Chapter 12

" H e can't help you," Armie whispered in my ear. "He's as bound to his god as I am to mine."

"He's nothing like you." I shivered in the shadows of my dreamscape. "He's a good person."

"We are neither good nor bad." He chucked me on the chin. "We simply are."

"Evil always believes it's just." I withdrew from him. "That's what makes it so dangerous."

"Quite a leap from bad to evil, Bijou." He clucked his tongue. "Funny how you see me so clearly, but him? You don't see him at all. You have no idea who he is or what he's capable of. He's not the ally you want."

"Maybe he's not, but neither are you."

"You might change your mind." His voice dropped to a sultry rumble. "After he takes off his mask."

"I've seen his true face." Triumph flared within me. "I don't judge others based on their appearances."

A mirror can't show your worth.

Kierce told me that, and I believed it. I trusted him. But, a tiny voice reminded me, I had trusted Armie too.

"Not that mask." Armie faded away. "The other one."

The brush of his fingers across my collarbones left me panting hard as I rocketed free of my nightmare.

"I got you, Mary." Matty gripped my shoulders. "You're safe."

Kierce stood behind his shoulder, peering down at me with bright sparks glinting in his cool gray eyes.

"I didn't mean to wake you," I told him before plastering on a smile for Matty. "Or you."

"It was never Josie, was it?" Matty's hands trembled on me. "I heard you screaming, Mary."

From the dream realm. That was what he meant. I could tell from his pallor.

"Ankou has been visiting your dreams?" Kierce crackled with energy. "How often?"

"Only three or four times." I wiped the sleep from my eyes. "But it's fine."

"It's not fine." Matty released me. "I'm going to fix this."

This was the conversation I had been dreading, the one I was grateful to the asrai for postponing.

"You can't stand watch over me every night." I looked to Kierce for support. "It's not real. He's not real."

"Frankie…" Kierce angled his head toward Badb, who bobbed her head. "He's in Abaddon. Regenerating. He won't be able to leave on his own for months, if not years, after you burned out a portion of his soul, but he will return. He always does."

"Can he use a portal?" Matty took the words out of my mouth. "Like you did?"

Matty shrugged when he caught me staring a hole through his ear into his brain. The ward hadn't let him in last night, but it must have allowed sound through. Good to know he—and Josie no doubt—had pressed an ear to the door, eavesdropping on our conversation.

"Not yet." Kierce dipped his chin. "But soon."

"The dreams aren't dreams then." I swallowed hard, clutching at Matty. "He's reaching out to me."

"They're visions," Kierce confirmed, "but I can block him if you trust me."

The accusations Armie made rang in my ears, but how could I trust a liar to tell me the truth?

"How?" Matty tightened his hold on me. "What can you do that I can't?"

"Your domain is the unconscious mind. I have no power there." He rested his palm over my forearm, the touch bringing the brand to life on my skin. "I am a creature of Abaddon. I can claim Frankie?—"

"No." Matty set himself between us. "I'm her brother. I'll protect her."

"What type of claiming are we talking about here?"

"Frankie." Matty whirled on me. "It's not happening."

"Kierce?" I patted my brother's hand. "What are the parameters?"

"I am allowed my acolytes." A grimness overtook his features. "They give those like me strength."

"You want my sister to worship you?" Matty barked out a laugh. "That's hilarious."

More curious than I ought to be, I couldn't help myself. "What does that entail?"

"Your belief, not in me but in the sanctity of death, would magnify my power."

"I'm going to get Josie." Matty gave up on me. "Maybe she can get through to you."

"Can I think about it?" I had to weigh the good of protection from Armie against a subservient tie to Kierce. "I've got a lot of questions for you. I want to understand more, about everything, before I take that step."

A brand to summon him was one thing, but to make it reciprocal? That might be fair to him, but it didn't mean it was a smart idea for me. Though it was clear my brother had no faith in my ability to make sound decisions, at least not where Kierce was concerned, I wasn't going to jump into a commitment blind.

"Of course." Kierce removed his hand. "The choice is yours."

Not five minutes later, Hurricane Josie blew in the door dressed in a crop top and boy shorts with a sleep mask strapped to her forehead and her eyes at half-mast. "You are not marrying that man."

Heat flared in my cheeks. "No one said anything about?—"

"Your honor—" she wiped crusted drool off her chin with her wrist, "—I object."

"You took Ambien again, didn't you?" Matty tugged on his hair. "You can't pop those like candy."

"Where is the engagement ring?" Josie stumbled closer. "Where is the bling?"

"We're not getting married." I made room for her crash-landing next to me. "Kierce made me an offer."

Her mumbles faded into nothing, and I flipped her over to find her unconscious.

"Who gave her Ambien?" I checked her pulse. "She can't be trusted with chewable vitamins, let alone an addictive controlled substance." Her vitals were strong, so I slid off the mattress, gripped her ankles, and twisted her sideways until she was upside down on the bed. "How much did she take?"

"I don't know." Matty backed toward the door. "I'll run upstairs and find the bottle."

"She's having trouble sleeping too." Kierce stood behind me. "Is Ankou…?"

"No." I smoothed the hair off her face. "It's grief, I think. And guilt. She blames herself for inviting Armie into our lives." I waved him over to the couch. "For what he did to Lyle—and Harrow. For all of it." We sat side by side. "But it wasn't her fault, was it? He wanted me."

Ankou—Armie—I flip-flopped between how I thought of them—had wanted to kill me.

"Ankou is trickster. An agent of chaos. A troublemaker who thrives on misery."

"That sounds like avoidance." I drew my legs up to my chin. "Do you know why he targeted me?"

"He's been known to spend decades cultivating personas to create mischief among humans. He sires the occasional child as well, to aid him in his dynastic pursuits. He delights in misery, and his god feeds on it. Their relationship is symbiotic. Their schemes are their own. I understand Ankou dedicated a year to you and your family, but it's important to grasp you don't measure time the same way we do."

"He viewed us as a DIY project for a long weekend while we saw him as building the foundation for a life here. Maybe even with Josie. As a member of our family."

"There is every reason to believe he heard rumors of a necromancer with unusual talents and decided to investigate. He might have hoped to out you or turn the community against you. He would have fed well on the heartache of you and your siblings losing all you've worked for. His choice of establishment was a clever strategy to ensure he met the locals, befriended them, and developed ties within your community under his latest guise." He paused. "He likely chose a shifter identity to earn him more influence."

The focus on bringing in shifter clientele, the game he played in never revealing his animal. He had done a fine job of ingratiating himself with the packs and prides in the area without going so far as to pitch his lot in with any of them.

"All he had to do was turn me in to the Society." I let my head fall back. "So why didn't he?"

"You would have taken any punishment without complaint." He mirrored my pose. "The point was, most likely, to ensure your siblings' suffering. That would have created a circuit. Their pain at losing you would have fueled him, and your misery would have been even sweeter knowing how you worried for them but couldn't reach them."

The door flew open, and Matty skidded in with a pill bottle and a scowl. "Aretha wrote the prescription."

"She must be a nurse practitioner in addition to her med-witch gig." I glanced over my shoulder to check on Josie. "Josie must have reached out after…"

"…one of your recent near-death experiences." Matty tossed me the bottle after tapping the date the prescription was filled. "We have to talk to Josie."

"Let her sleep." I thunked it down on my coffee table. "We'll have a come to Jesus with her later."

As unhealthy as my coping mechanisms might be, hers weren't winning any blue ribbons either. We both had to do better. Or we would end up running Matty into the ground when he had less energy than any of us to spare, in the dream realm or otherwise.

"We're going to open late." Matty checked his wrist. "There are no appointments until noon, but there's a few overnights the Suarezes are doing what they can for while we wait on parts to arrive."

"I would offer to do this for you," Kierce said, "but I haven't learned to drive motor vehicles."

The idea of not being chained to a schedule of tasks only I could fulfill was too big for my head to hold. It was my job to pick up and drop off the Suarezes. That was the deal. I hadn't minded, since Matty was as bound to the routine as me. That kept me from feeling singled out or lonely. But it hadn't made it any less exhausting.

A fact I hadn't realized until the exact second someone offered to help shoulder the burden.

"Thanks." I heard my own wonder. "Maybe I'll teach you how to drive sometime."

"I would like that," Kierce said with only slightly more enthusiasm than he embraced using a pillow.

A horse was more his speed, but they were expensive and required more land than we had to spare.

"Go dress." I shooed Matty out the door. "I'll change and meet you at the wagon." After Matty left, and I started preparing for the day, I snagged on another issue. "How long do you think you'll be here?"

"I can leave now if I'm an imposition." He rose without hesitation. "I don't want to burden you."

"No." I gripped his wrist. "It's not that." I plucked at his loaner tee. "We'll need to buy you some things."

"Oh." He glanced down at his pajamas then scrunched his bare toes on the hardwood. "Yes."

His confusion over requiring fresh clothes made me even more curious about his life in Abaddon.

"You can ride with us." I patted his chest. "I'll pick up Pedro, drop him off, and then we'll go shopping."

"With money." His expression cleared as he hit on a familiar concept. "I have money."

"Good deal." I slipped into the bathroom. "Be right back."

Standing where I left him, he stared at me. "I'll be here."

My heart lurched at the sincerity in his tone. As if the sands of time could scour me away to nothing, but he would remain. Eternal. A shiver lifted the fine hairs down my arms as I shut the door between us.