“Yeah . . . uh, I’m going to need to meet you at the parish hall,” she said. “I need to turn myself in. I kind of murdered someone. I’m not particularly sorry about it, but I feel like it’s going to result in a lot of paperwork for you. And Jillian.”

Bael sputtered. “I’m sorry, what?”

Zed did, indeed, turn himself in to Bael officially at the parish hall. Jillian and Bael met them there, with Clarissa, who had blankets, brandy and blueberry pie. Zed draped Dani in his office chair and put a bottle of water to her lips. Dani had managed to hold on to Zed’s back on the motorcycle, but he could tell it had taxed what physical strength she had left. He covered her with the quilt Clarissa brought.

“Are you going to spoon feed me next?” Dani asked, raising her eyebrows.

Zed nodded. “If that’s what it takes.”

Clarissa shooed him away. “Here, let me fuss over her. You go talk to Bael. He’s about to chew through his desk.”

Bael was, indeed, sitting at his desk, wearing his official uniform, including the hat. Zed supposed this was meant to convey that he was acting officially as sheriff of Mystic Bayou, not as Zed’s friend. Jillian was wringing her hands in her lap, struggling to keep her cool. It took Dani shuffling into Bael’s office, still wrapped in the quilt, to get Jillian to stop glancing across the complex anxiously.

“I thought I told you to rest,” Zed said.

“It’s cute you thought that would work,” Dani replied.

Zed grumbled, but settled Dani on his lap.

“If you’ll recall, I was semi-conscious for most of this, and I’d like to know what happened,” Dani said, then she went through what she remembered, starting with her abduction from Zed’s house and concluding with Lara’s snarky gloating over her murder of Maureen and tampering with the rift. Zed carefully relayed his version of events from that afternoon, including Dani’s heroics with her lightning ball and Zed’s throwing Lara into the rift, and then he waited for Bael to hand him his ass for taking justice into his own hands.

“So you tossed her into the rift and she just—ttthhhp—disappeared?” Bael asked.

“Yes,” Zed said. “I don’t regret it. She was a danger to our community and to my mate.”

“Last time I checked, you were elected mayor, not judge, jury, and executioner,” Bael reminded her.

“When Simon Malfater took Jillian, you attacked him in dragon form and tried to burn him alive,” Zed said.

Bael shrugged. “Yeah, but I missed, so it doesn’t count.”

“So am I going to be charged with murder? That’s probably going to get me impeached,” Zed muttered.

“Not if our current political climate is any indication,” Dani said.