"Oh, that's just rich." I snorted with laughter. The Sinsar Dubh Sinsar Dubh had created an illusion of a person, and that extension of the had created an illusion of a person, and that extension of the Sinsar Dubh Sinsar Dubh was asking me where the was asking me where the Sinsar Dubh Sinsar Dubh was. "Infinite-regress much?" was. "Infinite-regress much?"

"Answer me or I'm going to rip your head off."

Barrons would never do that. The Sinsar Dubh Sinsar Dubh had just made another mistake. Barrons had vowed to keep me alive, and he'd stayed true to that vow until the very end. He'd died to save me. He would never hurt me and certainly wouldn't kill me. "You don't know a thing about him," I sneered. had just made another mistake. Barrons had vowed to keep me alive, and he'd stayed true to that vow until the very end. He'd died to save me. He would never hurt me and certainly wouldn't kill me. "You don't know a thing about him," I sneered.

"I know everything about him." He cursed. "About me."

"Do not."

"Do, too."

"Bull!"

"Not!"

"Too," I spat.

"Not!" he fired back, then exhaled explosively. "Bloody hell. Ms. Lane, you drive me bloody fucking crazy."

"Right back at you, Barrons. And you can lose all the 'bloodys' and 'fuckings' anytime now. You're overdoing it. The real Barrons never cursed that much."

"I bloody fucking know exactly how many bloody fuckings Barrons would use. You don't know him as well as you think you do."

"Stop pretending to be him!" I shoved at his chest. "You're not and you never will be!"

"Besides, that was before before you killed me and decided to replace me with Darroc in less than a month! Grieve much, Ms. Lane?" you killed me and decided to replace me with Darroc in less than a month! Grieve much, Ms. Lane?"

Oh, how dare he? Grief was all I was. Grief and revenge, walking. "For the record, you've been dead for three days. And I am so so not doing this. Get out of here. Go. Away." I knocked his hands away from my head and stormed past him. "I'm not defending my reasons for doing what I did to you, when you aren't even really here. That's too psychotic, even for me." not doing this. Get out of here. Go. Away." I knocked his hands away from my head and stormed past him. "I'm not defending my reasons for doing what I did to you, when you aren't even really here. That's too psychotic, even for me."

He grabbed me and swung me back around. "You'd better believe I'm here, Ms. Lane, and you'd better believe I'll kill you. You could not have proved your loyalties-or lack thereof-any more completely. You jumped on me the second Ryodan said I was a threat and took me out without an instant's hesitation-"

"I hesitated! I hated killing my guardian beast! Ryodan told me I had to! I didn't know it was you!" Great. Now I was arguing with the Sinsar Dubh Sinsar Dubh's fake Barrons about killing him. Why would it want to do this to me? What could the Book possibly gain from making me live this fight?

"You should should have known!" he exploded. have known!" he exploded.

I knew I should end it, stop the illusion now, but I couldn't.

Being around Barrons has always made me fire on all pistons, and it didn't seem to matter a bit that I knew this Barrons was a mirage. Some people bring out the worst in you, others bring out the best, and then there are those remarkably rare, addictive ones who just bring out the most most. Of everything.

They make you feel so alive that you'd follow them straight into hell, just to keep getting your fix.

"How should I have known? Because you've always been so honest with me? Because sharing information is what Jericho Barrons does best, where he really really shines? No, because you'd bothered to warn me what might happen if I pressed IYD. Wait, I have it: I should have known because you'd confided in me-in the same trusting and open way we've shared so many confidences-that sometimes you turn into a nine-foot-tall, horned, insane monster!" shines? No, because you'd bothered to warn me what might happen if I pressed IYD. Wait, I have it: I should have known because you'd confided in me-in the same trusting and open way we've shared so many confidences-that sometimes you turn into a nine-foot-tall, horned, insane monster!"

"I am not not insane. I was sane enough to piss circles around you. I killed food for you. I picked up your things. Who else do you know that would have done that? V'lane doesn't have dick enough to piss with. Your little MacKeltar doesn't have the balls to own his actions. He certainly isn't capable of doing what it takes to own a woman!" insane. I was sane enough to piss circles around you. I killed food for you. I picked up your things. Who else do you know that would have done that? V'lane doesn't have dick enough to piss with. Your little MacKeltar doesn't have the balls to own his actions. He certainly isn't capable of doing what it takes to own a woman!"

"Own? You think women can be owned owned?"

He gave me a look that said, Oh, honey, of course they can. Have you forgotten so quickly? Oh, honey, of course they can. Have you forgotten so quickly?

"I was Pri-ya Pri-ya!"

"And I liked you much better then!" His eyes narrowed as if he'd only finally processed something I'd said earlier. "I've been dead for you for only three bloody days days? And you already had Darroc up against my wall out back two nights ago? You waited one fucking day day to line up my replacement? I spent weeks worrying about whether he would scrape my brand off your skull and I wouldn't be able to track you in the Silvers. The entire time I was trying to get back to save your ass from him, you were giving him a piece of it!" to line up my replacement? I spent weeks worrying about whether he would scrape my brand off your skull and I wouldn't be able to track you in the Silvers. The entire time I was trying to get back to save your ass from him, you were giving him a piece of it!"

"I didn't give Darroc a piece of anything!" Get back from what, where? Being dead?

"A woman doesn't rub herself up against a man like that unless she's fucking him."

"You don't know the first thing about what I was and wasn't doing. Ever heard of going undercover? Sleeping with the enemy?"

"'I think you should should be king, Darroc,'" he mocked in falsetto, "'and if you want me, I would be be king, Darroc,'" he mocked in falsetto, "'and if you want me, I would be honored honored to be your queen.'" to be your queen.'"

I gaped.

"Isn't that what you said?"

"What were you doing-spying on me? And if you're Barrons, you know better than to believe words."

"Because your actions speak so well of you, do they? Where did you sleep last night, Ms. Lane? It wasn't here. My bookstore was wide open. Your bedroom was upstairs waiting. So was your fucking honor."

I opened my mouth, then closed it again. Honor? Barrons was flinging the word "honor" at me? Er...actually, the Sinsar Dubh Sinsar Dubh was. I couldn't decide which was more anachronistic. I frowned. There was something wrong here. Something was very, very off. Although "Barrons" and "honor" weren't two words I'd think to use together in a sentence, I couldn't come up with a single reason for the was. I couldn't decide which was more anachronistic. I frowned. There was something wrong here. Something was very, very off. Although "Barrons" and "honor" weren't two words I'd think to use together in a sentence, I couldn't come up with a single reason for the Sinsar Dubh Sinsar Dubh to pull this kind of stunt. It had never inflicted such a prolonged and detailed illusion on me before. I could see nothing it might gain by doing it. to pull this kind of stunt. It had never inflicted such a prolonged and detailed illusion on me before. I could see nothing it might gain by doing it.

"Do you know why I was in the street with you and Darroc tonight?" When I didn't reply, he snarled, "Answer me!"

I shook my head.

"I wasn't there to spy on you and your little boyfriend. Speaking of which, what's it like to slurp down your sister's sloppy seconds?"

"Oh, fuck you," I said instantly. "That's low even for you."

"You haven't seen anything yet. I came to kill him tonight. I should have done it a long time ago. But I didn't get that pleasure. The Sinsar Dubh Sinsar Dubh beat me to it," he said bitterly. beat me to it," he said bitterly.

"Enough already. You are are the the Sinsar Dubh Sinsar Dubh!"

"Hardly. But I'm every bit as deadly. We can both destroy you. Nothing can save you from me if I turn on you."

It was past time for this illusion to end. The only reason I'd let it go on this long was because it had begun enjoyably and I'd kept hoping it might turn around. But whatever bizarre game the Book was playing, it wasn't going to play nice, and this icy, sneering Barrons wasn't the man I wanted to remember.

"Time for you to go now," I muttered.

"I'm not going anywhere. Ever. If you think for one minute I'll let you flip sides mid-game, you're wrong. I'm invested. You're in too deep. You owe me. I will chain you up, tie you down, leash you with magic, whatever I have to do, but you will will help me get that Book. And when I've got it, I might let you live." help me get that Book. And when I've got it, I might let you live."

"You're the Sinsar Dubh Sinsar Dubh," I said again, but my protest was weak. While he'd been talking, I'd sought my sidhe sidhe-seer center-that all-seeing eye that can rip away illusion and reveal the truth beneath it-and I'd focused it like a laser on the mirage.

Nothing had happened. No bubble had burst, no mirage had fractured. My hands were shaking. I couldn't get enough air into my lungs.

It wasn't possible.

I'd killed killed him. him.

And when I'd realized what I'd done, I'd channeled my grief into a weapon of mass destruction. I'd made a plan, with a set-in-cement past and a concrete future.

This...this...inexplicability didn't fit anywhere in my understanding of reality. Not with any of my goals, not with what I'd become.

"But then again, I might not," he said. "Unlike some people, I I don't do sloppy seconds." don't do sloppy seconds."

I inhaled sharply. I was growing dangerously light-headed. It couldn't be. He was not actually standing there.

Was he?

It looked like Barrons, felt like Barrons, smelled and sounded like Barrons, and certainly had his attitude.

Screw my sidhe sidhe-seer center. I needed juice. And I knew where to find it. I let my gaze drift out of focus and frantically sucked raw power from my glassy lake.

Refocusing again, I turned everything I had on the figment.

"Show me the truth," I commanded, and blasted it to bits.

"You wouldn't know the truth if it bit you in the ass, Ms. Lane. Case in point: It just did." He gave me that wolf smile, but it didn't hold an ounce of charm. It was all teeth, reminding me of fangs against my skin.

My knees gave out.

Jericho Barrons was still standing there.

Towering, naked, and pissed off as hell, hands fisted as if he was about to beat the crap out of me.

Puddled on the floor, I stared up at him. "You're n-not d-dead." My teeth were chattering so hard I could barely force the words past my lips.

"Sorry to disappoint." If looks could kill, the one he shot me would have sunk me six feet deep in scorpions. "Oh, wait a minute. No, I'm not."

It was too much. My head was spinning and my vision began to go dark.

I fainted.

16.

Consciousness returned in slow degrees. I came to on the floor of the bookstore in the dark.

I always thought fainting showed an inherent weakness of character, but I understood it now. It was an act of self-preservation. Confronted by emotion too extreme to handle, the body shuts down to keep from running around like a chicken with its head cut off, potentially injuring itself.

The realization that Barrons was alive had been more than I could deal with. Too many thoughts and feelings had tried to coalesce at once. My brain had tried to process that the impossible was possible, make words for all I was feeling, and I'd silently imploded.

"Barrons?" I rolled over onto my back. There was no reply. I was gripped by the sudden fear that it had all been a dream. That he wasn't really alive, and I was going to have to come to terms with that unbearable fact-again.

I shot up to a sitting position, and my heart sank.

I was alone. Had it all been a cruel illusion, a dream? I glanced wildly around, seeking proof of his existence.

The bookstore was a wreck. That That much hadn't been a dream. I began to stand and stopped, realizing there was a sheet of paper taped to my coat. Dazedly, I pulled it off. much hadn't been a dream. I began to stand and stopped, realizing there was a sheet of paper taped to my coat. Dazedly, I pulled it off.

If you leave this bookstore and make me track you, I will make you regret it to the end of your days. ~Z I began to laugh and cry at the same time. I sat, clutching the paper to my chest, elated.

He was alive!

I had no idea how it was possible. I didn't care. Jericho Barrons lived. He walked this world. That was enough for me.

I closed my eyes, shuddering as a crushing weight slipped from my soul. I breathed, really breathed for the first time in three days, filling my lungs greedily.

I hadn't killed him.

I wasn't to blame. I'd somehow been granted with Barrons what I'd never gotten with my sister-and I hadn't even had to demolish the world for it: a second chance! a second chance!

I opened my eyes, read the note again, and laughed.

He was alive alive.

He'd ruined my bookstore. He'd written me a letter. A lovely, lovely letter! Oh, happy day!

I stroked the sheet upon which he'd scrawled his threat. I loved this sheet of paper. I loved his threat. I even loved my wrecked shop. It would take time, but I would restore it. Barrons was back. I would rebuild the shelves, replace the furniture, and one day in the future I would sit on my sofa and stare into a fire and Barrons would walk in, and he wouldn't even have to say anything. We could just sit in companionable or-who cared?-grumpy silence. Whatever bizarre scheme he came up with, I'd go along with it. We'd squabble over what car to take and who got to drive. We'd kill monsters and hunt artifacts and try to figure out how to capture the Book. It would be perfect.

He was alive!

As I moved to stand again, something slipped from my lap and I dropped back down to the floor to retrieve it.

It was the picture of Alina that I'd left in my parents' mailbox the night V'lane had taken me to Ashford to show me that he'd restored my hometown and was keeping my family safe. The night Darroc had tracked me by the brand on my skull and later abducted my mom and dad.

This was the calling card Darroc had tacked to the front door of BB&B, demanding I come to him through the Silvers if I valued their lives.

That Barrons had left it for me now told me one thing: He had had rescued my mom and dad before I'd IYD'd him into the Silvers. rescued my mom and dad before I'd IYD'd him into the Silvers.

But he hadn't given me the picture as a present or to make me feel better. He'd left it for the same reason Darroc had. To make the same point.

I have your parents. Don't fuck with me.

Okay, so he was a little pissed off at me. I could deal with that. If he'd he'd killed killed me me, I'd be a little pissed off, too, no matter how irrational it was. But he would get over it.

I couldn't have asked for more. Well, I could have, like Alina back and all the Fae dead, but this was good. This was a world I wanted to live in.

My parents were safe.

I clutched the letter and photo. I hugged them to my chest. I hated that he'd stormed off and left me lying on the floor, but I had proof of his existence and I knew he'd be back.

I was the OOP detector and he was the OOP director. We were a team.