Thane sat in the ruined corridor with his back against the wall, his knees pulled up and his head in his hands. Boman stood next to him with a fading bruise on the side of his face, as though he’d fallen face first.

Thane turned his head, his bleary eyes finding me. “You made it,” he said.

“I made it? You made it! Are you okay? I felt your soul, but you were lying facedown.” I stopped beside him and bent, putting a hand on his hard shoulder.

“That ol’ Demigod rang my bell.” He groaned as he moved, slowly inching up the wall until standing. “Can we go home now, sir? I’m done in.”

“Yes. Daisy?” Kieran turned to the quiet teen coming up behind us, her eyes puffy, looking unsure.

My heart broke. Daisy had thought she would lose me like she’d almost lost Mordecai. She had thought I would be taken from her. The fear hadn’t yet faded, and it was written across her face. She was as tough as they came, but she was still a kid, and I was her lifeline. In the turbulent world in which she lived, I was her rock, like any parent would be.

Tears came to my eyes, and emotion filled the soul link. Kieran had pieced together what I was thinking.

“Thane blew this place to hell,” he told Daisy softly. “Go ahead and take whatever you want. On the sly, mind. Just make sure you can fit it in a bag and get it out of here.”

Daisy’s eyes lit up. She’d make the most of it.

“I call dibs on some of those weird stuffed animals,” Bria said quickly, and limped back the way we’d come. “I’m not going to be sly about it, either. I earned it. Fuckers.”

Kieran started forward again, quiet for a moment. “I felt how you reacted to Magnus,” he said, glancing at me. “I’m not going to entirely warn you away from him. There is definite strategy at play in what he’s doing, but he just put a ‘do not disturb’ sign on your head. He protected you in a major way. He didn’t have to—there were other ways to get me to back off—so his choice should be acknowledged.”

“But?” I whispered, the tears flowing. All the emotion of the last few hours was catching up to me.

“But…Magnus will always have an end game in mind. He will always look for the thing that benefits him most. He has lived a long, prestigious life doing exactly that. With him, it is always wise to exercise caution.”

“Says the man that had a big blind spot to Demigod Lydia,” Mordecai grumbled.

Thane and Donovan laughed.

“He’s got you there,” Donovan said, rubbing welts on his wrists that hadn’t healed yet. Apparently they’d all been tied up, not just Kieran.

“This is a lesson I won’t soon forget,” Kieran mumbled, turning toward the guest suites. “I think I’ll wait until after the summit before I visit anyone else. I need alliances. Solid, concrete alliances. Despite what Magnus said, the magical laws are only as good as those who enforce them, and those who enforce them have to know something is going on first. Demigods are good about operating behind closed doors. I need people who will cry foul if someone does me wrong. Otherwise we’ll never be truly protected.”

“Remember that shadow that helped with Will Green and Valens?” I still couldn’t get my mind around it. “It also kicked me out of spirit the day we fought Valens, preventing me from coming to, gasping and then drowning before you were there to save me. If it hadn’t, that would’ve been the end of me.” I blew out a breath, preparing myself to even say it out loud. “That was Magnus.”

Kieran looked down at me with a furrowed brow. “You’re sure?”

“Yes. It was the same guy I saw here today, He was helping me before we battled Valens. Before anyone knew I existed.”

Back in the suite, Kieran ignored everyone working around us, packing up and getting ready. He stared down into my eyes. “He must’ve known what you were.”

“Yes.”

“Can’t you find anyone in spirit, no matter where they’re physically located?”

“You have to know the person, or have something of theirs. He wouldn’t have been on hand to help me if he hadn’t been keeping tabs on my activities.” I took a deep breath. “He wouldn’t bother keeping tabs on a stranger.”

“But…” He shook his head. “He could’ve grabbed you anytime back then. I was keeping watch on you, but not to the degree I would’ve needed to protect you from a Demigod. Our greatest defense was my father not knowing about you. If Magnus knew about you back then, why is he only showing an interest now?”

“He showed an interest when he first started to help me. He’s only doing something about that interest now…after I went public with my magic. After people started wondering whose daughter I was.”

Another thought curled through my head, and I knew Kieran was thinking the same thing. Had my father known about me before Kieran did?

Kieran wrapped his arms around me. “He wouldn’t have known your specialty before we tested you,” he said, answering my unspoken question. “No one could’ve known that, not even your mother. Powerful in magic, sure. Some sort of Necromancer or Medium, definitely. But not a Spirit Walker. The abilities you knew how to use weren’t enough for someone to classify your magic without the test. Given my father didn’t even know about the test, there’s no way Magnus knew. The question is, when Magnus did figure out what you were…why didn’t he act? Why help, but leave you as you were?”

Tingles ran through my body. Only Magnus could answer that question. And one day, when we did have that protection Kieran spoke of, I desperately wanted to ask.

33

Alexis

I held Kieran’s hand as we walked along the sandy path leading to the cliff overlooking the ocean. It was the overlook where I’d first agreed to work for him. It was now one of the few places we could escape a life in the limelight and steal a few quiet moments alone.

I sorely needed it.

It had been one month since the incident with Lydia, and even though Amber had only sent choice bits of the footage to a select group of powerful people, someone had leaked. Maybe even Lydia’s own staff had leaked it. Regardless, various parts of the battle had gone viral. Among the favorites were a few clips that showed the more terrifying aspects of my magic. In one, I looked at a group of Lydia’s people and they dropped bonelessly to the ground. In another, a few of the enemy forces fell, only to rise again and charge back against their own people. I’d embodied the tales and legends of old and wrapped them in modern times. Any fear of my magic that had died down had found a resurgence. Some called for my death, some thought I should be locked up, and some thought I was actually Satan. The last two were primarily cries from Chesters.

Surprisingly, magical San Francisco had come together to cheer me on. They combated the naysayers with their pride in me. The magic wasn’t as scary when you were protected by it, I wagered.

It was Dylan who’d really blown the world away, although not solely because of his magic. For the first time, the magical world at large learned that Amell Maccini was still alive. That he’d chosen to join Kieran’s team over anyone else’s. His videos were watched over and over, but it was the video where he jerked me back and fried the enemy that had gotten the most engagement. He was dubbed a white knight, incredibly handsome and gallant. He was the savior of the mistress of magical San Francisco. He was the most eligible bachelor of the year.