Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2)(211)

He drew Mark with him into a corner of the room. The hubbub of greeting went on all around them as Julian lowered his voice. "I know what you did," he said. "I know you were never really dating Emma. I'm grateful. I know it was for me."

Mark looked surprised. "It was Emma's idea," he said.

"Oh, believe me, I know." Julian put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "And you did a good job with the kids. Magnus told me. Thank you."

Mark's face lit up. It made Julian's heart ache even harder. "I didn't- I mean, they got in so much trouble-"

"You loved them and you kept them alive," said Julian. "Sometimes that's the best anyone can do."

Julian pulled his brother toward him into a hard hug. Mark made a muffled noise of surprise before his own arms went around Julian, half-crushing the breath out of him. Julian could feel his brother's heart hammering against his, as if the same relief and joy were beating through their shared blood.

They drew apart after a moment. "So you and Emma . . . ?" Mark began, half-hesitantly. But before Julian could reply, Livvy had thrown herself at them, somehow managing to hug Julian and Mark at the same time, and the conversation vanished into laughter.

Ty came more diffidently after her, smiling and touching Julian on the shoulder and then the hand as if to make sure he was really there. Tactile expression sometimes meant as much to Ty as what he could observe with his eyes.

Mark was telling Emma that Dru was still in her room, but she'd be coming shortly. Magnus had gone to Alec, and the two were talking quietly by the fireplace. Only Kieran remained where he was, so silent and still at the table that he could have been a decorative plant. The sight of him flicked a memory in Julian's mind, though, and he looked around for blond hair and a sarcastic expression. "Where's Kit?"



       
         
       
        

A flood of cross-explanations followed: the story of the Riders at the riverside, the way Gwyn and Diana had saved them, Kit's injury. Emma described the four Riders they'd encountered in Cornwall, though it was Julian who detailed the way Emma had killed one of them, which prompted a great deal of exclaiming.

"I've never heard of anyone killing a Rider before," said Cristina, hurrying to the table to pick up a book. "But someone must have."

"No." It was Kieran, his voice even and quiet. There was something in the timbre of it that reminded Julian of the Unseelie King's voice. "No one ever has. There have only ever been seven, the children of Mannan, and they have lived almost since the beginning of time. There must be something very special about you, Emma Carstairs."

Emma flushed. "There isn't."

Kieran was still looking at Emma curiously. He was wearing jeans and a cream-colored sweater. He looked alarmingly human, until you really examined his face and the uncanniness of his bone structure. "What was it like to kill something so old?"

Emma hesitated. "It was like-have you ever held ice so long in your hand that the coldness hurt your skin?"

After a pause, Kieran nodded. "It is a deathly pain."

"It was like that."

"So we're safe here," Julian said to Magnus, partly to forestall any further questions about the dead Rider. "In the Institute."

"The Riders can't reach us here. They are warded away," said Magnus.

"But Gwyn was able to land on the roof," Emma said. "So Fair Folk can't be completely shut out-"

"Gwyn is Wild Hunt. They're different." Magnus reached down to pick up Max, who giggled and pulled on his scarf. "Also I've doubled the wards around the Institute since this afternoon."

"Where's Diana?" asked Julian.

"She went back to Idris. She says she has to keep Jia and the Council happy and calm and expecting this meeting to take place with no hiccups."

"But we don't have the Black Volume," Julian said.

"Well, we still have a day and a half," said Emma. "To find Annabel."

"Without leaving these hallowed walls?" Mark said. He sat down on the arm of one of the chairs. "We are kind of trapped."

"I don't know if the Riders realize Alec and I are here," Magnus said. "Or perhaps we could prevail on Gwyn."

"The danger seems pretty severe," said Emma. "We wouldn't feel right, asking for that kind of help."

"Well I'm going back to Idris with the kids-I can certainly see what I can do from there." Alec flung himself down in a chair near Rafe and ruffled the boy's dark hair.