Quen stood beside me as I sat in that chair and cried as the room slowly became quiet. “I know you’re hurting, but thank you for bringing Trent home.”

Wiping my eyes, I looked up, sealing the pain away for later if I survived this. I couldn’t tell what Trent was thinking. That I should be stronger, maybe. I hated it when he was right. “How long until he finds us?” I asked Bis, and he shrugged, wingtips touching above his head.

“Soon.” Quen glanced at Trent as if he needed his permission. “Bis fixed the line, and when Ku’Sox finishes his tantrum and realizes it, he will come investigate.”

“Sorry,” Bis grumbled, and I reached to touch his foot in reassurance, getting a flash of the jangle of lines. “The line hurt, and now it doesn’t.”

“Bis tells me that his family kept Ku’Sox from damaging the church, but the spell I put on it is gone,” Quen added. “And Nick. Ivy and Jenks are fine.”

I shrugged, not caring—about Nick, not Ivy and Jenks. The fact that the gargoyles had fought to protect those I loved was more than I could ever repay.

“We should leave,” Trent said, standing up behind his desk and taking his lab coat off.

“Where to, Sa’han?” Quen said, and I did nothing, staring at nothing as Trent began to pace. Behind him, his fish swam in a smaller tank, and I watched them listlessly. I wasn’t sure who had the master ring, but I knew they wouldn’t volunteer to take mine off until they felt safe, and every time I asked and they said no, I felt another part of me die. There was no such thing as safe. When Ku’Sox was dead? When the demons were gone? When the vampire threat was nulled?

“Not you, just Bis and I need to leave,” I said, and Trent spun on a heel to give me an incredulous look. “Now,” I said, lurching to my feet and sourly waving off Quen when he tried to steady me. His finger was bare. “If Bis and I can fix another line, it will give Ku’Sox somewhere else to look.”

“I’m coming with you.” Trent was at his desk, his motions quick as he jotted notes.

“No, you’re not.” If I wasn’t so angry about being tricked into reinvoking the slavers, I would have laughed at the stupidity of the situation. Couldn’t you be wrong at least once, Al? “You’ll curse me every time Ku’Sox shows up.”

“I can’t stay here.” Trent flexed his arm as if it was in pain as he paused in his writing. “Besides, it wasn’t me who threw the curse at you. It was Ku’Sox.”