Page 94 of Luna Rising

“What about Archer? Ghosts have a fuck ton of power,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, but Archer isn’t actually dead, so I don’t know if he has more, less, or the same amount of power as a normal ghost.”

“You know who would know? Winter.”

He finished his bottled blood. “You ready to tell her about Lena?”

“You ready to tell Walter that you want to bring Lucca Guerra to Traitor’s Hell?”

Ewan laughed. “I can’t wait to tell him. There is something I want to do first. It’s important to me, and I’m asking you to just go along with it, okay? Please?”

“Yeah, of course. What is it?”

“Bury Angelica and Kiernan’s parents. I don’t know what’s going to happen in Traitor’s Hell. So much could go wrong. I want to do this before we leave.”

“Okay,” I said. “Should I put on a nice dress or is this more of an informal affair?”

His relief was palpable in the bond. “Wear whatever you like.”

Because I was trying to be amenable, and my skin was impervious to the cold, I wore a sleeveless black dress to bury the woman who’d killed me and the others who’d tried. There were only a handful of invitees. Birch, Charlie, and Kilbi came. She and I didn’t speak, and she was too busy crying to shoot me dirty looks, so that was something.

Mrs. Wynn and Kiernan were the only others in attendance. She held him while he sobbed into her shoulder. My heart hurt for him, and I was glad that Ewan had decided to give his parents a proper burial. Kiernan thanked him, which I found to be the saddest part of the entire joint funeral. Sure, it was good manners and all, but Ewan had killed Kiernan’s parents, which just made the whole exchange feel wrong.

Ewan’s mom had everyone back to her house for dinner. He and I sat and talked with his friends while they ate, and we waited for confirmation from Tish that she and Lucca would meet us in Traitor’s Hell. It was nice. Even Kilbi laughed and smiled, making her much less unpleasant to be around.

With only a few hours until we were due to meet Elder Verdes at the diner, we headed up to see Winter and her family. I still had mixed feelings about telling the Sables and Walter about the cure, and Ewan was totally against the idea. But we didn’t really have a choice since Mat knew we had it. Plus, well, I was a coward, and I thought maybe Essie and Colleen could convince Winter that Lena wasn’t the best use of our one dose, and then I wouldn’t have to tell her that her friend was an asshole who’d never been her friend at all.

Essie had already worked out that Winter would need to channel power to open the portal but had been uncertain of the amount, though she’d thought less than the thirteen eternals Mat ordered. Personally, I thought he just liked the symbolism of it all. This was when we divulged our first secret, about Tish and Lucca.

Walter was not pleased that we’d gone to see them and even less happy that we’d asked them to meet us in Traitor’s Hell. Good thing I didn’t give a damn how he felt, otherwise we would have be short a pair of eternals for Demi’s release party.

Announcing we had the cure and wanted to give it to Mat went over better than our visit to Tish, except where Winter was concerned. She was vehement that Lena deserved it.

“Would you like to tell her?” I asked Walter, secretly hoping he would because her tears were already breaking my heart.

We locked eyes, an understanding passing between us. He knew that I knew that he had his fingers all up in the vampire attacks. “Yeah, we caught her late last night. I’m afraid she was always working for Mat.”

“What? No. You’re lying. Zara, say he’s lying.” Her green eyes filled with tears. “That can’t be true. Zara? Did you hear her say that? I thought you said Zara could talk to her when you caught her?” Winter glared at Walter as if he was the one who’d turned Lena.

“Yeah. Well, the alpha got growly about his mate leaving the mountains without a chaperone, so I gave my people the go ahead to question her. Mat told Zara about Lena.”

“Was the category things that didn’t happen for two-thousand?” Ewan muttered only loud enough for me to hear.

“I’m sorry, Winter. I know you cared a lot about her,” I said, the words of comfort sounding awkward coming from me.

Colleen rubbed her back. “She fooled me, too. I never found her suspicious.” To me, she said, “Did it sound like Mat wanted the cure to use on himself or so you couldn’t use it on him?”

“I assume the second one. Why? Do you think he wants to be mortal?” I asked.

It was Essie who responded. “I’ve been alive a lot less time than Mat, and when my time comes, I’m ready to go. Imagine having spent centuries alone, with no mate and no friends. Only your anger. That’s a sad existence, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, but he could end it,” I pointed out. “He has options if he’s really that unhappy.”

“Death won’t make him happy. He knows that,” Essie said. “A normal life with Demi might. Either way, I would advise against telling anyone outside of this room about the cure. Let everyone else believe he left this realm immortal.”

Ewan and I had already agreed that the secret would never go any farther than the Sables and Walter, so Essie’s advice was easy to accept. He and I returned home to drink blood before we needed to leave, giving Winter a chance to get her emotions under control and Essie time to pack a bag of potions and whatnot that we might need in Traitor’s Hell.

Walter escorted us to the door. “Why didn’t you get her the truth about the attacks?” he asked me.

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