15. Fifteen

fifteen

“Ahrun, Navya, are you enjoying your evening?” Vitus asked, appearing at Navya’s side.

What impeccable timing. The evening’s orchestrator had finally shown his face.

I was a little surprised he’d stepped in. Given his thirst for our blood, I would have expected him to remain on the sidelines. A scavenger waiting for the more powerful predators to exhaust themselves so he could mop up the remains.

Navya’s expression returned to its normal placid lines. Whatever emotion had threatened to rise moments earlier sinking below the calm waves of her emotional landscape to disappear without a trace.

She padded toward the mouth of the tunnel that Vitus had been watching us from. Her entourage closing around her.

“Leaving so soon? I hope it’s not something I said,” Vitus called after her.

“I’m afraid the evening’s entertainment has grown rather dull,” Navya answered, not looking back.

“That’s too bad. I had hoped to continue the chat we started last time,” he murmured.

Navya’s steady pace never wavered. “No need. I got what I wanted.”

Vitus watched the council member disappear into the tunnel, only turning to the rest of us once she was out of view.

“Father, it’s so good to see you well,” Vitus declared.

Turned in the prime of life, Vitus was attractive if you could ignore the arrogance and conceit stamped on every line of his face. He had an aquiline nose and square jaw that most would have considered a prime example of the beauty Roman classical artists sought to elevate. His hair was long and blond, reaching the middle of his back.

“You haven’t called me that in years,” Ahrun observed in a neutral voice.

Vitus’s smile was as artificial as the warmth he was trying to inject into his expression. “I let hurt and pride lead me astray. Forgive me.” Vitus glanced at me. “Is this the newest member of your line?”

What a pretender. As if he didn’t know exactly who I was.

He was nothing like Thomas or Liam. Too smarmy and greasy. And just a little stupid if he thought this act was fooling anyone.

“She’s cute. Though a touch weak considering her lineage.” An odd little smile tugged at Vitus’s lips as he ran his eyes down my body with an invasive gaze. “You’re getting soft in your old age, Father. Someone so ill-suited for this life never should have been given the gift of eternity. You didn’t used to be this kind.” Vitus’s gaze slid to Thomas. “Or is it because you felt the need to indulge your son after what you did to his last yearling?”

“Is that all you came over here to say?” Ahrun asked with a boredom that made Vitus’s expression congeal a tiny bit. “If I cared for your opinion, I would have asked for it.”

Vitus faltered before his smile returned, brightening to an unnatural degree. “My apologies, Father. I had just hoped to share what others are saying about the family.”

I was sure he had nothing to do those rumors.

Not.

The silence lengthened as Ahrun stared at Vitus. His face blank. An observer in front of a predictable play.

A flicker of movement over Vitus’s shoulder attracted my attention to a trio of enforcers. One of whom I recognized from his visit to Columbus a few months ago, when Vitus had tried to use the council as an execution squad.

Unlike last time, the man didn’t acknowledge Liam’s presence with a flicker of an eyelash.

And here I’d been under the impression he and Liam were buddies. I guessed such things as camaraderie and loyalty to your fellow soldier were transient when taking orders from an organization like theirs.

Whatever his and Liam’s past, he was on Vitus’s side right now.

Or at least giving the appearance of it.

Ahrun uncrossed his legs, the motion containing a lazy threat as he straightened in his seat. “As interesting as this has been, I must make one thing clear. I don’t recognize having a child such as you. I am not your father. I trust you won’t refer to me as such again.”

The disdain in Ahrun’s face as he regarded the person he’d once raised would have flayed flesh from my bones if I’d ever seen a similar look in my father’s eyes aimed at me.

Vitus’s amiable facade dropped, a fury every bit as glacial as Ahrun’s breaking through his careful mask. He whipped around and stalked away, two of the enforcers gliding after him silently.

Liam’s friend broke off, heading up the stairs into the upper levels.

“That was unwise,” Thomas observed.

“Perhaps.” There was something sad in Ahrun’s expression as he returned his attention to the pit. “Honestly, I don’t know where I went wrong with that boy. Time hasn’t changed him. He’s as foolish and short-sighted as he was back then.”

“I, for one, am glad for his predictability,” Nathan quipped from behind us.

One side of Thomas’s lips tugged up as Nathan’s comment lightened the mood somewhat. “As tempting as it is to face them head on, we’re here for something else tonight. Let’s not startle the prey in the grass, shall we?”

Ahrun cut Thomas a hard look. “This would be so much simpler if you’d just challenge him and be done with it.”

Humor touched the corner of Thomas’s eyes. “And as I’ve told you, I’m quite content with what I currently have. I don’t wish to deal with the headache that comes with being on the council. Leave me my simple pleasures, Father.”

Ahrun harrumphed, his gaze moving to Liam. “What about you? You’re more than capable of replacing him.”

“No.”

Liam’s response was simple. Direct. To the point. Leaving no room for negotiation.

I should try that the next time Thomas tried to get me to do something I didn’t want to.

The sensation of a gaze on me made me realize Ahrun was staring at me with a look of speculation that didn’t bode well for me.

Thomas rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Leave Aileen alone. It’s centuries too soon.”

“Maybe one day.” Ahrun’s voice took on a distant quality. As if he wasn’t fully here but rather somewhere far away. In a different time and place entirely.

Liam and Thomas traded a look, having an entire conversation in the span of a second.

Ahrun blinked, the moment breaking.

“Maybe then I’ll finally be able to retire.”

“You could do that now,” Thomas offered, acting like Ahrun’s lapse hadn’t happened. “I’ve told you before. The council doesn’t need a member of our line on it to function. Pluck out the weeds and the rest will flourish.”

“For that to happen, you need someone to replace them.” Ahrun bent a chiding look on the rest of us. “Something none of you are willing to consider.”

“Don’t worry, Father. Liam and I have our own plans,” Thomas said with an enigmatic little smile as he settled back to watch the next fight.

I glanced at Liam, wondering at this so-called plan of Thomas’s and if he planned to bring me on board before the shit hit the proverbial fan.

Nathan yawned and stretched behind us. “How much longer will we be on display like this?”

“Patience, young man,” Ahrun advised. “The evening has just begun.”

As the others settled in to watch the fight, I turned my attention back to the crowd, needing a distraction from the barbarity taking place below. The fight wasn’t what bothered me. It was the participants willingness to maim and kill. Along with the crowd’s delight at the show.

A pair of familiar eyes intercepted mine and made the roar of the arena fade away.

Arlan. The barrow lord.

For a supposed prisoner, he looked awful good, standing there watching me without a scratch on him that I could see.

It was almost like he’d never been taken prisoner at all.

Just like that, I could remember everything that Inara’s geas had compelled me to forget.

Either Baran and Inara had lied to me about what went down in the barrow or they were mistaken.

Neither possibility was a cheery thought. The first brought up uncomfortable questions about my roommate and her loyalty. The second was more terrifying. If true, it meant Baran and Inara were in over their heads, trying to rescue a man who’d already changed sides.

“Go,” Ahrun murmured, breaking my train of thought. “Explore.”

Startled, I glanced from him to Liam and Thomas. Both of whom were looking at their sire like they wanted to strangle him.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Liam said in a tight voice.

Ahrun dismissed his objection. “She’ll be fine. How much trouble can she get up to in a crowd of this size?”

“You’d be surprised,” Nathan muttered.

I didn’t think Liam was conscious of his slight nod of agreement.

“The enforcer will watch over her. That’s what he is here for,” Ahrun said, pulling his gaze from mine to look at his sons.

Liam’s jaw worked as he held his father’s stare.

“Or do you not trust in his and the rest’s abilities?” Ahrun asked in a neutral voice.

Even I sensed the test he’d just put before Liam. If his son said no, he’d be ruining the enforcers’ credibility. Saying yes, however, placed him in a catch-22. He’d have no grounds for objection.

Thomas looked between the two, a rare caution in his face. It was only after a moment of thought that he nodded at me in dismissal.

I rose slowly from my chair, my gaze on Liam’s granite hard face as I waited for him to stop me.

He didn’t look my way, his body corded tight as he stared Ahrun down.

Nathan had come off the wall, his gaze flicking between the four of us like a child who’d just witnessed his parents fighting and wasn’t sure whose side he should be on.

“Not you, my dear. You should remain here,” Ahrun interjected when Deborah made to follow me.

She froze half out of her seat, her butt hovering a few inches off the cushion as she struggled with whether to obey Ahrun or not.

“He’s right,” I said, saving her. “You’ll be safer here.”

Surrounded by powerful vampires and Liam’s enforcers.

For that matter, I would too. I was a fool to do this. At the very least, I should inform Liam of Arlan’s presence.

That thought made my brow furrow. Why wasn’t I telling Liam again?

As quickly as the question entered my head, it was gone again.

“Come on, Nathan. Let’s see what this place has to offer,” I muttered, feeling awful that I was about to break my promise to be careful.

“I’d stay away from gambling if I was you,” Ahrun advised as I passed him. “We don’t need you coming home with any more husbands than you already have.”

“Ha ha. So fucking funny,” I grumbled with a baleful stare in Ahrun’s direction before chancing a peek at Liam.

He was watching me with a dark expression.

“I’ll be okay,” I told him.

It was just a quick look-see. I’d do a round. Find out what I could without endangering myself. Maybe gather a bit of information.

That was it. Nothing stupid.

I wasn’t even going to confront Arlan. Just make sure it was really him.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Liam warned, turning away before I had a chance to respond.

He stared into the pit. His jaw tight and set from how hard he was clenching his teeth. Cold fury stemmed from every line of his body.

Seeing how unhappy he was made me hesitate. But only for a second.

Love him though I might, I wouldn’t let that love control me. If he could take risks for our future, so could I.

That’s what it meant to be in a partnership.

“See you in a bit,” I told him softly.

Liam pretended like he hadn’t heard. Shaking my head in regret and a little bit of anger at how he was acting, I turned my back on him and made my way to the stairs Nathan, Deborah and I had descended not too long ago.

Nathan padded beside me as he flicked an uncertain glance at my face. “You sure about this, A?”

“I’m an adult. I don’t need someone else’s permission to do anything.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I checked on Liam’s reaction only to be disappointed with the lack there of.

Nathan whistled under his breath. “You really go for the jugular sometimes.”

The words felt like a slap. I withdrew behind my walls, my features turning icy as I stalked up the steps.

“If this is how you’re going to be, you might as well remain here with them,” I snarled.

Nathan followed me at a more sedate pace that somehow managed to never let me get too far out of his reach. “Someone is in quite a snit. Why don’t you tell Uncle Nate what you’re really up to so I can help?”

I stopped on the stairs to face him. “I’m getting really tired of people always assuming I’m up to something.”

Nathan arched an unimpressed eyebrow in a show of skepticism. “So you’re not up to something that’s probably going to get me into trouble?”

I blew out an aggravated breath and whirled back to the stairs. “Of course I’m up to something.”

Anger carried me up several steps as Nathan’s muttered, “I knew it,” came from behind me.

“Just because I have an agenda doesn’t give him the right to go all over-protective bear,” I spat over my shoulder. “I’m not a child. How many times do I have to prove I’m not helpless?”

I’d survived things that would kill vampires centuries older than me. Although most of vampire society considered me no more than an infant, Liam and the others knew better.

I think that’s what hurt the most. He knew what I was capable of. I might not be able to stand against beings like Ahrun or Navya, but I wasn’t without my resources.

“Maybe if you didn’t insist on keeping everything to yourself and shared what you’re going through, he would be a little more trusting?”

That brought me to a halt.

“That’s rich coming from you.”

A vigilant expression settled on Nathan’s face. Something in my tone must have warned him. Caution and wariness entered his eyes.

Too late, friend. He’d poked the bear and now he was going to experience its wrath.

“Since you insist on trust and openness, why don’t you tell me what you two have been up to in the Summer Lands?”

Nathan’s expression shut down, his enforcer mask firmly in place.

“That’s what I thought. It’s not so fun when the shoe is on the other foot, is it?”

They spoke of trust and yet they couldn’t extend me the same courtesy. Talk about hypocrisy.

“You don’t have to worry, Nathan. Thomas and Liam know why I’m really here,” I said bitterly, starting up the steps again.

This time it wasn’t anger fueling me but rather a grim resignation.

We could go round and round on this all night and not solve anything. Best to leave the subject alone.

“Aileen,” Nathan pleaded, his sorrowful tone following me up the last of the stairs.

I ignored him as I reached the level through which we’d entered. The crowd had grown thicker in the short time since I’d been below.

I stopped, finding all eyes on me. They stared. Avarice and desire in their faces. Like they considered me a tasty treat ripe for the plucking.

Nathan’s presence hit my back, his glower making the weaker among them look away. Only those who thought they had a chance against the enforcer continued to stare, watching as Nathan set a hand on my back to guide me forward.

“Let’s go, A,” he ordered.

I didn’t move, rage and something else, something darker filling my chest.

They thought I was easy pickings. That my youth and lack of experience meant they could treat me like prey.

Teach them that they’re wrong , the darkness inside of me whispered. You are a queen. Make them bow before you.

My power unfurled, bringing the taste of their magic to my mouth. It settled on my tongue like boba jellies. The slightly squishy texture almost impossible to resist biting down on.

I cradled one of the magic boba’s between my teeth, rolling it around. Just one bite and it would pop in my mouth. What would happen then? Would it fill me up like nourishment? Would its owner feel the theft?

The temptation to find out had my jaw tensing.

Do it , my darkness crooned.

“A—you alright?”

Nathan’s questioning look snapped me out of my contemplation. My gaze darted to his, surprise vanquishing whatever that was.

“A?” Nathan asked again.

Concern grew on his face when I still didn’t answer. Nathan’s gaze darted to the crowd, his eyes fierce as he searched for the reason behind my strangeness.

The Fae closest to us shuffled back, responding to the aggression pouring off him.

Knowing I needed to do something, I touched his arm. “It’s alright.”

“It’s not alright. I can feel you shaking,” he growled.

“It’s not them. It’s me. There’s something wrong with me,” I confessed, my chest shuddering with a repressed sob.

As much as the admission was torn from me, it felt good to get it out. Something inside of me had changed. I couldn’t deny that anymore. It had started with that speck of darkness I’d torn from Ahrun when I swallowed his madness. It now grew within me. Its flavor similar to that of my magic breaking power. Yet somehow different.

It scared me.

I didn’t know what I was becoming.

Nathan looked like he wanted to say something before he broke off with a shake of his head. “We can’t discuss this here. Too many listening ears.”

He was right. Several Fae were watching us a little too closely. Their interest made me uncomfortable. Like I was an animal on display at the zoo. There was no telling who owned their loyalty either. Anything I let slip would probably be whispered in someone else’s ear before I even made it across the room.

First rule of spooks—never let them see your weakness.

Nathan guided me through the crowd, making a point to stare down any Fae or spook who lingered just a second too long before giving way.

I made a mental note of their faces, knowing my friend was likely doing the same.

It might be they were just a little brash and arrogant, thinking it was a game to challenge an enforcer. Or they could think they were untouchable because someone powerful was behind them.

Either option needed to be dealt with.

If it was the first, Nathan would put the fear of death into them so they’d remember the next time that we weren’t to be fucked with. If it was the second, things could get complicated, but the end result was the same. A display of power that would frighten off anyone else who chose to come at us.

“Now that we’re here, how about you drop that guard of yours and let me know what we’re doing?” Nathan rumbled close to my ear. “Two sets of eyes are better than one.”

That earned a wry smile from me. “You never give up.”

“We wouldn’t be the best friends that we are if I did.”

“I still don’t remember agreeing to allowing you to use that title.”

Friends and colleagues were one thing. Best friends were another. They were your ride or die. The people you might fight with the most but who’d have your back at the end of the day.

Strange as it was, Nathan had come to fit that definition.

It didn’t mean I wasn’t going to give him a hard time for deciding on his own though.

“You’ll come around.” Nathan turned sideways as we squeezed between two of the gambling tables and the crowds stationed at both.

I caught a glimpse of tiny Fae on green felt engaged in a death match similar to the one in the pit below. One of them was a pixie. Their face painted with red and yellow. Nubs where their wings were supposed to be.

Off guard, I took a closer look, making sure it wasn’t one of the two pixies I knew.

It wasn’t. Thank God.

“I swear you and Liam are the exact same person sometimes,” Nathan grumbled to himself. “It wouldn’t kill you to let me in.”

“You never know. It might.”

I moved away from the gambling table, Nathan at my side. He hadn’t noticed my preoccupation. Or if he did, he was pretending not to.

My gaze roamed the room, searching for my quarry.

The games here were different than the ones you’d find on a Vegas casino floor. The setting was familiar enough. Most of the tables possessing green felt. The symbols and numbers on them the first indication that this wasn’t your average dice game.

The symbols were archaic representations of things I had no reference for.

More compelling was the fact that the dice they were using were made of bone. My knowledge of human anatomy was a little spotty but the oblong shape suggested it came from a small bone in the hand. One edge had been painted green. The other red.

“You’re dodging my question,” Nathan observed.

“I’d prefer to think of it as buying myself time to think.”

It wasn’t safe to bandy Arlan’s name about in this setting. There was also the small fact that Inara’s geas was preventing me from sharing what I knew.

At least I could hold thoughts regarding the subject again.

I couldn’t always.

The geas had placed restrictions on when I could and could not access that knowledge. It was like playing hide and seek with something in my own mind.

My power was slowly eating away at the geas. Likely the only reason I could remember their involvement at all. Though it would take time to fully break the magic she’d placed on me.

It was a glaring weakness in my power that I’d have to figure out how to remedy. That was if I remembered.

If I wanted Nathan’s help, I’d have to come at this sideways since I was pretty sure any direct mention of the barrow lord, Inara or Baran would trigger the geas again. That left me with hints and innuendo while hoping Nathan was smart enough to figure out what I wasn’t telling him.

One thing was clear—if not for Caroline and the pack’s situation, I’d probably still be in Columbus, clueless as to what was going on.

“Do you remember what happened the night before I arrived?” I asked.

Come on, Nathan. There weren’t too many things it could be.

“I do,” Nathan said, drawing the last word out slightly to show his confusion.

“Let’s just say I saw it’s owner walking around as a free Fae.”

My throat closed up after those words. The geas tightening around my mind in warning.

I breathed through the effects, relieved that I hadn’t forgotten yet. Though if I’d said anything more, I would have.

Comprehension dawned on Nathan’s face. “That would be a problem.”

“We need confirmation,” I managed around the lump in my throat.

Then Nathan needed to inform the rest so they could prepare. Because I wouldn’t be able to.

My thoughts were slipping, eddying away on a current.

“What are we doing here again?” I asked, looking around me in confusion.

The weird look on Nathan’s face at that question made me uneasy.

“You don’t remember?”

My gaze shifted from his as I struggled to recall. “The barrow lord.”

Yes. That’s right. That’s what we’d been talking about.

“I’m beginning to see the problem now,” Nathan muttered.

I wasn’t listening, distracted by a familiar looking blond at a gambling table a few spots away.

“What’s she doing here?” I asked myself as Caroline’s eyes locked on mine, a warning in them.

“Liam. Hey. I figured it out. This isn’t A’s usual un-trusting bullshit. Someone’s fucking with her head.”

I barely registered Nathan’s conversation as I squinted at my friend and the clear “Do not approach/stay away” vibe she was giving off.

Caroline’s hair hung loose around her shoulders. The strands blown out and curled. Her dress was revealing. A gold sparkly number that offered a generous glimpse of her cleavage every time she leaned over the table. The Fae next to her had his arm around her back, his smarmy eyes sliding down her body like he thought he owned her or something.

“My guess—it has something to do with her roommate. They’re the only ones who could have gotten close enough to do this,” Nathan was saying.

She’d cut me out, I realized, running our conversation from earlier in the evening through my head again.

Probably to protect me. Only I’d ended up in the barrow anyway for entirely different reasons. The irony.

“Aw, crap,” Nathan said, finally discovering Caroline’s presence. “The wolves are here too.”

One side of my lips hooked up as I took an inordinate amount of pleasure in his irritation.

Nathan tugged on my arm. “Did you know they were coming?”

“Nope.”

And I was a little peeved about that fact.

“Liam wants us back down there,” Nathan informed me.

“Does he now?”

Too bad. I wasn’t going anywhere. Not until I’d had a little chat with my best friend.

The female one. Not the irritating enforcer who’d claimed the role for himself.

Nathan strengthened his hold on me. “If you keep staring at her like that, you’re going to blow whatever operation she’s working on. Let’s go. There’s nothing for you to do here.”

I let Nathan tug me away, knowing that what he said made sense.

“What about the other thing? The reason we came up here?” I asked as he hustled me past the gambling tables.

“You remember now,” Nathan observed.

“It comes and goes.”

“We need a code word for next time so we can warn each other when something is off.”

“I doubt it would work.”

“Probably not,” Nathan agreed, sounding sour. “If he showed himself to you, it’s because he wanted to be seen. This feels like a trap. I don’t know about you, but I’d really prefer not sticking around to find out.”

“Agreed.”

Fae traps were insidious things that were hard to escape.

“Finally—common ground,” Nathan exclaimed, widening his eyes for comical effect.

I snorted as we wound through the gambling tables back toward the stairs. We were only halfway there when the crowd surged. I didn’t get a chance to see what was happening before a big Fae with tusks protruding from his upper lip blundered into the two of us.

In a blink, Nathan’s hand was ripped from my arm. The crowd carrying me away.

Nathan shoved the Fae away, lurching toward me. “Aileen!”

Dozens of Fae cut off my view of the enforcer. The faint notes of a harmony swelling. Warmth kissed my body.

I blinked at the sudden difference in my surroundings.

“Nathan?” I asked, turning in a circle as a sinking sense of dread invaded.

There were no gambling tables. The crowd was also missing. In their place, Fae lounged on the settees and couches around me. They sipped from fancy cocktail glasses. A few held long, thin pipes, like those you might see in a hookah bar, that they inhaled from every once in a while.

The sweet, sickly smell that floated on the air made me light-headed.

“Someone is trying to fuck with me,” I realized.

Nathan was right. We’d sprung their trap.