“Now I want a snack.”

Turning, Annika hugged her. “I’ll make you one.”

When he noticed her limping, Sawyer grabbed Annika around the waist. “Did they get your feet?”

“A little. But they ruined my new shoes.”

As Sawyer felt the heat of battle fade into a laugh, Doyle sheathed his sword. “Put a slice in my coat. Bet you can fix that,” he said to Bran.

“Seriously? You want him to use magick to fix your coat?”

Doyle only shrugged at Riley. “It’s a good coat.”

“Why don’t we go inside?” Bran lifted one of Sasha’s hands, bleeding, to his lips. “Assess all the damage. I think we look at flesh first, then see what we can do about coats and shoes.”

“That was a hell of a move there.” Sawyer kept his arm around Annika as they walked. “The last one—spinning?”

“I was very mad about the shoes. I had a lot of angry energy.”

“Looks good on you. You’ve got some nicks. Those little bastards are fast.”

“We kicked their ass. Don’t say it,” Riley warned Doyle. “I’m not an idiot. She just wanted to keep us busy, to see if we’ve got something new going—like her little lovebirds. Suicide squad, that’s what they were.”

In the kitchen, Bran cleaned and dressed wounds with Sasha’s help.

“Not too much damage, considering.”

Frowning, Doyle picked up his leather coat, poked a finger through the slice in the sleeve. “I like this coat. It’s only got about thirty years on it.”

“I’ll have a look at it.” At the kitchen sink, Bran washed blood and balm from his hands. “And now that we’re on the mend, I’ll tell you we will have that something new. The bolts, bullets, blades—and the bracelets. I’ve nearly got what we’ll want there. Another day, two at most.”

“Hot damn,” Riley said over a mouthful of salami and cheese.

“If it works as planned, we’ll be able to take out a swarm of those bloody birds with one shot.”

“Even hotter damn.” As he ate, as he felt his energy level creep up from zero, Sawyer nodded at Riley. “We’re going to need to score more ammo anyway.”

“Got that covered.”

“Now you.” Sasha nudged Bran to sit so she could treat his wounds. “It’s the same as on Corfu. A nightmare like that comes out of the sky. We fight, bleed, kill, and no one notices. It doesn’t happen for anyone else.”

“Best it doesn’t, isn’t it? Explanations only cause complications. I’m going out, make sure there aren’t any stragglers.”

“Hell.” Riley stuffed another bite in her mouth, rose with Doyle. “I’ll go with you.”

Bran crooked a finger. “Let’s see the coat first.”

After Doyle tossed him the coat, Bran laid a hand over the gash in the sleeve as Sasha coated balm over one in his own arm.

Then he handed back the coat, battered as it had been, but undamaged.

“Thanks.”

When they went out, Bran smiled at Annika. “You don’t ask me to fix your shoes?”

“It’s not important. Doyle’s coat is like . . . armor. I think it’s a kind of armor for him. These are only shoes.”

“Without them,” Sasha pointed out, “your feet would have been cut more seriously.” She picked them up from the floor herself, handed them to Bran. “So, they’re a kind of armor, too.”

When Bran handed them back to her, whole, Annika hugged him. “Thank you. I’m going to take Sawyer to bed now.”

Sawyer choked on a bite of salami; Annika offered him water.

“He doesn’t say it, but he’s very tired. The food helps, but now he needs to rest. Come to bed, Sawyer. You can sleep in my bed. Only sleep,” she added, offering a hand.

As she led him out, they heard her say, “If you want to have sex, you should lie quiet and let me take you to the ending.”

With a half laugh, Bran tugged Sasha into his lap. “What a woman she is.”

“But she’s not.” Torn, Sasha stared after them. “She’s not of this world, and her time here is limited. It’s limited because she saved my life.”

She pressed her cheek to Bran’s, to the gift he was to her. “I encouraged this between them. They both wanted, and I . . . But the love for him, Bran, it pours out of her. Deep and fierce and complete. Now, all I can think is, what will happen to her, to her heart, when she has to leave him?”

“Love is.” Treasuring his own, he stroked her hair. “And sometimes the gods are kind to those who give it.”

“Not much evidence of that so far.”

“Right here.” He drew her into a kiss. “How could I not believe in the kindness of the gods when I have you? Be glad for what they have now.”

“And have faith in tomorrow?”

“It’s what we have. Now, you should rest as well.”

“And if I want sex?”

Laughing, he stood with her. “I’ll be happy to take you to the ending.”

The Andre Malmon who moved into the Degli Dei wasn’t the same man who’d adjusted his black tie one fateful evening in London. He was no longer altogether a man.

And he liked it.

He liked the strength and the appetites that grew inside him. He’d even come to enjoy the pain that struck quick and fierce in his spine, as if two vicious hands wrung it like a wet rag.