“Big surprise.” Not ready to let this go, I looked at them on their little black saucer. One was tiny, like a child’s ring, which made sense if it was to keep young people in line. “I know someone who can bring spent ley line charms back to life,” I said as I picked them both up.

Quen made a small sound, and I jiggled them in my hand.

“Pierce!” Jenks exclaimed, his wings a harsh rattle. “You’re talking about Pierce! He’s Newt’s familiar! Rache, what have you been putting in your coffee?”

Smiling, I looked at the rings in my palm. Quen was right. They were dead. Not even a whisper of magic.

“Don’t put the little one on!” Quen said as I angled it to my pinkie to see if it would fit, and I hesitated. “That’s the subservient ring. Once it goes on, it doesn’t come off until the master ring allows it.”

Oh. Thinking, I jiggled the rings just to watch Quen’s reaction. “You said they don’t work.”

“You want to risk it? Go ahead. Put it on.”

Jenks came to hover over them, frowning in disapproval. “Even if you could get the rings reinvoked, Pierce is in the ever-after,” he said, kicking the larger one into the smaller. It made a ping that seemed to echo through me.

“Why are you two always Debbie downers?” I said, closing my fingers around them.

Jenks landed on my closed fist. “Just what do you plan to do? Call Newt and ask her to pop you over? She’s nuts!”

From behind me, Trent’s soft voice said, “She doesn’t have to.”

I spun, warming as if I’d been caught stealing his stuff again. Shit, how long had he been there?

“Sorry,” he said as he came farther in and took his hand from the closed door. “I didn’t want to wake Ray up.”

Sure, that’s what he said, but Jenks was smirking at me, and Quen seemed smug that I was the only one Trent had surprised. His manner quick, Trent held out his hand, and I dropped the rings into them. He smelled like the outdoors, and of Ellasbeth’s perfume. I stifled a surge of pique. There was a new drive in him, a purpose. He could again be what the elves wanted, and I forced myself to smile.

Quen looked pained as he stood there, but I couldn’t tell if it was because of his injuries or because Trent was behind me on this. “How do you propose she get there, Sa’han?”

Trent looked up, eager to explain. “My father’s vault door.”

“Perfect!” I exclaimed softly.

“Oh God,” Jenks muttered. “They’re at it again. I’m not going to get out of this one alive. I know it. I can see the web on the wall already!”