Ever After (Rachel Morgan)

be dead?
    “It wasn’t your task,” Quen said, and I forced myself to look up. “It was no one’s fault.”
    “But . . .”
    He smiled, the pain thick in the new wrinkles around his eyes. “She’d tell you to mind your own business and to not blame yourself.”
    My head dropped. Probably in loud, small words so I wouldn’t run the risk of misunderstanding. “She would at that,” I said, and he touched my shoulder as he turned away.
    “Quen,” I said, and he halted. From the front of the church came a loud boom of sound as the door shut, then blessed silence. I looked at Quen. I had things I wanted to say, that Trent was braver than I had thought, and foolish. That I trusted him, but I also knew there were limits to magic and luck. That I didn’t see a happy ending to this.
    “I don’t think Trent is planning on coming back unless he can kill Ku’Sox,” I said flatly, and Quen’s lip twitched. “That Lucy is safe has given him more freedom to act, but unless we can convince the other demons to band up against Ku’Sox, I don’t see a happy ending to this.” I lifted a foot and rubbed the back of my calf to hide my trembling.
    Quen’s expression gave me no clue as to what he was feeling. “You think he can do it?”
    My breath came fast. “Kill Ku’Sox? Frankly, no. Not alone. All the demons together were only able to shove the psycho in a hole in reality. It might be different now.” I looked at the ceiling, avoiding his eyes. “Sorry about Ellasbeth. I don’t know what came over me.”
    Quen chuckled, his shoes scraping as he put a light hand on my shoulder again. “Thank you for trusting Trent,” he said, his eyes heavy with emotion. “Not many do, and even fewer for the right reasons.” He looked toward the front of the church. “I should be able to manipulate line energy tomorrow. It would be my honor to help you at the Loveland line.”
    My heart pounded, and a wave of relief took me, even as I worried it might end in more grief, more pain. “Thank you.”
    “But I have a favor to ask.”
    My head snapped up. Elves asking for favors was never good. “What?” I said flatly.
    Quen’s gaze dropped, then came back to mine. “I asked this before, and I’m asking you again.”
    Shit. “Quen,” I whined. “I’m not going to do your job. Look at that woman out there. You think she will let me anywhere near him again? And that’s even assuming we all make it out of this alive.”
    Taking my hand, he turned it over so the demon mark on my wrist showed. His eyes were filled with grief as they met mine. “Rachel, I didn’t mean it to happen, but I have someone else I have to protect now. Someone besides Trent.”
    I remembered Ray on his hip and Lucy’s hands eagerly reaching for him. It was the right thing to do, but still . . . panic slid through me. “Quen, I don’t even like him. I mean, I do, but I live here, and you live there, and how am I supposed to keep track of him when I’ve got my own stuff to do and that woman—”
    “Please.” Quen’s expression was pained. “I’m not asking you to do my job. Just . . . understand that I can’t be what he needs anymore to survive. I can’t devote myself to him. Ray—” His voice choked off. It was low when he spoke again. “Ray needs me. All of me, not the thin sliver of me that’s left when Trent needs help. She won’t be safe until Ku’Sox is dead, but after that, I am hers, not Trent’s. You don’t have to work for him, just be there when he needs it. That’s all I’m asking. And maybe don’t let Ellasbeth snuff everything he wants to be.”
    My pulse was hammering. I recalled Trent pulling Nick off me, the power that had flowed through me when he’d broken the charm hiding me from Al, waiting until I knew what I would lose if I turned my back on my future, and finally that kiss we had shared. It had only been a kiss—no feelings behind it but my own selfish pleasure. Then I thought of Ellasbeth. He had a duty there, one I knew he would sacrifice everything for. “But . . .”
    “I wasn’t sure until now, but I know you’ll be what he needs.”
    What he needs? “What about me? Who is going to risk their life for me?”
    Quen’s eyes came back to mine. “He will, of course.”
    His voice was confident, and I could do nothing but stare with my mouth hanging open.
    “I have to go before she learns how to drive,” he said, seeing my confusion. “I’ll talk to the owners of that charm