Then Veritas turned around. “The child and the sword will remain, but I will have some of the demon’s bones.”

It wasn’t a question. I sucked in a breath out of sheer terror. What if she wanted it to plunge into Katie’s—Denise’s?—eyes?

Mencheres went over to the demon’s body, snapping off one of Trove’s arms as though it were nothing more than a dry twig.

“Sufficient?” he asked, holding it out.

Veritas took it, eyeing it critically. “It will do.”

Then, to my vast, relief, she walked past Katie’s crumpled form without a single glance to join the other Law Guardians.

None of them looked at me. That was fine. I never wanted to see any of them again.

“We are finished,” the white-haired leader stated. “Your cooperation will be remembered, Mencheres.”

“As will his betrayal,” Bones immediately replied, speaking the first words he’d uttered out loud since Thonos had grabbed Katie.

Then he stared at Mencheres.

“I swore by my blood to co-rule our lines. For my people’s sake, I won’t rescind that, but my wife and I are leaving, and you won’t see us for a very long time.”

Mencheres bowed his head. “I understand, and once again, I am truly sorry.”

“Too bloody right you are,” Ian said in disgust.

He went over to Trove, stripping the demon’s jacket off his bony remains. Then Ian took it and wrapped Katie’s body in it, head and all. From how small she was, it covered her entirely.

Marie, the Law Guardians, and the council members left without saying anything else. For several moments, the clatter of their footsteps echoed on the ruined floor of the book depository; and then there was silence. The oppressive power they’d given off dissipated as well, until nothing remained except the energy that radiated from Mencheres.

With a tangible snap, the cocoon I’d been encased in disappeared. So did Bones’s and Tate’s. Both of us rushed to the hump of clothes in front of Ian, but Tate went straight to Mencheres and punched him so hard, I heard the bones in his hand shatter.

“I’ll kill you for this,” he swore in a strangled voice.

The pulse of power I felt was probably Mencheres putting him back in an invisible restraint, but I didn’t move away from the small humps in front of me. My hand stretched out, and then I stopped. I was afraid to pull back the cloth and afraid not to. Would I find everything I’d hoped for, or realize that everything I’d feared had come true?

Mencheres knelt next to us. When he stared at the lumps beneath the coat, resignation flickered across his darkly handsome features.

“Charles will kill me once he hears of this.”

“Only after he’s finished frying my arse,” Bones replied in an equally grim tone.