A minute or so later, I saw her pass the hallway opening and continue into her room. She was dressed in her game robe and sandals, carrying her clothes folded against her chest. After about two and a half weeks, I’d started thinking of it as her room now.

  We’d talked casually about her giving up her apartment and moving down here. At least for as long as she was the FBI resident in charge. My van could probably haul whatever she had left back there. I’d make room in the garage somehow for anything that didn’t fit. Kitchen stuff, maybe. Things I already had but didn't need to double up on.

  I hurried back to the kitchen, set the microwave for a minute to warm the coffee, and opened the takeout containers. There was just enough space for both meals in the microwave. Barely.

  She took enough time that I got my minute and a bit. Blaze came out as I was setting the mugs on the tray tables. We closed the distance without thinking about it and hugged again.

  “Feeling better?” I asked.

  “Some. Needed that shower.” She paused, then added, “Laundry tonight?”

  “I’ll take care of it. Just get together whatever you want washed after dinner. I’ve got it,” I said, smiling.

  We melted together into a kiss. When we finally separated, she was smiling too.

  “Thank you,” she said softly. “More than you know. For getting all this ready. For doing this for me.”

  “For us,” I said. “We both went through a lot today. Now sit, and I’ll bring the food.”

  I didn’t let go of her hand until she was seated and needed it to steady the coffee and adjust the tray table. I hurried back to the kitchen for oven mitts and dinner, then grabbed anything else we might need.

  A moment later, I was seated beside her, and we were ready to eat.

  “We still need to talk,” she said quietly.

  “Can it wait until after we eat?” I asked. “I’m hungry, and you must be too. And this stuff’s not good cold. True?”

  “True.” She nodded, and we started eating.

  We talked during dinner, but not much about what had happened. I knew it was sitting heavy on her, but I wanted her closer to normal first. Before she had to write it up for work. Before she had to turn it into something official.

  I wanted to do normal things first. Together.

  Deep down, I kept circling one thing she’d said earlier in Townsend. It bothered me more than anything else. I wasn’t sure I was ready for it.

  “I’m not ready,” I told myself.

  It was a minute past seven when we finished. We heard the spawn fight start across the street. We could hear it through the walls, spells cracking and flashing briefly through the window, but we didn’t watch. It was over in about three minutes. Then it was quiet again.

  No knock on the door or chat messages. We weren’t needed.

  I ignored Guild Chat as best I could. I’d read it later. Or not. I had someone far more important to be with right now.

  “Will,” Blaze said after a bit. “I’ll clean up. We’ve been done for a while. I need to move a little. I’m stiff. You sit. I’ll bring more coffee. You can’t think without it.” She grinned.

  I laughed and let her have it her way.

  I slid my tray table aside, folded the other one, and leaned it against the end table by the couch. Just in time for Blaze to come back into the living room with a mug in each hand. Her red and my black mugs.

  There was one thing different.

  She was barefoot.

  She’d put her sandals back into her INVENTORY. “Probably planning to curl up on the couch.” Not that it mattered. System clothing always came out of our INVENTORY clean.

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  Smiling, she set the mugs down. Instead of sitting where I expected, she shifted to the end of the couch, pulled the green floor pillow over, and set it in front of me. Then she sat on it, legs tucked under her, and looked up at me with the biggest smile I’d seen from her all day.

  “OK,” I said, smiling back. “I give. You want something. What is it? If I can do it, I will.”

  “I need to tell you something,” she said. “About today. Please just listen. Let me get it all out. OK?”

  I leaned forward, grinned, and mimed pulling a zipper across my lips. That got a laugh out of her.

  “She must be feeling better. Good.”

  I nodded, then exaggerated trying to pull my lips apart to talk, making a few muffled sounds. She chuckled again.

  “She knows how to get my playful side going.”

  “When they stopped us this morning,” she began, “most of them were holding rifles. They knew we were FBI. Who I was. Viviene’s game name. We forgot about REVEAL STATS. They saw through us the moment we drove into town.”

  “They were waiting at the center of town. When we stopped, their big guy hit me with CHARM PERSON spell. I fought it for…I don’t know. Seconds. Not even a minute. Someone else CHARMed Viviene.”

  She paused for a sip of coffee, then took a breath.

  “They had us get out of the car. I saw them park it near the side door. They didn’t bother disarming us. They didn’t need to.”

  “Will, the CHARM and what you had me do at the party was nothing like this. He had full control. We couldn’t refuse. I understand now why you don’t use it against people except to shield them.”

  “When you CHARMed me at the stadium, it wasn’t a problem. This…” She shook her head. “They could have done anything they wanted to us. Some of the others made suggestions. He shut them down. He knew about you. About us. About the Irregulars. He knew you’d come.”

  “He wanted the fame of killing or controlling you. He planned for it. He thought they could beat a few ‘role players.’ He didn’t plan on the Army. He thought the Posse Comitatus laws would keep them in Eddington.”

  I nodded. She smiled, just a little.

  “He didn’t think you could bring that much help. Or other Mentalists. They’d never faced people at our level. Not in those numbers. Their watchers along the highway reported what was coming.”

  “They didn’t know about the snipers, or the Army coming from the north and south. That shocked them. They knew Miller County people were coming. He said they had some of their people with them.”

  “He thought they’d win. Convert people. Take more towns. Eventually the state. He was planning for what he’d do after he controlled all of it.” She shook her head again. “If he’d been right…maybe he could have.”

  I stayed quiet and nodded.

  “She’s briefing me on what happened. This is what she’ll tell her bosses. I’ll have to ask Bailey about this and see if and how much it’s helping her.”

  Blaze went quiet for nearly a minute, then picked up her mug, took another sip, and set it down. One more of those moments where she was carefully choosing her words.

  “He forced, well, told me to send you that message. To keep you away. He didn’t tell me exactly what to say. I had to tell him the truth…but not all of it. Just that you were on your way.”

  “They expected a few people. For a leader, he wasn’t that smart. He didn’t realize I could still read all the Irregular chat. Viviene and I were locked down so hard we could only answer questions. They never knew how much was coming. Or why you took so long…until you reached Miller County.”

  She smiled, then laughed softly.

  “They had to change everything when the numbers started coming in. And the Strykers…” She shook her head. “They were almost shitting themselves.”

  “He had his Mentalists control as many people as they could. Made others take classes. Like at the stadium. If they’d done that earlier, it would have been much worse.”

  I nodded silently.

  As much as I wanted to talk, I said I’d be quiet, and I am capable of it. Not easy, but I can do it. I smiled at the thought of how many mistakes this guy made. Hubris. I doubt he ever read the “Things I’ll Never Do As An Evil Overlord” pages online.

  “He told me to kill you,” she said. “I had to attack. He made me put up protection when they heard you. He didn’t tell me how. When I raised the Fire Shield, it was already too late.”

  “I FIREBALLed you because I knew you could stop it. And you did. You came for me. You did what I wanted. You came.”

  “When I saw Ingrid, and all of you…with that look. The one from the quarry after her Blessing. I knew what would happen. You’d charge through hell to save us. Through the fire. It wouldn’t stop you. Nothing could stop at that point.”

  “Just before he died, he messaged me again. Kill you first. Everyone else after. I would have…but you stopped me.”

  She reached out and took both my hands as tight as she could squeeze them.

  “I knew you’d have to kill me. I wanted it quick. That’s why I looked up. I wanted you to aim for my throat. I wanted it fast.” Her voice shook. “The last thing I remember was you holding me in your arms, crying.”

  “Will,” she said, gripping my hands tighter. “It hurt, but not for long. Then I was looking up at you and Ingrid. I knew it worked. We’d won.”

  We were both crying.

  She wiped her eyes, then reached into her robe and pulled out the white fabric belt she’d tied around her waist. It was from the white terrycloth robe she brought with her when she moved in.

  “I said I owed you a forfeit,” she said softly. “You said I didn’t. You were wrong.”

  She dropped it in my lap, and vanished her robe back into her INVENTORY, then crossed her wrists over my knees.

  “Bind me to you. Never let Hanna go. Ever.” She said softly, before dropping her face between her arms.

  Her face was wet with tears…and she was smiling.

  I tied her wrists together, just like she wanted.

  “Mine,” I said quietly, my voice deep and firm. “I’ll never let you go.”

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