Jessica Andersen - Dawnkeepers

“Fine,” she said to Jox. “Do what you have to do. Ask Strike for permission. Whatever.”

Strike agreed, of course, and less than five minutes later he and Leah brought Myrinne to Rabbit’s room themselves, locking and warding the door behind them.

Anna tried not to twist her fingers together, tried not to think that this could be a huge mistake, that she was making yet another call that would prove to have disastrous consequences. They didn’t really know anything about Myrinne’s ancestry, or her connection to the witch’s magic. For all they knew, they were about to throw gasoline on a smoldering fire.

But this was something tangible Anna could give him, something she could do. “He asked for you,” she told the girl, who was pale but defiant, and wore a sneer not unlike Rabbit’s own.

Myrinne looked like she was going to say something snotty in return, but then she got a look at Rabbit, and the sneer gave way to rage. “What did you do to him?” She crossed the room in quick, angry strides and checked his pulse with efficient movements that suggested training. Then she glared at Anna. “What did you give him?”

She shook her head. “It’s not drugs; it’s magic. He fought Iago.”

Myrinne stared at her, eyes narrowing. “And?”

“And he didn’t get out of Iago’s mind fast enough. I think he’s trapped somehow. I think he needs to be reminded that there are people here who care about him.” Anna paused. “He saved our lives last night.” Which was true. When all was said and done, he’d been a hero when they’d needed one.

Myrinne nodded, seeming satisfied. “That I believe.” Implying that she could think the best of Rabbit, but would cheerfully think the worst of everyone around him.

Which, Anna realized, was exactly what he needed.

Turning her back on the others, Myrinne spun the chair Anna had been using, so she could sit sideways on it and lean over Rabbit’s limp form. “Hey,” she said very softly. “You did good. Now it’s time to come back, okay? We’ll figure out the rest of it together.” She leaned in and touched her lips to his.

And damned if he didn’t react, jolting like he’d been zapped with a Taser, then drawing a deep, shuddering breath very unlike the shallow rasps he’d been taking up to that point. A long shudder racked his body. Then, slowly, his arms came up to her shoulders, her face. His eyes opened as he traced her cheekbones, then her lips. And he smiled, probably the first pure smile Anna had seen from him since her return to Skywatch.

“Now, that was what I forgot to do,” he said, his voice husky from disuse, and probably a few other things as well. “That was what I wanted to come back for.”

Then, as Strike, Leah, and Anna looked on, Rabbit kissed Myrinne for real. And magic hummed in the air.

After sleeping off her postmagic hangover and eating way too many Oreos from the bag she’d brought back to her suite with her the night before, Alexis pulled herself together and went in search of Nate.

She’d just gotten out the door of her suite when Izzy turned the corner, headed in Alexis’s direction.

The winikin ’s face softened to a smile. “You look better.”

Before, Alexis might’ve checked what she was wearing, and maybe straightened her ponytail. Now she just nodded. “Thanks. I feel better.” She’d been pretty ragged by the time they’d made it back.

Sleep and food had fixed most of what ailed her. Now she needed to deal with the rest, which meant heading to the cottages out back. To Nate.

Izzy fell into step beside her, but stayed silent, as though unsure of what to say, or how. Which was a huge change in itself, because Alexis had never known her godmother to be at a loss for words.

When they reached the doorway leading out to the pool deck, Alexis stopped and turned to the woman who had raised and shaped her. “I owe you my life,” she said simply. “If it hadn’t been for you, I would’ve died during the massacre. If it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t have known who and what I am when the time came to find out, and I wouldn’t have been able to deal nearly as well with the transition. I love you with all my heart, and much of who I am I owe to you.”

Izzy raised an eyebrow. “Why do I hear a ‘but’ coming?”

“Because you’re a smart woman, and you know me well.” Alexis risked a small smile. “I love you.

But I can’t be what you want me to be.”

“Sweetheart, you already are. You always have been.”

It took a moment for the words to penetrate. Another for confusion to set in. “Huh?” Okay, that wasn’t brilliant, but still.

The winikin ’s smile went a little crooked. “Okay, maybe not always, but close enough.” She caught Alexis’s hands, squeezed them. “You’re not your mother, and I never wanted you to be. You’re what you were meant to be: a strong, independent woman, and a royal adviser. You helped save the world last night, and you’re probably going to do it again before all this is over. Just because I don’t agree with your taste in men, that doesn’t make you a failure.”

The look on her face when she said the last part brought a bubble of laughter to Alexis’s throat.

“You sure about that?” But then she sobered. “He’s a shifter, Izzy.”

“I know. Who are we to argue with the gods?” The winikin gave Alexis a little push. “Go on. Do what you have to do.”

Alexis opened the door, but turned back to say, “Don’t you want to know what I’m going to do?”

“Whatever your choice, I’ll be proud of you. I always am. Now go.”

Alexis went, and she went with a lift beneath her heart, a benediction she hadn’t expected, hadn’t needed, but one that mattered nonetheless. She wasn’t sure if she’d changed or if Izzy had, but she had a feeling things were going to be different between them from now on.

The buoyancy brought by that revelation sustained her all the way to Nate’s bungalow, then deserted her in an instant. In its place nerves flared as she raised a fist and knocked.

He opened the door immediately, as though he’d sensed her approach, or had been waiting for her.

Maybe both. His big body filled the doorway; he was wearing khakis and a button-down shirt that was open at the throat, revealing the medallion and the eccentric. Business casual with a twist, she thought, and felt a lump gather in her throat. She saw his laptop open behind him, his cell phone beside it. “You working?” she asked, her nerve faltering a little. “I can come back later.”

But he shook his head. “Just talking to Denjie about the new VW game. I guess between the writing delays and sagging sales on the other installments, the parent company that’s been handling the games doesn’t want Hera’s Mate . They’re ending the series instead.”

She winced, thinking that as far as omens and signs went, that wasn’t a good one. “I’m sorry.”

He lifted a shoulder. “I’m actually relieved. It’s time to move on.” He hadn’t leaned toward her, but it sure felt as though he had. His energy reached out to her, enveloped her, made her yearn.

“That’s new,” she said inanely, pointing to a carved black wrist piece that peeked out from beneath his left shirt cuff.

He shook it down and showed her the carvings. “I’m pretty sure it is—or was—the obsidian knife.

Part of the whole Volatile thing, I guess.”

She smiled a little. “Magic.”

“Yeah.” Now he did move, stepping out of the doorway and crowding her, looking down at her with everything she’d ever wanted or needed in his eyes. “You come out here to talk about my new man-

bracelet?”

Nerves shimmered just beneath her skin, warming her and making her jittery. “No. I came to ask you to take me flying.”