Sunset spun once and slipped through the portal, hovering just beyond its boundary, waiting.
All around us, the Hiru stepped through the portals and entered the clearing, forming a long slow line. Moonlight, the first in line, walked up to the pile of Sunset’s space suit. Her metal shell fell apart and she surged up, her wings silver, black, and white, glowing like the moonlight that inspired her name. She slipped into the portal.
They came one by one, shedding their space suits, luminescent and heartbreaking in their beauty. I realized I was crying. Somehow Sean made it next to me and he held my hand. Arland put Helen on his shoulders. She watched the Hiru assume their true form and there were stars reflected in her eyes.
Some Draziri had collapsed. Others stared, shocked, their expressions lost. Mrak wept. Tears rolled down his cheeks.
On and on the Hiru went, until the last of them paused by the portal. He was old. Burns and scars dented his space suit. He turned to me. A once-mournful voice issued forth, tuning triumphant. “Thank you, innkeeper. We will never forget.”
His space suit joined the pile on the grass and a creature the color of sun fire slipped through the portal to its new world.
“Wait…” Mrak whispered to the Hiru.
The portal collapsed.
The Archivarius rose. Its wings beat once. It flew into the night sky and vanished.
Mrak’s shoulders shook. He stared at the spot where the portal had been a moment ago.
“You and I have unfinished business,” the ad-hal said. A gateway opened behind him, a swirling pool of darkness.
Mrak turned, like a chastised child, and together they walked into it, the ad-hal’s fingers still on Mrak’s shoulder.
“Where is he taking him?” Helen asked.
“Nowhere good,” Maud told her.
The Draziri left, shell-shocked and lost, held together by the Draziri who had attacked Mrak. He turned out to be Mrak’s cousin. Before Her Grace retired to make herself presentable for dinner, she informed me that she’d had several conversations with him and in her opinion he wasn’t a complete idiot. I allowed them to go. The fight was over and I had never wanted this fight to happen in the first place.
The werewolves stayed. They were tired from fighting and hungry, and they wanted to talk to Sean and his parents. They crowded into my front room, loud and growly. I glanced into the front room, hoping for a glimpse of Sean, but I could barely see him, crowded by the mercenaries. It would have to wait. That was okay. We had time now.
Orro cornered me in the kitchen. “The holiday dinner was supposed to include eleven beings. Now that number is doubled!”
Aha. “Does this mean you’re unequal to the task?”
Orro puffed out, looming over me. “I am a Red Cleaver chef!”
I nodded.
“I require two hours.”
He spun on his foot.
“Thank you for the ice cream,” I told his back. “It was the best thing I have ever tasted.”
His spikes rose, shivering, and he sped off into the kitchen.
I raided Gertrude Hunt’s very old wine cellar, picked several bottles at random and let the inn take them to the Grand Ballroom. The tables I used during the peace summit were still stored underneath, and I pulled two of them out, arranged the bottles there, and asked Orro to serve some bread and cheese when he got a moment.
Once he was done, I headed to the front room. “Gertrude Hunt welcomes you to our Christmas feast. We’ll serve refreshments now. Follow me, please.”
The werewolves fell on the wine, bread and cheese like hungry beasts. Sean brushed by me and squeezed my hand, before they dragged him with them. Wing and Marais joined them. Wing was beside himself at being treated like a hero. Marais was slowly thawing. I’d provided him with a room and a shower to freshen up, and he looked much better now, without slime covering his hair. A couple of glasses of wine and he would be able to go home to his family. He still had that owlish, not-quite-right look in his eyes, but all in all he was handling this rather well. I’d have to thank him later when things died down.
Maud stopped next to me. “Hey.”
“Hey yourself.”
“I’m going to pop over to Baha-char for a few minutes,” she said.
“Why?”
“To buy presents.” She grinned.
“Do you have money?”
“No, but I have a ton of the Draziri weapons to trade.”
Ooo. “What am I getting?”
“I’m not going to tell you and I won’t let you snoop either. You were always a terrible sneak, Dina.”
“That’s a lie. I’m an excellent sneak.”
She hugged me, hard. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“I’m getting there.” I was feeling kind of wobbly, and if I stopped doing things and talking, the echo of the little inn’s death tore at me, but I would survive. I had a lot going for me. I had people who loved me. I mattered to them and when I fell, they caught me and put me back on my feet.
“Are you going to leave with Arland?” I asked.
“I haven’t decided.”
“Do you love him?”
She sighed, her face pained. “I’m trying to figure that out. He’s going to ask me to marry him tonight.”
“How do you know?”
“I spied on his conversation with his uncle.” Maud sighed. “I’m so stupid, Dina. I stood there like some love-stricken teenager and when he told his uncle he wanted to marry me, I felt… I felt things.”
“Are you going to accept?”
“No. I barely know him. I’m a mother. It’s not just my life at stake here. It’s also Helen’s. Besides, you would be left alone again.”
“I’m not alone.” I tilted my head and glanced at Sean. He must’ve felt me looking, because he turned and looked back at me. “I have someone, too.”
“It’s like that then?” Maud smiled.
“It is. If you like Arland, I’m sure he will find a way to let you figure out if you love him.”
“This crest—” she touched the crest on her armor “gives me the right to enter the territory of House Krahr as a free agent. If I turn him down and he invites me to come with him anyway, I may do that.”
“You will always have a place here. And it’s not like you’ll be far away. Arland pops over any time he pleases. If you give Arland a chance, he will take care of you and of her. You need someone to take care of you, Maud, whether you want to admit it or not.”
“I want more than that.” She bit her lip.
“I know.” I had no questions as to why Arland threw himself at that flower. He did it for me and Sean and all the others, but most of all he did it for Maud and Helen.
Maud stared away. I glanced in the direction of her gaze and saw Arland. He was looking back at her, and his eyes were warm and wistful. He never looked at me like that.
“It’s going to be difficult,” she said. “I’ll be an outcast again. I bring no money, no alliances, and no benefits. Only me and Helen. It would be Melizard all over again, with having to prove my worth. His family never did accept me. It would take a lot of work to win over another vampire House.”
“You will roll over them like a bulldozer. By the end of this year, they will be eating out of your hand. Lord Soren is already making plans.”
“What? How do you know?”
I thought of telling her about our conversation on the subject of family military service and genetic abnormalities and decided it would be more fun to leave it a surprise. “Just a feeling I have.”
She squinted at me. “What are you not telling me?”
“You should go and try it,” I told her. “Gertrude Hunt isn’t going anywhere. You can always come back. Once I figure out where to start looking for Mom and Dad, I’ll reach out.”