Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

exhaled in relief. “Good choice. You’re a good cop, and we don’t have enough—”
     Suddenly his head tilted. He looked up and to his right. His mouth fell open. She
     could swear tears filled his eyes—and joy. He reached up, his face lit with happiness
     as real as anything she’d ever seen. He reached up with his remaining hand, the wedding
     band on the third finger glowing softly.
    “Sarah,” he said. And the rest of him faded away.
    Lily felt shaky and weird inside. Kind of hollowed out. Then the body beneath her
     tensed, and she was called back to reality.
This
reality. Benessarai was looking up at her. She sighed and pressed the knife into
     his skin slightly to make him pay attention. “So what the hell do I do with you?”
    “I can help with that,” Cullen said. He limped over, wincing with every step. He was
     missing half his hair, and he looked like he had a bad sunburn.
    “Cullen! That was you falling? You didn’t—”
    “Didn’t burn. Much. I couldn’t get the last damn ward down, but it was a fire ward,
     and I’m good with fire, so I took it down by leaping through it. Landed badly, though—my
     ankle’s got a hairline fracture, I think. It took a lot of concentration to keep the
     flames from burning me until I could snuff them.” He sank down carefully to sit by
     Benessarai’s head. “Good thing this asshole doesn’t know about mage fire, or I’d be
     really crispy. Nighty-night,” he said, and slapped his palm onto the elf’s forehead.
    Benessarai went limp, his eyes closing.
    “Sleep charm,” Cullen added. “Don’t know how long it will work on his sort. You okay?”
    “Not…long,” a breathy voice said on Lily’s right.
    Lily turned to see the not-so-dead Alycithin smiling faintly at her. She scooted close.
     “What can we do? How do we help you?”
    “Aroglian…will help. Give him…ring and word.
Thelaisat
.” She closed her eyes as if gathering herself. “I bequeath to you, Lily Yu, my…rights
     and responsibilities for…Sean Friar, hostage. You…accept?”
    “I do.”
    “Say…the word.”
    “
Thelaisat
,” Lily repeated. Alycithin’s wince might have been at Lily’s mangling of her language,
     or simple pain. “That one…” The halfling’s gaze shifted to indicate Benessarai. “Best
     if…you kill.”
    “I can’t. I gave my word.”
    The slightly lifted brows expressed incredulity. Alycithin didn’t ask who Lily had
     promised, though. Instead she said, “Duct tape.”
    “Duct tape.”
    “On…mouth, hands, feet. Strong. Magically…inert.”
    “Cullen, did you hear that?”
    “Mike!” Cullen called. “We need duct tape, pronto. I’ve got a couple more sleep charms,”
     he added, “which is good, because he’s almost burned this one up.”
    “You shocked the hell out of me when you touched me,” Lily said. “And undid the restraints,
     for which I thank you with my whole heart.”
    The eyebrows lifted again. “You…did not know? Said…now or never.”
    “That was for Rule. I knew he was on the roof. I thought you were dead. You fooled
     Benessarai, too, when he did that spell.”
    Alycithin’s eyes closed, but her lips turned up. “The fool…right about one thing.
     Rekklat…hard to kill. My Gift…he didn’t notice.…I was alive.”
    “Your Gift doesn’t work on me, and I’ve never seen anyone look as dead as you did
     who wasn’t.” She hadn’t been breathing. Lily was sure of that.
    “Not…very alive. More now, but…” Very faintly she sighed. “I will sleep.”
    Outside, a tiger roared. Lily looked up. “Grandmother—”
    Rule stepped into view at the end of an aisle between shipping crates. “Let Madame
     Yu in,” he snapped at someone.
    “Friar?” she asked, pushing herself to her feet.
    “No sign of him. His scent trail ends at the back of the warehouse.”
    “He knows a spell to go out of phase like—” Rule had reached her and his arms closed
     around her. Tight. “Ow. My rib.” But she held on, too.
    He loosened his grip immediately and straightened to inspect her worriedly. “Are you
     all right? Your face.” He touched her cheek gently. “Someone hit you.”
    “Friar. He’s gotten a lot stronger than he used to be. I don’t think he broke any
     ribs, but they’re tender.”
    Rule’s mouth tightened. “That would be why Madame rushed things, I imagine. She was
     to wait for our signal. Cullen took down the first ward—there were only two—but the
     second was