“Xun Guan, no!” I said, a crazy thought occurring to me. “Ian had every right to be here as my backup!”
Xun Guan didn’t relax her stance. “What law protects him as you claim?”
I gulped in a breath of air. I’d need it to help get out this monstrosity of a lie. “The law giving spouses permission to go anywhere their husband or wife is.”
“What?” Ian said with all the disbelief Xun Guan showed.
“No,” Xun Guan breathed. “He cannot be your husband.”
I tried to laugh but it came out as a high-pitched giggle. “We were going to wait to tell everyone, but saving his life takes priority over spoiling the surprise—”
“The surprise?” Ian repeated, his tone bordering on shrill.
I laughed again and it was worse. Cackling witches would envy what had come out of my mouth. “Don’t mind him, he’s still getting used to matrimony. But as my husband, he’s allowed to go anywhere I go. That’s why he was my backup tonight. I taught him that spell in case I got into trouble, which he had every reason to believe when you caught me in that web and failed to identify yourself as a Law Guardian.”
Finally, Ian got over his horror enough to understand where I was going with this. He still looked rattled, but he stopped arguing. Xun Guan didn’t.
“I know who he is,” she said flatly. “I find it hard to believe you would lower yourself to marry one such as he.”
Anger flashed in Ian’s gaze. Then it vanished and he smiled with luxuriant sensuality. “You’d be amazed at what I can get people to do.”
“Your wiles are wasted on me,” Xun Guan said coldly.
“Obviously,” he continued in the same purr. “You’re too hot for Veritas. While I’d normally find that arousing, I don’t share what’s mine. So . . .” he flicked his fingers in a clear translation of back off.
Xun Guan gave him another withering look before returning her gaze to me. “I understand why you wouldn’t tell the council, but why would you keep news of your matrimony from me?”
I heard the slight waver in her voice at that last word and felt awful. I hated lying to her. Xun Guan was precious to me, but that was the point. I couldn’t risk her life if they fought. I also couldn’t risk Ian being brought before the council. He’d say something worthy of death within five minutes. Lying was the best way out of this, and while it hurt her, it also saved her. And him. That mattered more than anyone’s temporary discomfort.
“I knew you wouldn’t approve,” I said softly.
She blinked and it could have been a trick of the moonlight, but I thought I saw a tear. Then her lovely expression hardened. “Prove to me he’s your husband.”
“You want to interrogate the marriage ceremony witnesses?” If so, who could I get to say they were there . . . ?
“No, repeat your vows,” Xun Guan stated. “Now.”
“Xun Guan.” My voice was sharp from the dread erupting in me. “You ask too much. You know how I cherish my privacy.”
“He doesn’t,” she said, using her sword to point in Ian’s direction. “I’ve seen one of his many Internet videos. You ask me to ignore a magical attempt on my life and you bringing a civilian to a high-level raid. I cannot do that without proof. If he is what you say he is, why hesitate to repeat your vows?”
Ian’s gaze swung toward me. The horror it contained made my body turn to ice. He was going to refuse. Then Xun Guan was going to raise her sword and Ian would conjure up a killing spell and I couldn’t get between them because I was stuck in this damn web! Panic swelled until I vibrated from it. I had to stop him before he blasted apart our only attempt to resolve this without someone dying.
Freeze, I thought urgently, trying to will the necessary power out of myself. For the love of all the gods, freeze!
Chapter 20
My power spilled out. Not in its usual flash, but like a fog rolling in, from how drunk and depleted I was. For a few moments, I watched as Ian’s mouth opened to protest and Xun Guan’s sword started rising. Then, they slowed until they both froze where they were. I wasn’t sure I’d summoned enough power to encapsulate more than the two of them until I saw the brunet Enforcer freeze in mid ball-scratch and the other Enforcer’s head stay half angled so she could get a better look at Ian’s ass.
The only one that wasn’t frozen was the creature in the bloody blankets. Tiny arms continued to beat at the air while its wails made my head feel like it would split open. It proved Ian was right, though. Only demons and other demon-kin were immune to this type of magic.
I freed Ian from his stasis and started talking fast. “I can’t hold this for long, so be reasonable. I don’t like the thought of marrying you, but we have to do this. Would you rather die?”
“Yes,” he said at once.
Okay, I hadn’t been expecting that intractable of a response. “But it’s not like the marriage will be real.”
“Repeating vows in front of witnesses makes it real.” He began to pace in front of where I was stuck. He also kept giving Xun Guan’s frozen form several dangerous looks. “Why don’t we just leave? She certainly can’t stop us now.”
As if I hadn’t thought of that. “Sure. Pull me out of this web and let’s get going.”
He tried and began cursing when his first touch caused the same impossibly sticky strands to latch onto his hand and not let go. Soon, he was using every magic trick he knew in an attempt to free himself, and his hand still remained stuck.
“Not as easy as you thought, is it?” I said sarcastically. “This spell can only be revoked by the same person who cast it, and I know because I taught it to her.”
He gave me a fraught look. “But vampires can never divorce. Worse, our laws say you can kill anyone I shag!”
“Oh, now you care about the laws?”
“I care about my freedom.” Instantly. “It’s all I have left.”
I seized on that. “That’s right, one of us will probably die before this thing with Dagon is over, so you’re not sacrificing your freedom if that turns out to be me!”
“And if it’s me, I’d die a married man.” He shuddered. “I’d rather take my chances in a fight with her.”
The outline around my small time-bubble began to waver. Soon, it would drop. I might only have seconds left. “And if she kills you, you’ll go straight to hell, or have you forgotten Dagon’s claim on your soul?”
He gave Xun Guan another withering look. “She can’t kill me because of Dagon’s brands on me.”
“She’s a two-thousand-year-old Law Guardian who knows about demon brands. When her sword won’t do the trick, she’ll stab your eyes out with the demon bone she always carries on her.”
“Not if I kill her first,” he replied darkly.
“You can’t,” I said, anguish gripping me at the thought.
A harsh smile curled his lips. “So I was right about you two. Seems you broke your ‘no vampires’ rule for her.”
Appealing to his reason and residual sense of mercy wasn’t working. I had to make a play for his selfishness instead. “Let’s say you do kill her. You’d also have to kill the Enforcers, too, since they’d never let her death go unavenged. Then you’d have Guardians, Enforcers, and the council screaming for your blood plus a pissed-off demon on your tail. Even if I didn’t leave you to them for murdering my friend—and I would—how long do you think we’d last with that kind of heat on us? Is being technically married to me worth losing your soul and forfeiting your long-awaited revenge against Dagon?”