Page 64 of Fallen Court

“The witches did that.”

“And who got them to work together?” I pointed out.

“You might be impressed now, but wait until you see how dysfunctional they are. I’m just hoping they keep cooperating.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “If they’re anything like the witches who helped me at the Hallow Court, they will, and you’ve got the rest of us now.”

She smiled over at me—the first genuine one since we’d gotten into the car. “So, are you glad to be back?”

That was a loaded question.

“I am.” Despite everything, I meant it.

“I bet you are,” she said with a laugh. “I can’t imagine being trapped with Oberon. He’s so uptight. And so weird around other creatures, like he finds them completely disgusting. I bet he’s a total germaphobe.”

That was potentially the nicest thing anyone could say about Oberon. “His place was unusually spotless.”

I tried not to think about that locked room in the bowels of his court, tried not to think about those eerily silent halls, tried not to wonder how long it would be before he came after us.

Because I had no doubt that he would. He wanted my ring enough to kidnap me. Enough to marry me. Enough to start a war. And the damn thing was attached to me like a parasite.

“You got quiet,” Ciara said. An invitation to talk.

But I didn’t know what to say, especially with Lach’s warning ringing in my ears. “I’m just tired.”

“I bet you are.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Because you’re banging my brother!”

She pounded the steering wheel, hitting the horn. Pedestrians scattered as it blared, a few flipping her off. But she didn’t seem to notice.

“You have an unhealthy obsession with our sex life.” I should have known the fae weren’t uptight when they hosted an orgy as part of a wedding celebration.

“I’m just glad to see him happy,” she confessed. “He deserves it, even though I’m pretty sure he doesn’t think that’s true. And when Oberon took you… I’ve never seen him like that. Nothing was going to keep him from you, even the Wild Hunt.”

The words twisted my heart because I knew they were true.

“He could’ve gotten himself killed.” With everything hanging over our heads, I kept returning to that. Not just that he had chosen not to go into hiding, but that I was the one who should be on the run. MacAlister’s blood was as much on my hands as it was on his. And now with things between us even more complicated, I wasn’t certain we had enough time to figure everything out.

I was no closer to untangling my feelings when she pulled into the hospital’s parking lot a few minutes later.

“It’s pretty romantic,” Ciara said after the long silence, “if you think about it.”

“What?” I asked, distracted by the fact that she was parked in the chief of medicine’s spot. Garcia wouldn’t like that.

She unfastened her seat belt but didn’t get out of the car. “That man would die for you and smile with his last breath.”

Barb made us sign in at the front desk, lecturing me for taking so long to visit my brother. By the time she buzzed us through the security door, her words had hit their mark, and oily guilt welled inside me.

“Fair warning, Haley chewed out Lach, too,” Ciara whispered as she stuck her visitor’s badge to her leather jacket.

Channing must have been in bad shape if she’d had the nerve to do that.

Ciara grabbed my hand and squeezed. “It’s not your fault. You would have been here if…”

The familiar scent of bleach stung my nostrils as soon as we were through the doors. But no nostalgic longing hit me. A month ago, I’d been begging to keep my job. Now? Everything looked the same. I could walk over and pick up a chart from the nurse’s station. Grab syringes and specimen collection kits from the supply closet. Rush to the crash cart if someone coded. But I didn’t recognize the nurses chatting at the counter. I was wearing a visitor’s badge. This wasn’t my world anymore. I didn’t know how to feel about that, especially in light of everything Lach had told me since my return.

A nurse stepped into the hall as we passed, rubbing her temples, before doggedly continuing to the next room. If my brother had never been shot, if I had never gone looking for the Avalon hotel, if I had never made that bargain, it would be me pulling a double shift, circles lining my eyes as I pounded coffee to keep myself alert.

“Do you miss it?” Ciara asked as we made our way down the hall.