“It wasn’t remarkable, Ha-Lah. It scared the shite out of me.”

I pressed my lips together.

He carried on scowling.

“Can we get them back and dry and away from this gods-damned place?” Cassius demanded.

“Of course, the ritual is done, the spell complete. We can go now,” Melisse stated calmly.

She had barely finished speaking before Aramus was guiding me toward our mounts.

I went with him, for he was in a state.

But I did so looking back, to Elena, who was similarly being “guided” (though it appeared more like she was being dragged) to her mount by Cassius.

To Silence, who was actually being carried by Mars.

Also, to Farah, who was tucked so closely to True’s side, it was difficult to see where she ended and True started.

And last, to Serena, who was talking calmly with Chu, still at The Cauldron.

They were all casting glances around as well, we were catching eyes, catching smiles, sharing spirits.

The future was a complete unknown.

But in the present, I had this.

I had these people.

I had my sisters.

And we…were…

Magnificent.

140

The Revelation

Teddy

Office of the Head Constable, Crittich Keep, Notting Thicket

WODELL

“You’ll wait here a moment, if you don’t mind,” the head constable murmured after one of his men put his head around the door.

“We don’t mind,” Teddy murmured back, though it was clear Faunus minded.

Sitting at one side of him, Teddy saw him shifting in his seat.

The constable rose from behind his desk and left the room.

“We should be finished soon,” Teddy said to Faunus when the door closed behind the constable.

Faunus said nothing.

“He’s keen to take you home,” Moira declared from his other side.

Teddy looked her way.

“I am patient to do whatever Teddy feels needs done,” Faunus decreed.

“You want to be done with Wodell in order to take him away,” she retorted.

“Of course, I want to go home, and as it is also Teddy’s home, take him with me,” Faunus returned.

“Wodell is Teddy’s home,” she fired back.

“Firenze is Teddy’s home,” Faunus retorted.

“Look at him,” she demanded, tossing a hand to Teddy. “Does he look Firenz to you?”

“He…is…Firenz,” Faunus growled.

Teddy turned his gaze to the ceiling and then he looked to Saturn, who was standing behind Moira’s chair.

It had been days of this bickering.

Faunus laying claim.

Moira laying hers in return.

He had gone his whole life, until recently, without anyone giving any real shite about him, and now two people he cared about deeply were constantly fighting over him.

And when he laid eyes on Saturn, he saw a muscle jump up his jaw, and Teddy read this as Saturn being angry, at him, for he thought Moira had feelings for him in a manner that she did not.