9. Tez

9

Tez

Slade relieved me briefly during the middle of the day.

"Be back to bring her dinner," he commanded as I handed him the key to her door.

He'd brought company to help him pass the time—an attractive young woman whom I thought I'd seen in the kitchens. I was also pretty certain I'd recently seen her with one of the other mercenaries in a dark corner. She was clearly a potential spreader of realmian venereal diseases.

Slade appeared unconcerned about that possibility as he turned his back on me and used his arm to sweep a corner of the counter bare of crystals. Then he effortlessly lifted her up onto it and reached out a claw to cut the laces holding the front of her blouse closed.

The woman giggled as her eyes rolled to me, and I saw the momentary uncertainty within them. When he freed her breasts, she lifted one hand to cover them. I guessed she wasn't into gangbanging.

Slade grabbed her wrist, stopping her. To me, he said, "If you want to share, I don't."

I met the maid's eyes. I didn't exactly see a cry for help in them.

Slade turned his head, and his eyes glowed blue at me. "Get out," he said calmly, but I had no doubt as to the sincerity of the request. Or what would happen if I didn't obey.

I left.

I needed sleep, desperately. As I mounted the stairs, I heard voices.

"Aurora said it will only take a day or so for the serum to work."

"I'm looking forward to it."

"You'll be mating as a Drake. What will that be like?"

I froze on the stairs. Two of Bree's so-called friends were discussing screwing her as though she were an animal. My anger coiled within me like a snake.

"As long as I get a taste of her, I'll be happy. Been waiting for that for a long time."

"Yeah, she grew up real nice. Bet she's spicy, even as a beast."

I gritted my teeth. The tips of my fingers itched. As the discussion continued, I wanted to bury them in his fucking throat.

"I will make one hell of an Earth Drake. And I'll have fun making babies."

"Aurora says Drakes give birth to three to five offspring at a time."

"That's a bloody litter."

"Always wanted to spread my seed."

A pause followed, and then the stomp of feet ascending stairs.

"We'll have to wait for Victor. No way he'll agree to let us go first."

"Yeah, like he hasn't dipped into her often enough."

"Don't say it too damned loud," hissed the other one. I heard the upper-level door open, and then close.

Nemi pushed her head along my cheek, as though she wanted to provide a much-needed boost. My rage took the last iota of energy from me.

What I needed, was sleep.

I continued on to my own quarters, a floor down from those of the upper echelon. Locking the door behind me, I took off the sword to place it between me and the wall. Then I lay down with my back to it and closed my eyes.

Nemi tickled me awake with her beak.

I was awake in an instant. The light coming through the single window was all but gone. I'd been down for longer than I'd wanted to be. I rose and pulled the scabbard over my shoulder.

No way I'd trust leaving it in here.

I left my quarters and descended to the kitchen to put together a supper for Bree before I dropped another level to where she was being held.

The serving maid was gone, and Slade didn't say anything, just stalked off when I arrived.

This time, as I offered dinner, Bree didn't speak to me at all. It made me irrationally happy, however, that she had put my cloak on, giving me a whole new insight into the boyfriend-shirt phenomenon.

Not that she could ever be my girlfriend. Especially as she barely looked at me as I slid the tray over to her.

Aurora's chambers were bustling with enough activity to make me as nervous as a cat in a dog kennel. The coven set up tables close to the cage in the center and loaded them with blood-infused crystals.

I examined the enclosure with trepidation. What would require bars almost six inches thick? My unease only increased when Bellatis arrived to line the walls. Some held dart guns, and others just their spiral swords.

I could well understand why Slade had departed. I didn't want to be there, either. Aurora and her bloodmagic-driven coven were terrifying. When Finn and the Trinity arrived, it was all I could do not to bolt. The biggest thing stopping me was that I'd have to run past them to do it.

It had nothing to do with not deserting Bree.

Nothing at all.

Defending her would just be another way to die on my ever-expanding list. So I stood huddled in the shadows of her doorway, hoping to escape attention, as Aurora and the coven prepared to create another monster.

Or rather, enhance one.

When Todd arrived, he swaggered in with an apparent confidence that I recognized as bravado. After all, I'd perfected it.

A coven member escorted him to the cage and shut him in. He looked small and ridiculous within the enormous barred space. The table nearest it had an assortment of crystals in a mound, and they pulsed as though the color was driven by a heart—a deeper hue of crimson than I was used to seeing.

The color of congealed blood.

Aurora and the coven arranged themselves before the table. Finn and the Trinity stood off to one side, their eyes gleaming an unhealthy crimson almost as deep a hue as the crystals.

I swallowed and pressed myself deeper into the shadows. Until I'd become a realm traveler, most of the things in my life could be solved with a good blade and some fancy footwork.

But with this stuff—I was way out of my league.

Nemi twittered softly as if she didn't entirely agree. I supposed if I sprouted sharp-edged feathers and screamed, it might have an impact, but I wouldn't count on it.

I might end up screaming anyway for all the wrong reasons.

Not that there was a right one…

Every hair I possessed stood on end when the coven activated the bloodmagic. It rose in a red cloud off the crystals behind them and enveloped Todd standing in the cage.

Then they fed in the deeper hues from the pile on the table.

And Todd began to scream.

The red-hued energy swirled around the room. I ducked a strand of it, and then, suddenly, I was through the cell door and shutting it behind me. I didn't even remember unlocking it.

Bree was crouched by the bed, and straightened when I appeared. Her eyes were huge. "What's happening out there?"

"They're infusing your Centaur friend with the Earth Drake," I told her.

Her mouth straightened. "My ex- Centaur, EX- friend," she corrected. And then she shuddered and closed her eyes as another anguished scream rent the air.

"Did it hurt like that when they put the monster inside you?" I asked.

"What do you think? She was shoving an unwilling entity into me."

I stared at her. "Why did you do it?"

Bree looked right at me, then. "Isobel lied to me," she whispered. "She lied to them, too. And—I lied to myself."

The comment had me regarding her more closely. "Was Isobel anything like Aurora?" I asked.

Bree closed her eyes. "She was worse," she said. "Much worse."

Worse? That was difícil to believe. I winced as Todd screamed again. I couldn't imagine anything making me sound like that.

Then as we listened, and waited, the screams faded to groans, before cutting off entirely.

Then came a deep, subterranean-sounding growl. And the ground beneath us began to shake.

The Bellatis shouted, and I heard the sounds of the dart guns going off. New fractures appeared in the surrounding walls.

Then came a despairing screech, and a crashing sound. Bree shot me a panicked look, and I opened the door a crack.

"Fuckinggg helllll…" the words drawled out from me, and Nemi poked me with her beak, but not very hard.

I pushed the door wide enough that Bree could see as well. The cage bars made sense now. Lying within them was an enormous creature. It had a broad head and a rounded snout with warty protuberances all around the crown. The skin was thick and leathery, with more warts, and tiny wings folded over its shoulders. The heavy legs ended in thick toes, each with a talon nearly a foot long.

The Earth Drake looked as though it were sleeping. Finn stood on the far side of the chambers with a crystal in his palm, and it swirled a muddy brown. The Bellatis standing nearby traded nervous glances and kept their dart guns trained on the beast.

Aurora approached the cage and placed her hand through the bars onto the broad head.

"Let's take him back to human," she told the coven.

They raised their hands, and the red magic swirled again. And the form in the cage began to writhe. Still unconscious, it didn't scream this time as they pushed him back to human form.

Then Aurora stood with her hands on her hips. She gestured to the Bellati. "Watch him. If he wakes and goes ballistic, don't call me. Finn's the one with the control."

The coven were gathering up the crystals. The ones that had housed the Earth Drake's essence were now dull and drained, and they placed them into a box.

A coven member looked up and saw me watching. "The Bellatis will be here for a few hours if you want to take a break."

Aurora shot her cohort a look, before she addressed me. "She's right. But we'll need you back in say, about four hours?"

I could leave. Yet I remained rooted to the spot as Aurora turned away, focused on the crystals. Was I reluctant to abandon Bree to all this chaos and magic?

A cloaked form stepped in front of me. I hadn't even noticed Finn sneaking up along the wall. Now, his crimson eyes locked on the hilt sticking up over my shoulder.

"Where did you get that sword, my handsome young man?"

I stiffened. "It belongs to Victor," I said.

The Torshin tilted his head. "It has a unique energy to it. Can I see it?"

I sensed Bree grow very still behind me, but I didn't think I had much choice…

"What is your fascination with the Drakes?" she asked him. "Why are you trying to breed a more powerful version? Surely your Trinity will have all the power you could ask for."

Finn's eyes glowed as he regarded her, but the question distracted him admirably. "Ah, my delicious one. You don't think I will offer up all my secrets, do you? You are such a tasty tidbit. I will have to insist that Victor serve your body to me, once he is done with you."

I frantically suppressed my surging rage as his gaze moved to me. "Until then, I will have to make do." He stepped close, sniffing as if he wanted to inhale my life essence. "I prefer blond dungeon toys, but I will make an exception for you."

It took everything I had not to recoil from him. I was rescued by a long, thin cry from the body in the cage. It didn't sound human.

When Finn turned to it, Aurora appeared. "We need to give the Trinity another growth boost if we are going to stick to your schedule."

The Torshin heaved a martyred sigh. "Business before pleasure, it seems." As he walked away, he addressed Aurora. "We'll do it in my rooms."

I breathed a sigh of relief as they left the chambers.

"He can't get his hands on that sword," Bree whispered. When I glanced back at her, her face was white.

Beautiful. Even with all that worry in her eyes, she was so beautiful, and my heart gave a single, painful pulse—because she was in so much danger.

I swallowed, and under my breath, I whispered, "He can't get his hands on you, either." I hovered in the doorway, reluctant to leave.

Bree's brows dropped, and there was the barest hint of confusion. She must have heard me. Then her eyes began flashing like mad. "Aurora won't let him near me. Not yet, anyway," she said, and I got the feeling she wasn't only talking to me. But then her gaze sharpened. "Get the sword out of here. Hide it if you want to keep it. But don't let Finn near it."

I met her frantic expression and wanted to come clean. To tell her that I only took the sword to keep it safe.

But there were too many ears here. And there was no way she'd believe me, after what I had done.

My mind crunched the relevant facts and came up with the only possible solution.

I turned away and left the room, shutting the door behind me.

I stopped at the kitchen and pilfered something that looked like an enchilada but tasted like rotten fish. My grandmother's training echoed through me—even when you weren't hungry, feed your body. Surely, the food wasn't actually rotten. I reluctantly nabbed another.

I would need my reserves for what was to come. I kept my stride casual and my attitude normal—cocky and arrogant—all the way to my room. Where I shoved my reference books and clothes into my pack, fastened my grandmother's money belt above my own, and strapped every knife I possessed to my body.

Then I left the stronghold and took the gateway to the city of Richin. And as I walked toward the market, I reweighed the lists of pros and cons of my current choices. No matter how I looked at things, I ended up here.

As it often had over the course of my life, my survival depended on going in, doing what I needed to do, and getting out. Quick and clean. Because it appeared that if I wished to keep breathing, I must run, as far and as fast as I could, from Victor and his crazed group of narcissistic bastards.

And from Bree.

Follow your heart , my grandmother had told me. Well, doing so was only going to get me killed. I couldn't believe she would have wanted that, either.

So I would do what I could to set better things in motion, and then vanish. To build a new life somewhere else.

All paths ended here, as my grandmother used to say. The fact that Nemi sat quietly on my shoulder rather than pecking a hole in my neck indicated that she approved of my plan. Or she could be just weak from lack of food. No way to be certain, but just in case, I stopped to get her a sweet drink.

The hummingbird drank quickly and then chirped at me before flying back to her perch on my shoulder. Which I interpreted as: "We don't have time for this, but damn, I'm hungry."

Or maybe I was spending too much time alone with a bird.

I tugged at the cloak I'd snatched from the kitchen staff. It wasn't nearly as nice as the one I'd given Bree, and I decided that before I bolted, I'd pick up a new one at this market.

My pulse thundered as I made my way through to the booth I remembered well. It was hard not to when the vendor was a Centaur.

The knife I'd bought here was a beautiful weapon, incredibly well-balanced in its spring-loaded sheath. I only hoped the weaponsmith himself was at the booth.

But I wasn't entirely sure what I would do if he weren't.

Still wasn't certain what I would do if he was.

Slade had told me that the weaponsmith resisted underworld connections. That was a lucrative market, and if he didn't supply his weapons to them—then he must have council connections.

At least, I hoped my logic tracked true. My footsteps slowed as I approached the booth. And then I stopped on the outer fringes when I saw the enormous bulk of the Centaur within.

He was speaking with another customer. And as I had noticed before, he was huge . Eight feet tall, with a human torso rippling in muscle that flowed into a powerful, equine body.

"Can I help you?"

I turned and froze as I met the eyes of his female equivalent. She was smaller, finer boned, and stunningly beautiful, with flowing, red-tinged hair filled with metal tokens.

Something about the confidence in her topaz eyes reminded me of my grandmother. I was captivated. Confident, and exotically beautiful—I could well imagine Bree had been much like this, when she'd still had four legs.

I suddenly lost the ability to speak.

The Centauri?a, or whatever the fuck a female Centaur was called, tilted her head. "Are you okay?"

Nemi chirped and took flight, hovering in front of her.

"What a lovely bird," she said. "Is she your pet?"

My jaw unlocked. "Yes. Sort of." When she raised a brow at me, I confessed, "At times, I'm not sure who is in charge, her or me." I put a hand out, and Nemi returned to me with a chirp.

It elicited a smile from the Centaur. "Is there something I can help you with?" her eyes locked on the hilt above my shoulder. "You already have a fine sword. Perhaps a knife?" She scanned the old cloak slung over my shoulders. "Or armor?"

I took a deep breath and went for it. "Do you sell to the Cryptid Council or their Academy?" I asked.

Her gaze sharpened. "We do. My son also attends their school," she admitted. "Why do you ask?"

I hadn't noticed any Centaurs at the academy, but my pulse started to pound. "What is your son's name?"

She hesitated. "He is no longer a Centaur," she said sadly. "His name is Marcus."

I think my jaw hit the ground. Her son was like Bree. He had a Drake inside him, and had lost his Centaur to the Sorceress.

Her gaze was both assessing, and cautious, setting off alarm bells. "Have you met him?" she asked.

No. No, I hadn't. Or rather I'd seen but not spoken with him, as I'd been warned by Slade to avoid him. But it told me I was in the right place, and talking to the right person. Um, Centauri?a.

I pulled the scabbard off my shoulder. "This sword does not belong to me," I said, offering it to her. "I was hoping you could return it for me."

"Who does it belong to?" The deep voice rumbled from behind me.

How did something so big move so silently? My spin was strategic—so that both Centaurs ended up in front of me, and I had a clear escape route behind.

By the look in the weaponsmith's eyes, he understood exactly what I'd done. He took the sword from the female, and his expression changed. "This—" he hesitated—"where did you get this sword?"

"It belongs to a student named Riggs," I said. "It needs to get back to him."

There was no mistaking the way both Centaurs went completely rigid at the mention of Riggs's name. My instincts screamed as the weaponsmith's gaze sharpened, and his muscles tensed.

I was already gone. Whirling away from them, and ducking through the neighbor's booth. The narrow aisles hampered their pursuit, although I heard him shout after me.

I pushed past the startled vendor and out the back, then sneaked in through the rear of the booth next to it. Minutes later, I glanced over my shoulder.

There was no sign of the Centaurs.

Still, that had been closer than I would have liked. Time to get the hell out of Dodge.

But as I swung back toward the portal from hell, Nemi left my shoulder to hover in front of me. Like, an inch from my nose, regarding me with her beady little stare. I had to stop dead, or I'd run into her.

"We have to run," I told her.

She didn't move.

"If we go back, I will end up dead. It's a no-win situation." I tried pushing into her, and she pecked me, right between the eyes.

I gritted my teeth. What I'd just done was a declaration, of sorts. A claiming of allegiances. I no longer had the sword, and if Victor asked me for it—I could put him off. Once, maybe twice. But after that…

I couldn't go back.

Follow your heart, my son. Her words ran, unbidden, through my mind.

If I didn't return—Bree would be trapped in that room until Victor had her bred like an animal. But just what did I think I could do about that?

I rubbed a hand over my face. There was nothing I could do. But I also couldn't walk away, and leave her there.

"All right. We'll go back," I said.

The bird chirped once and settled on my shoulder. Were we really going back? I truly was stupid beyond belief.

On my list of how to get yourself sliced and diced , this ranked pretty damned high. Because even if I was now following my heart, the woman I was willing to give it to hated me.

I was so fucking screwed.