Authors: Seanan McGuire
Rosemary and Rue (42 page)
“You left,” she whispered. “I told you it was dangerous, but you did it anyway . . . and you left. Your body was here, and there was no one inside it.”
I glanced at her burned hand. Iron hurts purebloods worse than it hurts changelings, and as an Undine, Lily was more susceptible than most; she was only flesh because she wanted to be. To an Undine, iron is like acid, and the fact that she was willing to touch it at all showed something more than friendship. I set the thought regretfully aside. There would be time to think about what she’d done for me later . . . and time to wonder whether I could ever repay it.
Her expression was slowly returning to its normal serenity, although her eyes were pained. “Did you find what you needed?”
What I needed? I looked at the gun I was holding and nodded, slowly.
“Yeah, I did,” I said.
“And?” There was a waiting, worried edge to her voice. She knew what came next as well as I did, even if she didn’t know why.
I sighed. “Can you call me a taxi?”
TWENTY-SIX
IN THE END, LILY DIDN’T CALL the taxi; I did. Danny said he could be there in fifteen minutes, and that was good enough, because it also gave me time to call Shadowed Hills and leave a terse, angry messageto with the Hob who answered the phone. “Tell Sylvester I’m going Home,” I said. “I’ll try not to die before I get there.”
“Wait for him,” Lily said, watching me drop the phone back into its cradle. “You don’t have to do this alone.”
“Time’s too short, and the stakes are too high.” If Devin was willing to kill me to get his hands on the hope chest, how long would it be before he started trying to find its hiding place? How long before there were assassins in the bushes at Shadowed Hills, hired killers watching the Court of Cats for targets? “This ends now.”
“Yes,” she said, anxiously. “It very well may.”
I paused. “Can you send a messenger to Tybalt?” She nodded. “Tell him it was Devin; tell him he knows why, if he thinks about it. And tell him I’m sorry I got him involved in this.”
“Toby . . .”
“Just tell him.” I kissed her forehead and left the Tea Gardens as quickly as I could, heading for the parking lot where Danny would be meeting me.
I didn’t look back.
Danny picked up pretty quickly on my desire to make the drive in silence. Maybe it was the fact that I cried the whole way. The street in front of Home was deserted when we pulled up; he took the money Lily had given me for cab fare, looking at me with worry in his eyes. “You gonna be okay in there? You need some muscle?”
I patted his elbow. “I’ll be fine, Danny.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“All right. You need me, you call.” Then he was gone, tires squealing as he blazed off down the street. I watched until I was sure that he was gone before pulling the gun out of my pocket and turning to walk up to the door.
It was time to go Home.
Home’s door was often closed but never locked; all you had to do to get inside is want to be there. Kids were posted in the front room twenty-four hours a day, making sure trouble didn’t start unless they started it. But when I turned the doorknob, nothing happened. The door was locked against me. Devin knew I was coming.
“This is October Daye!” I shouted, pounding my hand against the door. “Let me in!”
Footsteps, and the sound of locks being undone. The door opened, revealing a drawn-looking Manuel with gauze taped above one eye, not quite concealing the swelling. I caught my breath, letting it out in a slow hiss as Dare peeked around him, frighteningly pale, bruises standing out in sharp relief on her cheek and neck. Manuel saw the gun, and his eyes widened.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, voice pitched low. “I told Luna to have you wait.”
“Devin called us,” Manuel said. “We always come when he calls.” Dare was shaking her head in small, sharp motions, making go away gestures with her hands. Devin was angry that I’d left them at Shadowed Hills and gone on without them. Knowing what I knew now, he was angry they hadn’t been able to keep watching me for him.
Dare wanted me out of harm’s way, but that wasn’t an option. Not with the taste of roses lingering in my mouth. “If you go now, I’ll come for you when this is done,” I said, still quietly.
Manuel looked at me solemnly, opening the door wider in invitation. Dare whimpered and he shushed her, not looking away from my face. They were staying. This was their Home, whether they wanted it or not, and they were staying until the end.
I stepped into the room, scanning for potential trouble. I didn’t see any; we were alone. From where I stood, the building didn’t hold anyone but two green-eyed kids, a cursed changeling, and a killer. The room was smaller without its smattering of teenagers, and the scars on the walls seemed older. For the first time, it looked like what it really was: a flophouse with a fancy name, where kids who didn’t know any better let themselves be abused by someone who should have known better.
Crossing the room, I smashed the glass over the call button for Devin’s office with the butt of my gun. Shards flew in all directions, and Dare gasped, eyes wide with a mixture of awe and terror. When did I become the hero? When did she start looking at me like that?
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m finishing things,” I said, trying to project a calm I didn’t feel. Silently I told myself we’d get out of there alive; I was going to live up to the unspoken expectations in her eyes. It was the only promise I could make. “It’s about to get messy. I’d go now, if I were you.” I knew they wouldn’t go—I wouldn’t have, when I belonged there—but I had to give them the chance.
“He’ll kill you if you don’t leave now,” Manuel said.
“Since he’s planning to kill me anyway, I don’t see where that changes things.” I hit the button, ignoring the broken glass. It was too late for a little more blood to make a difference. “I know you’re there, Devin. It’s time for you to be out here.” Stepping back, I waited.
I didn’t have to wait long. Devin’s voice crackled over the intercom, saying “Toby? What’s going on? Where did you go?” There was fear there. Not much, but if I’d needed any further confirmation, that would have been enough to give it to me.
I pushed the button down again. “I know, Devin.”
“You know what?”
“I know everything. I know who you hired, and when, and how.” I was extemporizing wildly, but he had no way of knowing that. “I know about the men you sent to kill me. I know you seduced me because you thought it might get you what you wanted. I know my shoulder will never be the same and I may never sleep again and you’d better get your ass out here
right now
.” The last words were practically a hiss, my fury boiling over. He betrayed Evening, and he betrayed
me
. There was no way I was forgiving that.
right now
.” The last words were practically a hiss, my fury boiling over. He betrayed Evening, and he betrayed
me
. There was no way I was forgiving that.
The intercom was silent. I turned to point the gun in my hand toward the door to the back hall. After several endless minutes it swung open and Devin stepped out, holding up empty hands in surrender.
“It didn’t have to be like this, Toby,” he said, voice weary in defeat. The brightness of his eyes had faded, turning slate gray, like a storm had come to his private sky. It had to happen eventually; October always brings rain, even in California.
“You killed her.”
“You have no proof of that.”
I kept the gun aimed squarely at his chest. “Pretty sure the Queen wouldn’t see things that way.”
“Pretty sure you’re not planning to take me to her Court to find out.” He shook his head. “I never wanted to lie to you, October. Why wouldn’t you just . . . let it go? We could have been happy. Finally happy. I really do love you. I always have.”
“Why, Devin? Root and branch, why did you do this?”
“Because I’m going to live forever.” There was a challenge in his eyes. “Maybe you’re willing to settle for changeling time, but I’m not. The purebloods could give us all immortality, but they refuse, because we’re ‘not good enough.’ If they won’t give me what’s mine, I’ll take it. That’s all I’ve been doing. Taking what belongs to me.”
“That’s sick.”
“That’s the way the world works. What, are you happy that you’re going to die? Do you
enjoy
waking up every morning and realizing your body got a little bit closer to breaking in the night? Because I don’t. We could have lived forever, together, if you’d just let it go.”
enjoy
waking up every morning and realizing your body got a little bit closer to breaking in the night? Because I don’t. We could have lived forever, together, if you’d just let it go.”
“You had Evening killed because you wanted to be immortal?”
“No,” he said. A small knot of pain let go in my shoulders, only to snarl tighter than ever before when he continued, “that’s why I killed her myself.”
That was the one thing I hadn’t allowed myself to consider: that he could have held the knife. “You bastard,” I whispered.
“I paid three Redcaps to hold her down while I slit her throat. She screamed, Toby. You should have heard her. It was like music . . . but it was too late. The key was gone, and it wasn’t over yet. Everything after that could have been avoided if she’d just listened to me.”
“Devin . . .”
“You always had so many illusions—sort of funny for someone as inept with them as you are. I tried so hard to beat them out of you.” His smile was proprietary. “I could’ve managed it if you’d given me a few more years. You could be standing beside me now, on the right side. You could understand.”
“I don’t want to understand,” I said. “You make me sick.”
“Human morality, October. Get over it. It’s not going to get you very far.” He stepped toward me, stopping when I raised the gun. “She’s still dead. No matter what you do, she stays dead. Can you really stand to lose us both?”
“I can’t stand not to.” Questions were whirled through my head faster than I could ask them. How did he edit Evening’s blood memory? That’s supposed to be impossible, but he did it. How many more assassins were there? The ones in Goldengreen—I had to assume they were real, but I’d never seen them.
And in the end, it didn’t matter. Those were the questions I could answer later; what mattered now was ending this, here, tonight, before any other innocents got hurt.
Devin’s tone changed, becoming wheedling. “I never wanted you involved,Toby. I didn’t think she’d call you—I really didn’t. If you’d just stopped when I asked . . .”
“You’d have killed me anyway, eventually.” I stepped forward, eyes narrowed. “I haven’t belonged to you in a long time, and honor doesn’t protect me anymore. I’m not stupid, Devin. You know better.”
“You won’t shoot me,” he said, and smiled. “You can’t.”
“I can’t?”
“No. You still love me. You’re still too human. You can’t kill someone you love.” He sounded completely sure of himself. “I know you. You can’t fool me.”
“No, Devin, you know a girl who didn’t know enough to get away from you.” My hands were shaking, aim wavering as my focus slipped. Anger makes everything personal. As if this wasn’t already personal enough. “Love you?
Love
you? You killed Evening, and you killed Ross, and you tried to kill me. You put your kids in harm’s way, and now you have the . . . the
audacity
to say that I love you? Oberon’s blood, Devin, will you just grow up already?”
Love
you? You killed Evening, and you killed Ross, and you tried to kill me. You put your kids in harm’s way, and now you have the . . . the
audacity
to say that I love you? Oberon’s blood, Devin, will you just grow up already?”
“Yes. You love me.” He lowered his hands. “You always have, and you always will, no matter what I do to you. All changelings are crazy, Toby. You know that. Your madness is your loyalty.”
“Screw you,” I said, and steadied my aim.
I shouldn’t have waited so long. Dare shouted, “Manny, no!” and I whirled, letting Devin out of my sight. That wasn’t my first mistake; it stood a good chance of being my last.
Manuel—sweet, innocent Manuel—was holding a revolver, feet braced at shoulder width, the barrel of the gun aimed at my chest. He was trembling. I froze. I was willing to bet that he’d never shot anyone, that he didn’t want to shoot me, but I wasn’t going to test it. Smart people don’t gamble with guns.
“He said . . . he said we wouldn’t have to . . . hurt you . . . if you’d just stop getting in the way. You could come back here. You could be family like you used to. But you wouldn’t
listen!
” Manny was almost crying, face slick with sweat. “Put down the gun, Ms. Daye.”
listen!
” Manny was almost crying, face slick with sweat. “Put down the gun, Ms. Daye.”
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