13. Tez

13

Tez

I blinked myself awake. Where the fuck was I?

Evidently, I was sitting on a branch twenty feet in the air, inhaling the fetid scents of the swamp.

Aurora had arrived and requested Slade for the next shift with Bree. So I'd come here, to lean against a moss-covered trunk and consider my life choices with a hummingbird sitting on my shoulder.

I'd fallen asleep. I was lucky to not tumble out of the damn tree.

I rubbed a hand over my face. Did anyone ever truly thwart Fate? Or was the give and take just part of her twisted process?

Lifeforms hummed around me, uncaring. Or perhaps Fate demanded substantially less from swamp beetles than she did from me.

I closed my eyes as remnants of a dream drifted across my mind. I'd been flying, the wind whistling over my feathers as I soared above clouds lit with the dying rays of the sun. Flying as a Gryphon? But then, everything had changed, and I'd found myself sitting on a Dragon, instead.

And I'd been holding the fucking sword.

I swallowed. I didn't want to be part of that dream.

Thunder rumbled, and the air seemed to vibrate…

Not just the air. The ground heaved, tossing me straight off the branch. Nemi chirped and safely fluttered off me. Meanwhile, I landed with a thump, rolling to absorb the impact. My body sank into the thick moss.

The trees and ferns surrounding me trembled. An earthquake?

Nemi hovered around my head, squeaking up a storm. The wind roared, and lightning hit a tree not far away. The ground shook again, and this time, the screech I heard wasn't the wind.

I found myself up and running, even though my brain screamed that I needed to stop, to find a safe place to wait this out. That running into a Drake battle was beyond stupid.

It was dangerous as hell.

But Bree was in there.

So with Nemi darting overhead, I pelted into the building, and I barely remembered my feet hitting the stairs. As I ran along the hall, flames shot from the entranceway to Aurora's chambers.

Running footsteps behind me—I turned, and my blood ran cold. Finn, with the Trinity. The Amityville triplets had grown again—they were lanky teenagers now. But the lot of them must have been outside the palace and not in their usual rooms. There was no sign of Aurora.

I yielded to him. Not only because he would blast me without a thought, but because I had no answer for what was going on in that chamber.

I just wanted to get to Bree.

All I could see through the entrance were flames, whipped by wicked winds.

Finn strode directly into it, trailed by the Trinity. He raised his hands. Light, the color of blood, pulsed from crystals clenched in each fist.

The Drakes ignored him. Victor was in full Fire Drake, with flames blasting off his skin. Facing him was another, with clear spikes that glowed. Their bulk filled the chambers, and the wind and flames howled around them.

The Earth Drake raged from within the cage, threatening to shake the building down around us. But the cage held, its bars glowing a vivid red.

That was no ordinary cage.

The thing inside me reacted to their presence, rearing up and pushing at me. I felt my hair rise like the hackles on a dog and had little doubt that my skin was prickling with the beginnings of metallic feathers. Nemi landed on my shoulder and chirped urgently at me.

One of the Trinity—the girl—turned toward me, her crimson eyes scanning. My gut twisted…

But then Finn shouted.

"You. Will. Stop ."

The red energy surged outward from him to envelop all three Drakes. Did he really think a little bloodmagic and pretty crystals were going to stop them?

To my astonishment, they all froze, and turned to face him.

I thought Finn and his Amityville offspring were surely about to die. But instead, he uttered a three-word command.

"You. Will. Kneel ."

My jaw hit the floor when the Drakes folded their thick, powerful forelegs, and bowed to Finn. Victor's Fire Drake was the last to succumb. I saw him trembling with the effort to fight the command. But then, he, too, bowed.

They kneeled before the true power in the underworld.

I pressed myself to the wall with a thundering heart, and I could feel Nemi's tripping like mad against my neck. Why hadn't I seen this? Finn had a power that I didn't understand. How did I not catch on that he was only below Victor because it suited him?

People died making mistakes like that.

My mind raced. Maybe he hadn't been ready to step up. Finn had needed the Trinity to make those controlling crystals. Whether he could have tackled Victor before that was questionable. But there were other ways to lead without direct confrontation, and I suspected that Finn had been running the show from behind the scene for quite a while.

It was an effective strategy, if it was the truth. And I wasn't the only one fooled. I was pretty damned sure Slade hadn't suspected, either.

I searched the chamber for him. I had little doubt that Jaimie had started all this—and if that was the case, Slade would have sent the Phoenix to get Victor.

Now Finn lowered his hands, still clutching the crystals.

"Shift back," he commanded. And the Drakes writhed their way to human.

I took advantage of their absorption and skittered around the exterior of the chamber, avoiding the sunken area near the cage. I was aware of the female Amityville offspring watching me as I darted toward the open cell door.

I slipped through it, and froze.

My first reaction was one of relief to see Bree, and she seemed okay. But Slade lay near her. Far too near, well within the range of her chain. Had she attacked him?

He sat up as I lunged through the door. He had blood all over him, but mostly on his head and shoulders.

My eyes drifted from her to him. "Are you okay?" I might be looking at him, but I was asking her.

"I'm fine," Slade rumbled, and pushed himself to his feet. Where he swayed, until she put a hand out to touch him.

I tensed, certain Bree was going to freeze him, and unsure of just what I would do if she did. But she didn't—she merely steadied him.

"Jaimie came after me, and when Slade tried to stop him, he got flung into the wall," she said. "I healed him."

She'd healed him? It didn't make sense—but then I realized that Slade had been all that stood between her and the Drakes outside.

Not that the big shifter would have stood a chance against them. Which was why he was covered in blood.

"Well, my delectable tidbit. You've had a busy night." Finn walked in behind me. As I moved along the wall to put space between him and me, Bree backed toward the bed. Only Slade stood his ground.

"Jaimie is out of control." Victor trailed the Torshin. I noticed he wasn't quite his normal, arrogant asshole self, and that he also kept a distance away from Finn. Getting ordered around by someone you considered a minion dented even the most determined ego.

"Well, he can stay in the cage until needed," Finn stated. "I returned just in time."

"Your assistance was appreciated." Victor sounded as though he spoke through gritted teeth. "I did not realize you had the ability to command the Drakes."

Bree frowned. "Finn can do that?"

Victor crossed his arms. "It appears so."

Finn's eyes gleamed crimson. "The Drakes were custom designed by my people," he said. "Did you really think we would create a superweapon, and not be able to control it?"

I'd dug through the references I'd stolen from the academy library for everything they had on Drakes. But nothing I'd read had told me that those crystals could control them. I exchanged a look with Bree. Did that mean he could control what was inside her, too?

By the look on her face, she was thinking the same thing.

"What the hell have you done with my chambers?" Aurora appeared in the doorway, with the Trinity arranged behind her. "It looks like a bomb went off in here."

"Just a mutiny attempt," Finn said with a shrug. "And a reassessment of priorities." His gaze drifted over Bree before he turned to Aurora. "I suggest you call in some help for the cleanup."

He exited the cell in a swirl of plain brown robes. Aurora hissed a curse and vanished in his wake.

"I have to return to the meeting that was interrupted," Victor snarled, walking to where Bree stood near the bed. He moved right into her personal space and looked down at her. She didn't move away, but her face revealed her disgust.

Slade took a weird step toward them before stopping.

I watched him. I didn't think I imagined the spasm of rage across his features—at Bree? Or at Victor? Something was off—but then, no one emerged unscathed from a Drake clobbering. He had to be concussed as hell.

Victor lowered his head into Bree's hair, and inhaled. My gut twisted in a knot as his eyes closed. "You smell delicious," he growled. "Won't be long, now." When his eyes snapped open again, they glowed orange.

Then he spun and headed out the door.

Bree appeared shaken. "Are you okay?" I asked again, needing an answer regardless of what Slade might think of my interest.

"Better, now that he's gone." Her eyes met Slade's, and another eerie exchange passed between them. This time, my reaction was even weirder—I wanted to step between them—to keep Slade away from her.

Then he turned to me. "The demon spawn will not require us to guard while Aurora is reorganizing her chambers. I suggest we take the opportunity to get some rest."

I stared at him. I'd never heard him talk like that. He must have been clobbered pretty fucking hard.

To my surprise, Nemi fluttered off my shoulder and hovered in his face, squeaking.

"Please control your pet," Slade said, stiffly.

Okay. Shifter concussion, check.

As he walked through the door, he glanced back at Bree.

And his eyes flashed .

My mind spun as Nemi darted back to my shoulder. I was caught up in a sudden sense of unreality, as though the world I'd just begun to understand had subtly altered.

I needed to get a grip on exactly how, and why, if I was going to navigate it.

I followed Slade out and closed Bree's door behind us.

The chambers beyond the cell were in a shambles. Jaimie and Todd lay within the cage, sprawled on the ground as humans. I didn't know if they were drugged, or if Finn had used his mojo on them. I only cared that they were safely locked up where they belonged.

But the rest of the place had been trashed. Cupboards were ripped off the wall, tables and counters shattered, and crystals were scattered everywhere.

Slade and I minced our way through them. I so didn't want to touch any of those glowing red things—and Slade seemed even more skittish around them, giving each one a wide berth.

I picked my way past a splintered table just as sleepy coven members started arriving. While they were bitching about the damage, we slipped out the door. I breathed a sigh of relief that we hadn't been roped into the cleanup.

"Take the opportunity to repose and recuperate," Slade told me as we climbed the stairs. "We will return to duty soon enough."

I avoided staring at him by brute determination only. He stumbled on a step, and four later, did it again. It was so unlike his usual grace that I lost control and glanced at him.

I continued on up as he wandered onto the ground floor, but I hesitated after taking ten steps. Where was Slade going?

Following the big shifter was a great way to get myself in serious trouble. We'd formed a rapport of sorts, but I didn't delude myself that he would let it dissuade him from taking me out if I crossed a line.

Following him would definitely qualify.

But he was acting weirdly, and it called to me. It wasn't simple curiosity—survival, for me, had always been about knowledge. Concussion aside, I needed to know why he wasn't acting like his usual asshole-in-charge-of-the-fucking-universe self.

Forty minutes later, Nemi chittered softly to me as we skulked through the shadows of Richin.

The gatekeeper hadn't even blinked when I'd requested that I be sent to wherever Slade had gone. Or barely, anyway. He knew Slade. I'm sure he figured if I was stupid enough to trail him, he wasn't going to get involved.

And Slade had come here. He looked to be heading for the market.

As I glided through the shadows behind his distinctive broad-shouldered form, he didn't appear to notice me. The weirdness had only magnified—he should have been on to me following him.

Despite Bree's claim that she'd healed Slade, Jaimie's attack had clearly left its mark. He wasn't moving with his usual predator's grace. In fact, he continued to stumble on occasion, as if he were drunk.

Maybe his concussion explained why he hadn't noticed me. Unless he just didn't care that I was there? It was also weird that he was alone—he seldom traveled without a phalanx of goons. And why was he visiting the Richin market? There were things that this market offered that our local one did not. But this place didn't know him like ours would, and the predators in the shadows prowled around him.

As well as me.

Despite his clumsiness, Slade's hulking form gave them pause—he was clearly a shifter and therefore not an easy mark. All I had to keep them off me was attitude. It was enough for some, but not all. Before we'd made it to the market, I'd knifed one and sliced another. Then word spread, and they finally let me be.

By that time, their interference had separated me from Slade, and I had to search the market for him. It was a very different place at night in terms of the clientèle, but just as busy as it had been during the day. The booths open for business catered to somewhat darker needs. I passed one offering a special sale on Poletuber Juice. I winced and gave it a wide berth.

I searched the crowds for a distinctive hulking cloaked form, and zeroed in on one—when it turned its head, I saw the gleam of vivid blue in a lantern's light.

Gotcha.

He seemed slightly furtive as he made his way down the aisles. The crowds gave me great cover, but still—someone of Slade's experience level would have set any potential pursuers up by lying in wait and dispatching or discouraging them. Instead, he seemed to be relying on the darkness and ducking through booths to dissuade any followers.

It wasn't as if I was the Priesthood. As far as he knew, he could take me easily in a confrontation. His ducking through booths barely gave me pause, especially as he didn't try to hide once through them, but rather continued along the busy aisles.

What was he up to? My mind buzzed as it hatched possibilities and then dismissed them. My confusion only increased when he approached the Centaur weaponsmith's booth.

A hulking figure stood there—not the Centaur, but much bigger than Slade, dressed in a cloak that barely covered him. When he handed Slade some items, I caught a glimpse beneath the hood.

Shock flooded through me.

He backed away and vanished into the night, and Slade pocketed what he'd been given before turning to make his way back down the aisles.

I let them both go. Slade had accomplished what he'd come for, and was now heading back to the portal.

My mind spun in useless circles. Because nothing I came up with explained why my ruthless boss had come here.

And why he had met with, and been given something by, the Sasquatch from the fucking academy.