Ever After (Rachel Morgan)

enemy can use.”
    He was right, but I wasn’t going to give up on this, and leaning back in my chair, I racked my brain for an answer. “Well, why not use the chastity rings?” I said suddenly, and Quen started. “You said they made a bond. If it’s tight enough to quash someone’s magic, I bet it’s tight enough to pull me out of trouble.”
    Hunched over the book, Quen’s eyes came to mine. “Those are elven chastity rings, not demon wedding bands,” he almost growled.
    “Right.” I pushed my chair out and went over to them. “But he could yank me back. Just like Al’s wedding rings!”
    They were both staring at me as if I was nuts, but I knew it would work. It had to.
    “They’re broken,” Quen said, and Jenks bobbed his head up and down. “The knowledge to make new ones is gone. The women burned all the texts.”
    “Big surprise.” Not ready to let this go, I looked at them on their little black saucer. One was tiny, like a child’s ring, which made sense if it was to keep young people in line. “I know someone who can bring spent ley line charms back to life,” I said as I picked them both up.
    Quen made a small sound, and I jiggled them in my hand.
    “Pierce!” Jenks exclaimed, his wings a harsh rattle. “You’re talking about Pierce! He’s Newt’s familiar! Rache, what have you been putting in your coffee?”
    Smiling, I looked at the rings in my palm. Quen was right. They were dead. Not even a whisper of magic.
    “Don’t put the little one on!” Quen said as I angled it to my pinkie to see if it would fit, and I hesitated. “That’s the subservient ring. Once it goes on, it doesn’t come off until the master ring allows it.”
    Oh. Thinking, I jiggled the rings just to watch Quen’s reaction. “You said they don’t work.”
    “You want to risk it? Go ahead. Put it on.”
    Jenks came to hover over them, frowning in disapproval. “Even if you could get the rings reinvoked, Pierce is in the ever-after,” he said, kicking the larger one into the smaller. It made a ping that seemed to echo through me.
    “Why are you two always Debbie downers?” I said, closing my fingers around them.
    Jenks landed on my closed fist. “Just what do you plan to do? Call Newt and ask her to pop you over? She’s nuts!”
    From behind me, Trent’s soft voice said, “She doesn’t have to.”
    I spun, warming as if I’d been caught stealing his stuff again. Shit, how long had he been there?
    “Sorry,” he said as he came farther in and took his hand from the closed door. “I didn’t want to wake Ray up.”
    Sure, that’s what he said, but Jenks was smirking at me, and Quen seemed smug that I was the only one Trent had surprised. His manner quick, Trent held out his hand, and I dropped the rings into them. He smelled like the outdoors, and of Ellasbeth’s perfume. I stifled a surge of pique. There was a new drive in him, a purpose. He could again be what the elves wanted, and I forced myself to smile.
    Quen looked pained as he stood there, but I couldn’t tell if it was because of his injuries or because Trent was behind me on this. “How do you propose she get there, Sa’han?”
    Trent looked up, eager to explain. “My father’s vault door.”
    “Perfect!” I exclaimed softly.
    “Oh God,” Jenks muttered. “They’re at it again. I’m not going to get out of this one alive. I know it. I can see the web on the wall already!”
    “Relax, Jenks.” I took Trent’s hand and turned it palm up so I could gently pry his fingers open. “You’re not going.” My eyes met Trent’s, and I took the rings. “You either.”
    Trent’s expression cascaded through about six different emotions, all finally vanishing under a cold calm. “I am a part of this,” he warned me.
    “Obviously,” I said as I backed up out of his easy reach. He was still wearing the matching pinkie ring, and something in me felt like it was a victory. “I’ll get the rings working, not you. I know you. You’ll get over there, and you’ll do something noble and throw everything off plan.”
    “I will not!”
    “You will!” I affirmed. “Besides, if I’m over there slumming in the mall looking for Pierce, everyone will think I’m taking care of Al. If you’re there, it will be noticed.”
    Looking as if he were eating slugs, Trent dropped his head, making his bangs fall into his eyes. He knew I was right, and it was killing him.
    “Those are my rings and my door,” Trent said, his head coming