Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Everest sipped his coffee and waited for his handler, Paul Hackman, to show up. He was five minutes late. At a table nearby, Cadel was flicking through an English newspaper and eating lunch. Everest had no doubt that Cadel was aware every time Everest lifted the cup or adjusted his position.

He checked his watch again. Six minutes late.

He would give him another four, and then he was leaving.

Several Shadow Board members had fled to Switzerland, hoping to escape the Coven's crackdown, as well as potential arrested by the British and international authorities. Dalmon had worked hard to catch some of them after Everest had set the idea in motion last life. Back then he'd had nothing concrete, only whispers and suspicions, though he had known about the affiliated shifter families and bindings.

A balding man in a suit that appeared to be a size too small walked in, scanned the room, and gave Everest a nod. He bustled over and sat without waiting for an invitation. Hackman acted as though they were equals, which had always annoyed Everest, as he didn't want anything in common with these disgusting excuses for witches.

Everest took another drink of coffee to avoid being the first to speak.

Hackman licked his lip. "I underestimated the traffic, your highness."

"I am a busy man as I am acting king." He was certain that, officially, he still was, as there had been no announcement to say otherwise. Perhaps it was convenient for Gerrit to remain injured and out of the public eye.

"Yes, about that."

"What about it?" He kept the cup in his hands as though he needed the warmth when, in fact, it was the reverse as he kept his coffee warm.

"Your father survived."

"It appears so. You can add that to your list of failures."

"Your intel was bad regarding the business."

"There was nothing wrong with my information. Your people on the inside were unable to complete their part. Now everyone is on high alert." Which is what was supposed to happen. His brothers had stopped the Shadow Board from taking over the country and killing Gerrit. "Now, I have done as asked and I am yet to see any evidence that you have any intention of following through on your part. Or do you intend to have a third failure?"

Hackman leaned closer. "Do you know what is happening in London?"

Everest took a drink and let Hackman dangle for a few seconds. "Yes. It appears the Coven has got wind of your extracurricular activities. Which is bad for both of us. You traffic in shifters, and I want phoenixes. If you can't traffic, I can't get phoenixes."

Hackman licked his lips again. He was sweating.

He was never this nervous. The only reason Hackman was his handler was because they thought sending a water witch to work with a fire witch was a good idea.

Personally, Everest would have sent a mind reader or a psychometric witch to act as a handler. They were more dangerous, and after his run-in with Hastings, he wasn't keen to repeat the experience.

"We know what you are."

Everest lifted both eyebrows in mock surprise. His brothers had assumed the secret was out after the attack on Gerrit's lodge. They had put an animal talker witch among the staff, which mean no secret was safe. "Congratulations."

"That's why you want phoenixes."

"And I am prepared to pay a very good price for them. As far as I am concerned, the arrangement still stands, and I have upheld my end."

"You're not king."

"Not yet. I guess I need to do that myself." There were many things he would do to rescue Olier, but killing one of his brothers wasn't one of them. "Since you failed twice."

"You need to grant us safe haven from the British authorities."

Everest snorted. "And what do I get? There is no evidence that you can keep your word. For all I know, you may not own a single phoenix, and you have been lying to me this entire time…I do not like liars." He echoed Cadel's words.

"The owner will not sell."

"Then there is nothing I can do." Everest finished his drink and stood. His gaze skimmed over Cadel, who had finished his lunch and appeared to be in no hurry to leave until he'd finished reading the paper to a waiter. Everest smiled at the waiter as if he knew him well. He'd flirted a little with him when they had arrived, and it guaranteed a smile now.

Hackman took the bait, glancing at the waiter and no doubt thinking he was part of Everest's plan.

"You will need to take your chances with the Coven."

"They are stripping our magic," Hackman hissed.

Everest put his hands on the table and glared at Hackman, a low-level Shadow Board foot soldier. It was surprising he hadn't already been thrown under the bus. "Remind me why I should be the least bit sympathetic when you bind shifters, including my brethren?"

It was strange to be admitting what he was, but the secret was out and there was no point in trying to keep it in. That would only make him appear to be a fool, which wasn't the impression he wanted to give.

"If we'd known?—"

"You'd have what? Tried to take over sooner? You did try. You killed my grandfather, and you failed then, too."

Hackman had the decency to blanch.

"If you want my help, you will release my kind. Then we will talk about how to rearrange the world to suit our purposes." He stood up. "Make no mistake, you do not want me, or my kind, as an enemy."

They wouldn't release Olier. They would try to force Gerrit's hand since Everest wasn't king.

"You side with the Coven."

Everest smiled, cold and sharp. "I side with whoever gives me what I want. If destroying the Board liberates my kind, then so be it. Speak to your superiors and express my displeasure with their performance. I will be here for another day, as I have other matters to deal with."

He turned and walked out, giving the waiter a glance and a head tilt. The waiter followed, and Everest stopped to speak with him, placing an order for dinner.

Hackman walked out, stinking of fear and sweat .

Everest sensed Cadel walk up behind him but didn't turn. "I have ordered steak for dinner. Rare?"

"Perfect," Cadel said.

The waiter glanced between them wondering what the hell was going on. Cadel was nervous enough with one man in the bed. If there was a second, he'd make good his threat to sleep on the floor.

"Come on." Cadel pulled a coat out of his bag and handed it to him.

Everest put it on and shoved the knitted hat on as Cadel did the same, then followed him out of the hotel.

Cadel took a couple of breaths, then turned left.

"Want to tell me what you learned?" Everest asked.

"That you are a very convincing demagogue."

His fingers fluttered over his heart. "Merci. It took centuries to perfect."

Cadel glanced at him.

"It is an act."

That look again. Cadel didn't believe him.

"What?" He didn't like the look. It was far too close to disgust.

"What wouldn't you do to see this through?"

"Ah, it is a short list. But I will not destroy my country or my brothers if that is what you are asking."

Cadel nodded. "Man in green on the other side of the road was outside the restaurant."

Everest hooked his arm through Cadel's and adjusted his accent to something closer to American. "Then we had best look like tourists."

He steered Cadel over to a jeweler and pointed to a ring, but his gaze was on the green man in the reflection. The green man had company, and they were heading in the opposite direction to Hackman. "It is Hackman we are following? "

"Yes. He was scared. Those at the top have left England and must be here to regroup."

"They are, and they will have their shifters." Olier was here. Everest was certain.

"Magical attack?"

"They tried that and failed. They killed over twenty shifters to gather the magic for that snowstorm. They can't grab more because of the Coven crackdown, and the shifter families will rebel if they start killing them." Witches weren't supposed to kill their pet shifters. While the shifter families might enjoy the money and the status, that would change if the witches started killing.

"And the ones they bought? How many do they have?"

Everest shook his head. "They are purchased for rituals. Bound for a short-term boost, and they usually live less than six months. The practice has been around for as long as I can remember."

"So forever."

"I haven't gone that far back. However, at least three thousand years. Give or take a century or three, it's hard to tell the date. The Shadow Board is basing their behavior on an old religion." Everest glanced at his bodyguard. "Don't look so shocked. Witches and shifters have been using each other for centuries. Binding and wounding. It's a wonder we survived at all."

Cadel's eyebrows were knitted together. "Have you told your brothers?"

"I don't need to. If I know them at all, they will have broken their one rule and be reading my books. They will know everything. From the origins of the Shadow Board to the deals I made with them while working for the Coven."

Cadel stared at him. "Who are you really working for? "

"Myself. Phoenixes. Shifters…everyone. No one wins if the Shadow Board seizes control. It will be a new dark age." He liked the way Cadel felt pressed against him a little too much. Though he couldn't afford to start leaning on people more than he could afford to start liking people. People served the purpose, nothing more. And he was no different. "I have watched the world burn too many times. I will not let it happen again."

"You won't be alive to see if you're successful."

Everest shrugged pretending that it didn't bother him. "I will be reborn. And when I am old enough to shift, I will be shown my books, and I will judge whether I was successful."

He sniffed the cold weather, making his nose run.

"It sounds like you made a deal with the devil."

A laugh bubbled up, and he didn't try to contain it. "I am the fucking devil."

Cadel considered him for several heartbeats like he was trying to marry the modern Christian version of the devil with the man he was looking at. "I doubt that."

The benefit of remembering his lives was that he could see where a story or a lie took hold and spread and twisted to become its own thing. Free will. All he wanted was for witches to stop binding shifters. It was a battle he had been fighting for far too long. He was sure that if he dug even further back, it would be the same battle.

The same arguments.

He didn't understand how two of his brothers could be happy being the familiar to a witch. A blessing from the Fates? The remains of a magical curse? He didn't believe in gods, the fates or anything else for the simple reason that he had been called them all and he was only a phoenix.

The healing miracles that humans wanted was a witch working their magic. Floods and the parting of oceans were a different kind of magic. But he doubted humans would accept the logical explanation.

Some would want to find a way to use magic to make money. And much like the Shadow Board, they would justify the use of binding shifters to amplify the magic. It never bloody ended.

Everest sighed, feeling every century weighing on him, even though he hadn't explored. "We should move on and find out where Hackman is staying."

Cadel stopped him. He brought his hand to Everest's face, his finger sweeping over his upper lip. For half a second, Everest thought Cadel was about to kiss him. But his finger came away bloody.

Everest touched his nose, feeling the hot blood on his cool fingers. "Well, that's new. Perhaps I need to revise my timeline."

"We should go back to the hotel."

"No. I'm running out of time. We need to move faster."

"How much faster? How long?"

Everest touched his nose again. "I…" The world tilted, and when he opened his eyes, it wasn't to the cold streets of Geneva.

He blinked and sat up, not sure where or when he was.

"Don't leave yet." The man next to him reached out and pulled him back into bed. And Everest went willingly. There was peace in his heart when he looked at the man.

"I need to go. I don't want to be late." But he didn't want to leave either. He kissed his lover.

"What is time to a phoenix?"

"I only live one life at a time. The same as you." He ran his fingertips over the man's face.

"So you won't remember me next time?"

"Remembering every lost love is too much of a burden to bear, even for a phoenix."

"So you do love me?"

"How could you ever doubt that?" Everest moved over him, pinning him to the bed. "I would die for you."

"I want you to be mine in this life and the next and all that comes after."

Everest's smile became fixed. "That isn't possible."

It happened by accident if soul mates found each other. But there was a magic his brothers thought forgotten. Had his witch found it buried in his memories?

"What if it was? If I could bind our souls together?"

Everest stared at him. "I love you in this lifetime. What is the point of re-creating it in every lifetime?"

"Would it not be more perfect with each life?" the man pressed.

"Each life is different. I am not the same, and you would not be the same."

"Then we would not be re-creating it. It would be a new love each time."

"But it would still be us." He stared at his lover, his witch. "Each life is for exploring and learning."

Something changed in the man's eyes. "Without me, you wouldn't be able to remember your past."

That had been fun to explore. And he had learned so much. Phoenixes needed memory readers; otherwise, what was the point of living so many lives? "For which I am grateful. We all are."

"Then would it not be better for our love to survive death? "

"Everest. Hey." The golden-eyed man stared at him. Cadel. That was his name.

Everest blinked a couple of times to re-orient himself.

"Where'd you go?"

"How long was I gone?" When had he gone was a better question.

"A couple of seconds. Your eyes rolled back, and you went limp."

Which explained why Cadel was holding him close. He sniffed and tasted the blood in his mouth. This was a problem.

He thought he had months. Weeks were manageable. If he only had days… His stomach ached, and his knees weakened at the thought of failure. He couldn't do this again.

"Can you stand on your own?"

Probably, but he wasn't quite ready. He liked the way Cadel held him, even though it was his job to protect him. "Yes, I'm fine."

"You are definitely not fine."

Everest was going to argue, but he bit his tongue. "You're right. I'm not fine. I don't have months."

"No shit."

"We need backup."

"I will not risk my brothers' lives. I do not need that adding to my wound." He pushed against Cadel's chest, needing to be free. The embrace smothered him, trapping him until he couldn't breathe.

"I need backup. I cannot watch you and Hackman, and I cannot send you off on your own in case this happens."

Everest rubbed his nose with the back of his hand. "I need to shift."

Cadel blew out a breath. "Fine. Try not to set fire to the hotel room." He licked his thumb and wiped it across Everest's upper lip. "You can't walk around like that; people will think I punched you in the nose."

"That's better than finding out the truth."

"For you, maybe. I don't want to be arrested for assaulting the prince."

"I wouldn't let them arrest you." But doubt flickered in Cadel's eyes. "I mean it."

"Unless it gets you closer to Olier."

That he couldn't argue with. "I thought you understood."

"I do. But at what point do I need to protect you from yourself?"

"You don't. I do this, and I die. That is my life this time." Three years ago, the plan he'd made last life had seemed like a good idea. Besides, he was only following through on his own plan, and he had to believe that he knew what needed to be done. In his memories, it appeared he'dd known. But now that his life was down to weeks…

Everest wasn't sure. "I'm sorry we lost Hackman."

Cadel nodded. "What was I going to do? Throw you over my shoulder and continue?"

"Then you might have been arrested for kidnapping the prince. I don't have time for you to be arrested. I need you. And you need backup. Call Jacob Farrell. He's a witch who can use the finder magic."