Devlin reached out for her hand again, and they sat in the dark of the car, silent and holding on to each other for several hours.

At some point, she fell asleep, and the next thing she heard was Devlin saying, “Wake up, Ani.”

Good idea, Barry said. We are here.

She blinked her eyes and tried to focus on the road in front of them. Now that they were in city limits, Barry had slowed to a normal speed and resumed his default appearance of a Barracuda.

I am exhausted, Ani.

“Rest,” she murmured. Gently, she stroked her hand over the dashboard. “No one has a better steed.”

“Agreed,” Devlin said.

They pulled around the back of the shop. Before the engine was off, Irial was standing at her door. He opened it and took her hand. “Come inside.”

Still sleepy, Ani let him pull her close to his side, but it felt odd to be so near anyone but Devlin.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Inside first.” Irial looked over at Devlin, who’d immediately come to stand on the opposite side of her.

Ani stepped inside the studio. “You’re scaring me.”

The lights were all off, and the CLOSED sign was in the window. Through the glass, Ani could see several Hounds standing guard at both ends of the block. Devlin entered the studio, but positioned himself between her and the door, so anyone who managed to get past the Hounds outside would have to confront him. As nervous as she was, she didn’t object to being protected instead of standing beside him. He glanced at her, and then returned his attention to scanning the street, the shop, anywhere threats could lurk.

“Iri?” she asked.

“Sit down.” Irial tried to pull her over to a chair. “We can talk out here. Rabbit’s finally sleeping.”

“Rabbit’s sleeping?” She looked around, listened to the pervasive stillness in the studio, and felt her fears rise up. “Where’s Tish? Why is she at your house?”

“I’m sorry.” Irial had hold of her arm, keeping her still, trying to direct her to the chair.

“What’s going on?” She tugged her arm away. “Are they hurt? Who’s h—”

“I’m so sorry. I thought they were safe; I thought she…” Irial had tears in his eyes.

Ani felt panic rising. “Take me to Tish.”

She looked over at Devlin. He stepped closer to her.

Irial started, “Ani—”

“No! Where is she?” She pulled away from Irial and went toward the door that led from the shop into the living space of her home.

“Ani. She’s gone.” Irial pulled her hand away from the door, peeling each finger from the knob. “Bananach killed Tish. Tish is d—”

“No!” Ani shoved him. “She’s… no. Tish didn’t do anything. She didn’t have anything to do with Bananach. She’s…”

The floor seemed to come up to meet her as she slid down the wall. The world felt wrong. Her stomach twisted as everything that made sense in the world was suddenly gone.

“Tish is dead? My Tish gone?” Ani looked up at him. “When?”

“Last night.” Irial crouched down in front of her.

“How?” She pushed away every emotion, not by choice, but by necessity. Her feelings threatened to drown her. She shook from the intensity of the rage snarling inside her. Rage made sense, chased away the tears. Her skin stung like crawling things were all over her. It hurt too much to even let the anger well up.

Focus.

She took several breaths, caught Irial’s gaze, and asked, “How did she… did it happen?”

“It was quick,” Irial hedged. “Can we leave it at that for now?”

Ani stared at him. Her once-king, her protector all of these years, was undoubtedly devastated too—and guilt- stricken.

“For the moment,” she whispered. There were tears inside, but letting them fall meant Tish was really gone.

She can’t be.

Ani stood. “I should go to Rabbit.”

“He’s fine. Your house is the safest place in the city tonight. I promise.” Irial reached out and brushed her hair back. “I’m sorry, Ani. We thought we had enough guards, and she hadn’t tried anything. There were Hounds here, and if Tish hadn’t…”

“Hadn’t what?”

“She slipped out.” Irial scowled; at himself or at Tish, Ani wasn’t sure. “You’d think they could keep track of her, and… I don’t know why she did it.”

“She didn’t like to be caged. She did better than I do, but after a few days, she was still Gabriel’s daughter, and…” Ani shuddered at the thought of telling her father. “Does he know?”

“He does. The Hunt all know.” Irial looked lost, like he wanted to say something that would make everything right, but there was nothing. “Ani…”

She looked at him, not wanting to comfort him, not wanting to hear his words, not wanting the conversation to continue.

“Go check on Rabbit, please? I need… I need…” Ani’s words faltered. She looked past Irial to Devlin.

He crossed the room to her side.

She folded her arms over her chest, but it didn’t stop the trembling.

“Bananach would have to kill me in order to touch Ani.” Devlin said the words evenly. “Anyone killing me is very unlikely.”

Irial looked from one to the other, and then he left.