Page 70 of Malice
“Isn’t it obvious?” Malice countered.
“No?”
“Desperation.”
“How can desperation supersede magic?” Grim asked. “They shouldn’t have even been able to see the place.”
“But desperate people with nowhere to go will push through discomfort in search of safety. To them, it looked like nothing more than uninhabited land. Even if their hackles were raised by the wards, they might still continue on in the hope they’d find salvation. Humans are nothing if not stubborn.”
“What’s the point of wards, then?” Grim grumbled.
“Well, they were never going to be a physical barrier for humans. Just a repellent.”
“Maybe it should have been,” Grim said.
“They weren’t the ones we were worried about,” I reminded him.
“If the humans found us, does that mean Lucifer can?” Merri asked, her voice small and tight.
I pulled her in closer and squeezed her. I didn’t have an answer for her, and neither did the others.
She looked up at me, something flashing across her face before she asked, “Was this because of Christian being injured? Did that somehow weaken the wards?”
“No,” Malice answered. “The magic doesn’t work like that. Wards weaken over time, but he just replenished them, so they should be as strong as ever.”
“Maybe someone spotted Merri when she fell through the wards and decided to come investigate,” I said.
“The shore was visible from my vantage point after I surfaced in the lake.” Merri pulled away from me and blurted, “Oh God, did I cause this?”
“It certainly didn’t fucking help.” Malice could be a real asshole most days. Today wasn’t an exception.
“So our cover is blown. Do we need to run?”
“No,” Grim said. “We stay, shore up the wards once Christian is at full strength, and we stay the course.”
“Grim’s right. We have to hold our ground and focus on beating Lucifer at his own game.” At Sin’s words, Merri turned and rushed to where he was standing, bloody, a little unsteady, but healed.
“Sin! Are you okay? Do you hurt anywhere?” She ran her hands over his face and across his throat as though searching for wounds.
“If I say it hurts, will you kiss it better?”
She wrinkled her nose as she inspected the gore-specked front of him. “If you really need me to...”
He laughed and pulled her in for a hug. “Nah. I already have everything I need.”
The implication was clear and none of us, including Merri, missed it.
“For someone who just nearly had their head blown off, you look quite chipper,” Malice said.
Sin beamed, his arms never leaving Merri. “Of course I fucking do. My girl loves me.”
All of us except Grim visibly startled.
“I do?” she asked.
“Babe, everyone knows that razing your lover’s enemies to the ground is the number one sign of true love. I might be a horseman, but I was an actor first. I’m practically an expert in love stories.”
His logic was flawed, as romantic as it was. I had never loved anyone, but I’ve razed entire armies simply for the sake of bloodlust.
