Page 74 of Mystic Justice
I let out a long sigh. It had been a helluva few days. I still had to notify Ruben’s family and pack of his death, and now I had Jane’s family to notify too, but at least Ji-ho’s name wasn’t on the list.
‘All right, Inspector?’ Krieg asked.
I looked up at him, at those captivating eyes. ‘When are you going to call me Stacy?’
His kissable lips twitched into a smile. ‘When are you going to call me Robbie?’
Robbie felt … weird. He was Krieg. ‘I’ll work on it,’ I said. I took a deep breath. ‘Robbie.’ Still weird.
‘There now, that wasn’t so hard, was it,kaerasta?’
‘What does it mean? That word?’
‘It means that I want to do this.’ He lowered his head to mine and kissed me with such tenderness that my eyes felt hot under my eyelids. No one had kissed me like that before, as if I were something to be savoured, treasured.
Behind us, someone cleared their throat. ‘Inspector Wise,’ Faraday greeted me.
With flaming cheeks, I pulled away from Krieg. ‘Sir,’ I responded briskly.
‘You seem to have matters under control.’ He swept his eyes around the shambles of the scene. ‘We’ll need a clean-up team,’ he mused. ‘Can’t leave this for the humans to stumble upon in the morning.’ His sharp eyes assessed me. ‘You’re off shift, Wise. I’ll deal with the clean-up and the report.’
Thackeray arrived, visibly gulping air. Channing was on his heels with a medic, one I instantly recognised. Julian must have stayed the night at Mum’s to make it here so quickly. ‘Stace!’ he said as his eyes raked over me with visible panic.
‘I’m okay. You’re not here for me – see to Ji-ho, please. He was buried alive in a casket and we don’t know how long for. Potential oxygen deprivation.’
‘She’s hurt,’ Krieg contradicted me. ‘Though not too badly. You can heal her after the tech.’
My brother grimaced but knelt down and closed his eyes. His magic ran through Ji-ho making him gasp awake and scramble up in a panicked lurch. ‘You’re okay!’ I said hastily, pushing down my own demons. ‘You’re safe. We got you out.’
Ji-ho looked at me. ‘Shirlylock,’ he said dumbly. ‘You found me.’
‘We did.’
He nodded then promptly burst into tears. I shrugged out of Krieg’s arms to offer him mine, wrapped my arms around him and held him tight. ‘You’re okay,’ I repeated to him over and over again. ‘You’re okay.’
I remembered this sense of disbelief at being rescued all too well, wondering if it was a dream or if I really was free.
I hadn’t cried that night, though Dad had cried enough for both of us.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Not sure what Calder had done to Ji-ho, we called Amber DeLea in to negate any runework. The scorched runes suddenly made so much sense: Calder had somehow combined her witch heritage with her fire magic and burnt the runes onto the very bones of her victims.
Julian had found internal burns on Ji-ho; the runes had started to work and we’d come very close to fighting an invincible griffin.
With Jane’s death, theoretically the runes on Ji-ho should have stopped working but none of us wanted to risk it. Luckily, Amber didn’t keep us waiting long before she rode in on Bastion like she was channelling Queen Boudica. I mentally amended my opinion of her; she was far more badass than I’d given her credit for.
While Amber started rooting around in her tote bag, Bastion went to the burnt remains of Harbinger and knelt next to him. ‘Rest now, brother,’ he murmured quietly.
Amber paused long enough to squeeze her lover’s shoulder in sympathy. Bastion reached back and patted her hand. Shesqueezed him one last time and returned to her potions, selecting the jar she needed and painting nullifying runes on Ji-ho’s skin. With every rune she painted, he relaxed a little more.
Meanwhile, Jules healed me. Krieg refused any healing with quiet but firm grace; ogres didn’t believe in healing magics or potions, you survived a wound or you died from it. That was utterly stupid, of course, though they did have extra-fast healing on their side.
‘You coming for a drink, Wise?’ Channing asked with Elvira, Bland and McCaffrey crowding around his heels. The grove was now crawling with SOCO and the clean-up crew, all getting on each other’s tits. It was a total circus but importantly it wasFaraday’s circus. I was officially tapping out.
I managed a smile. ‘Thank you, but not tonight.’ I fished out some bank notes that were usually reserved for bribing less-scrupulous citizens and handed him a hundred pounds. ‘Get the team a drink on me. Tell Frost she can release Sandra and join you. Kuckoo will still be open if you hurry.’ The rock cocktail bar stayed open late. ‘Go. Blow off steam.’
‘Thanks, boss.’ Channing pocketed the notes. ‘Ji-ho, you want to join us for a drink?’
