The wall disintegrated in an explosion of bricks. I pulled a piece of gauze from my pocket and wiped the blood from my nose. There wasn’t much. Occupational hazard of picking a fight with a man who killed gods for a living.
Curran let out a ragged snarl and punched the other wall. It burst and the entire wreck of the house came down in a fountain of dust. He shook his hand, his knuckles bloody.
“Bricks are hard,” I told him patiently, as if to a child. “Don’t hit bricks. No, no.”
Curran picked up a brick and snapped it in half.
Idiot. “Oh, you’re so strong, Your Majesty.”
Curran hurled the chunks of the brick. They cleared the ruins and vanished into the Unicorn.
“If Derek were in trouble, you’d risk your life in a heartbeat.”
He turned to me. “Risk, yes. I wouldn’t slit my own throat for him. I like Julie. She is a great kid. But I love you. I forbid you to do this.”
“That’s not the way this mating works. You don’t get to order me to do things, and I don’t get to tell you what to do. That’s the only way we can survive, Curran.”
He swallowed. “Fine. Then I will ask. Please, don’t do this. Please. That’s as much as I can bend, Kate.”
“Do you remember when I told you that you couldn’t fight Erra, that it was stupid and reckless, because she would drive you insane?”
Curran’s face snapped into his flat Beast Lord mask.
“I begged you not to go. Begged.” I closed the distance between us. “You told me that you don’t get to cherry-pick your battles and you came anyway.”
“And we won.”
“And you were in a coma for two weeks. Give me another brick so I can beat you over the head with it. I told you! I told you her magic would screw you up. Did you listen? No. Would you do it again?”
“Of course I would,” he snarled. “She kicked your ass twice. I wasn’t going to let you walk in there alone. She was a challenge and it was my job.”
“And my job is to keep Julie safe. Opening the device alone won’t be enough. I’ll need someone to channel the magic into me. I’m going to ask the witches for help. I promise you that if Evdokia says no, I will let it go.”
Curran stared at me, his eyes furious molten gold.
“I’m not going to run off, lop the top off the device, and slice Julie’s throat. I might as well just murder her in that case. I’ll have to speak with Doolittle about my blood. I’ll have to arrange things with the witches. I’ll have to talk to Kamen and see if the device can even be opened without triggering a giant explosion. I give you my word that if things look hopeless at any point, I will stop. Meet me halfway.
That’s all I’m asking.”
His face was grim.
“You have to let me at least try. I can’t just sit on my hands and do nothing.”
“If I keep you from doing this, you will leave me,” he said.
“I didn’t say that.” Giving an ultimatum to Curran was like waving a red cloak in front of a mad bull.
“You will. Maybe not right this second. But eventually you’ll walk away.” Curran took a long deep breath. “I sit in on every meeting.”
I had won.
“As long as you’re honest with me about your chances, I’ll support you. Kate, if you lie, it’s over.”
I crossed my arms. “You expect me to lie.”
“I don’t. I’m just getting it out there so there are no surprises.”
We stared at each other.
“Are we cool?” he asked.
“I don’t know, you tell . . .”
He pulled me over to him and kissed me. It was a hell of a kiss.
We broke apart.
“You talk too much,” he said.
“Whatever, Your Fluffiness.” I slid close to him, so his arm was around my shoulder. I felt better. He did, too—his posture lost some of the tension.
We walked to the car and kept walking. “Where are we going?”
“To the Temple,” Curran said. “I owe you another cookbook.”