Page 114 of Wickedly Ever After
Hari blanched. “He…he’s a…”
“A construct, yes. I brought him back. I’m sorry. I should’ve told you both.”
“But—but what happened?” Hari stared helplessly at Tinbit sagging in Hector’s arms.
“I had to take his life for the magic I needed. I’ll put him in my room for now. Once I get him home, I’ll make the magic I need to make him live again. He’ll be fine.”
“But what about me? What about us? Will he even remember me?”
“Of course, he will,” Hector said, surprised. “I…I just wasn’t expecting—”
“You didn’t think I could love a dead man?” Hari asked, face flushed and furious.
“Something like that,” Hector said.
“Who are you to tell me who I can or can’t love? Put him back down. I’m not letting him out of my sight again. I’ll take care of him.” He folded his small hand over Tinbit’s. “I’m going to take care of him forever.”
“You’re sure?” Ida touched Hari’s shoulder.
“Not you too! Of course, I’m sure. I’d love him until the day I died, and I’m still alive. When Hector brings him back, I’m not breaking that promise. I’ll stay with him if he’ll let me.”
Ida hugged Hari. “I’m so happy for you, sweetheart!”
Hari burst into tears.
Baffled, Hector gently set Tinbit on the couch again. Cear gazed at him with something approaching pity in their blue eyes. He wished they wouldn’t look at him that way. But when he glanced at Ida, there was no pity in her face as she rocked the sobbing Hari. Only understanding.
***
Hector would’ve preferred a few more days in the mountains in which to contemplate his future. He didn’t look forward to going home, where he’d have about a hundred messages waiting on the crystal ball, all requiring his immediate attention. But he had a dead gnome to raise, and Ida needed far more healing than they could get from Tinbit’s salves.
Adair flew off to get a giant early the next morning. And although Hector insisted he didn’t need to, he took Hector on his back while the giant carried Ida, Hari, Cear, and Tinbit’s corpse in his basket.
“Once they learn you enchanted the princess so she could stay with my son, what will happen?” Adair asked, flapping quietly. “What will they do to you?”
“I don’t know,” Hector lied. Take his assets certainly, considering what he was planning to do. He still owned his mentor’s old gingerbread house deep in the woods, and anyway the retirement homes in the city would never suit him. They certainly wouldn’t allow him to bring his skeletons, whatever plants still lived, his hellhound, and his immense library. And what about Tinbit? He would argue, but in the end, he would probably go with Hari. Ida would certainly take care of them both. Hector would have to make this raising permanent so he didn’t have to maintain it anymore, and what would that cost him? He no longer had a heart to sacrifice.
“You’d always be welcome to stay with us,” Adair said.
“It’s a great honor, but I can’t,” he said. He’d worked most of his life to make sure the dragons were safe. There was no guarantee he’d be able to do that now. “Besides, you’ll have enough to do without entertaining guests,” he said, with a forced laugh.
“You’re not a guest, Hector—you’re family,” Adair said. “In two or three weeks, Amber will be laying her eggs. I owe you. Not only did you give Alistair his mate, you gave the dragons their next Flamelord. I’m already planning a feast in his honor once he’s back to his dragon self. I’m going to eat an entire rock buffalo. I have to grow fat and comfortable to be a good grand-dragon. I’d like you to be there for that.”
“I’ll try.” He could promise nothing. The outcome was so far from certain. But at least the journey home should be completely uneventful. And it was, until they reached Sebastian’s hostel.
“What happened?” Hector asked, climbing from Adair’s back as he landed at the base of the hill. There was no hostel. All that remained were a few stone walls. A column of dense black smoke rose from the ruin.
“Why are we stopping?” Ida sounded tired.
“The inn.” Hector gaped. “Where’s the inn?”
Sebastian’s head popped out of the middle of the air, livid. “Those stupid knights burned it, that’s what happened to my inn! Where’s that awful witch? I want to give her a piece of my mind!” He pulled his gray brain out of his skull and shook it in Hector’s face.
Ida stood in the basket, face pale, shoulder stained with blood through the bandage. “I’m here, you dreadful old ghoul.”
“You! You…you horrible hag! You malicious monster! How dare you!” Sebastian pointed his middle finger at Ida. “She sold me good magic! She’s responsible for this mess!”
Hector raised an eyebrow. “What would you want with good magic, Sebastian?”
