Storm Cursed (Mercy Thompson #11)(100)

He looked at the senator. “The goblin king took care of the dead at your brother’s house. You won’t find the bodies of your people, either. But Uncle Mike tells me that your Ruth has photos, so you can identify them.”

“Took care of them?” he said. Then a little less hostilely he said, “The goblin king?”

“He would have treated them with respect,” I said, and I was sure I was right. Though what respect meant to a goblin and what it meant to Jake Campbell might not be quite the same thing. “His daughter was among the dead there. She tried to see what was going on and was killed by the witches.”

“I see,” he said.

“I will need help to lay them all out,” said Zee. “Tad and I can do it, but it will take longer and we want to get the bodies out of the way before the neighbors awake, yes?”

“The wolves are on their way,” said Adam.

“Did you call them?” I asked.

He shook his head. “But I opened the bonds and they have been looking. They will be here in a few minutes.”

The senator had been steadfastly not looking at Adam or me, and now that matters had calmed a bit, I knew why.

“I’ll just go get some clothes for us,” I said. “And the first-aid kit for your leg, Senator.”

I went to the garden first. I gathered up my clothes and put them on, including the concealed-carry holster and my gun—which reminded me that my cutlass was out there in the darkness somewhere. I’d have to go look for it when things calmed down.

I tied my tennis shoes and then took two steps into Elizaveta’s garden. The crow’s magic was gone. It was just an inanimate husk tied to a scarecrow now.

I was glad Elizaveta was dead.

I would miss the person I’d thought she was, even though that person was plenty scary. I would miss having her as one of the pieces I counted on to keep the people I loved safe. I worried about the vacuum she left behind. Someone would come, another witch, to take over this territory.

I was still glad that Elizaveta was dead.

I jogged over to Adam’s SUV and grabbed the first-aid kit and the spare set of clothes he kept in his gym bag. I started to go, and then turned back and grabbed a wet wipe out of the package he kept in the SUV to clean up messes.

Adam was talking to the senator when I got back.

“—can take you to a hotel, or Uncle Mike’s, or you can go wait at my home if you’d like,” Adam said.

The senator said, “I think I would like to see this through to the end.”

“Okay,” Adam said. “If you change your mind, just let me know.”

I gave Adam his clothes and watched him dress. When he was finished, he caught the expression on my face.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

I reached up and, very thoroughly, used the wet wipe to clean his mouth. Because I’d had time to analyze what I’d seen in his eyes right before he kissed Elizaveta. It had been horror.

Adam didn’t react, just let me finish washing away the stains. Not his stains, but the witch’s filthy magic and the results of Elizaveta’s choices brought to fruition and set on Adam’s plate. I cleaned those things from my mate. He closed his eyes when I was done and rested his face against my hand.

When he opened them again, they were blazing yellow.

“That is mine,” I told him sternly. “Be careful what you do with it.”

He dropped down on one knee, took my hand, and kissed the palm. “As you wish,” he said.

I kissed the top of his head. “I love you, too.”

He put his face against my belly and whispered, so softly that only I would hear it.

“Nudge.”

I laughed and ruffled his hair. “Work now, play later.”

“Promise?” There was humor in the quirk of his lip, but his eyes were serious, almost grim.



* * *



? ? ?

“I will not ask her to care for the black-magic users,” Zee said, coming up to me where I sat on one of the few unbroken chairs.

I was bone tired and I needed a shower. It took me a moment to figure out that “her” was the earth.

“All right,” I said.

“That would be profane,” he told me, as if I had argued with him.

I took a breath, girded up my loins (figuratively speaking), and thought about what he’d said. He had a problem. We had a problem. I could figure out problems if they came at me one at a time.

“We need to burn the house,” I said. “I don’t want whatever witch comes to take over to start with this house. We can put Elizaveta and the Hardesty witches’ bodies in there to burn.”

“It’s not just them,” Zee said. “There are black-magic practitioners who were made into reanimates, too. Rivals, maybe.”

“There are over two hundred zombies out there,” I told him. “I don’t know that I could pick out the difference between zombies who were turned into zombies by black magic and zombies who were also black-magic users.”

He nodded his head shortly. “I can. I will. We will just use the wolves to move the bodies.”

“We buried the ashes of Elizaveta’s family in her garden,” I told him. “We found the bones of her victims buried there.”

He grunted. “The ashes won’t be a problem, though it is good to know that they are there. And I wouldn’t recommend anyone eating out of that garden. I think I can take care of that at the same time.”