Page 58 of Tragic Ink
Rhys stood watching in silentwonder.
At my feet, I felt the last of Cael’s life force drain away. The remnants of his tattoos and any spells inside them drained right along with his final breath. On a gasp, he shuddered and then fell still,dead.
I waited to see if any of the familiar guilt would come, but I felt only relief, and a small sense of justice. Aelwyn’s killer was dead. I had killed him, but in doing so, I’d avenged both her and a father I would never meet. I was probably going to have nightmares from the entire thing, but I didn’t regret what I’ddone.
Beside me, Rhys squeezed my hand, and I looked up at him. His cheek was still bloody, and I remembered one last magical tattoo we still needed. With a muttering of words, the bandages on my inner wrist came to life. They took shape and dimension and then landed, wrapping around Rhys’s injured arm andcheek.
He looked over at me in amusement. “Hardly important,considering.”
“You are always important,” I toldhim.
His eyes held mine, and I felt a thousand promises pass between us, unspoken. It should have felt new, this... thing between us. The way he rooted me to this spot with just a look and an unspoken commitment in his eyes. But it wasn’t new. It had existed from the moment we’d met. The only difference between then and now was that we’d decided to acknowledge it and to let it in. We’d stopped running fromit.
“It’s over,” I said, my voice hushed. I knew, logically, talking aloud wouldn’t break the spell, because there was no spell. Not anymore. There was just us. The magic that was my love for him and his for me. But I whisperedanyway.
Rhys watched me, eyes glittering. “You did it,” he answered, stepping closer so that there was no more space betweenus.
I ran my finger over his tattoo, the still-healing lines raised into ridges on his skin. “I can’t believe... I can’t believe it’sover.”
“You wereamazing.”
I shook my head. “Not just me,” I said. “You were... You didn’tleave.”
His brow shot up. “You thought I’d leaveyou?”
“You were supposed to get Elsmedif—”
“The only thing I’m supposed to do is kiss mygirl.”
“Right now? In front of all these people?” I became aware of the crowd we’d drawn, and my cheeks heated at the awareness. The figures we’d seen approaching were a few of the partygoers who had wandered far enough outside to notice the commotion we’d caused. Women in flowing gowns clutched at the arms of their dates, necks craning toward us to get a good look. No one approached, and I could only assume none of them had grown bold enough yet. But they wouldeventually.
“Damn straight,” Rhys shot back, tightening his arm around me. “They need to know you’re not available.” His kiss was hard and fast and full of flourish; a message—like he’d justsaid.
We earned a few whistles before I pulled away, laughing softly before I could stop myself. “Show-off,” Imuttered.
“You just killed an Unseelie warrior without laying a finger on him, and I’m the show-off?”
“Point taken.” My half-formed smile disappeared. “Oh, God. Here comes SheriffKasun.”
Sure enough, a growling sheriff was shoving through the crowd. Deputy Conall was at his heels, still picking what looked like spider webs from hisuniform.
I tensed, turning to face the sheriff so that Rhys and I stood shoulder to shoulder. Rhys squeezed my hand, but he didn’t say a word as the sheriff nodded curtly at us both. His sharp blue eyes were unreadable other than the glances he threw at the cleanup crew gathering to my left. The team was a mixture of witches who I knew stood ready to investigate whether any humans had witnessed the supernatural events that had taken place here tonight. If anyone had, the witches would make sure no one remembered any of it by the time they walkedaway.
“Thank you all for your concern here tonight, but everything’s under control,” the sheriff said authoritatively. “If you’ll all please step to the left and give a statement to someone from our team, we’d appreciate it. Once you’re done there, you’ll be free to return to theparty.”
The crowd took off in pairs and small groups, marching toward the team that waited forthem.
When they were out of earshot, the sheriff turned back to face us, his gaze lingering on the dead man behind us. “So, either you’ve upped your body count, Miss Facharro, or the two of you have done me a solid and caught a killertonight.”
“Uh, definitely the second thing,” Isaid.
“Not bad for our first date,” Rhys said with asmile.
The sheriff eyed him, then me, noting our formalwear. “Howromantic.”
I glared at him. “You’re not seriously still going to treat me like a suspect, are you?” Idemanded.
“You never were a suspect, Miss Facharro. You did obstruct justice by tampering with evidence that first night, which put you at the top of my shit list for awhile.”
