finding the door to the Heaven plane part.”
Zoey’s brows rose. “Well, that seems odd. You’re going to need a thief. I’m your best bet.”
This was the hard part since I knew some of Dev’s relatives had been poorly behaved while we’d been gone. “The door is somewhere in the Fae lands. Oliver Day specifically said there was another way in. That was the other thing Duffy wanted to show me. When Oliver was helping get the Days to their sanctuary, he said something about the Fae being good at hiding doors and opening veils. Given the fact that the Fae sitheins attached to the Earth plane are the only inner plane Fae lands, therefore the only ones with a possible connection to the Heaven plane…”
Dev’s head fell back on a groan. “I have to see my mother.”