Ash didn’t look surprised. “I suggest you reconsider your opinion of Drew’s loyalty.”
She licked her lips as dread kindled in her stomach. “What are you saying, Ash?”
“The Ra family favors subtlety. One of their favorite poisons is slow acting and almost undetectable if administered in multiple small doses. The only physical symptoms are the yellowing of sclera and fingernails, but it also causes erratic, aggressive behavior in the victim, which grows steadily worse until death. The Ras particularly enjoy this poison because it discredits their enemies before they die.”
“Is there an antidote?” she demanded urgently.
Ash gave a little shrug. “He shouldn’t need one. As long as he doesn’t ingest any more of the poison, he should recover with time.” He glanced at Calder. “I recommend dealing with Drew immediately.”
Calder nodded, looking a little shell-shocked.
“So ...” Lyre drawled. “I’m guessing Quinn isn’t onboard for going to talk to your mom.”
She pulled her eyes away from her father, giving her aching cheek another prod. As upset as she was that he’d been poisoned, she was also relieved to have an explanation for his behavior. Her father had never struck her before.
“He didn’t really seem keen on the idea,” she replied dryly.
“You’ll have to take care of it,” Calder said.
Her mouth fell open as she looked at her uncle. “What?”
“I need to stay and handle things here. But you’re right—this needs to be dealt with. As much as I hope you’re wrong, I’m afraid that you’re right. This isn’t something we can ignore. You should go to your mother, explain your theory, and figure out what to do next.”
“I—okay. Yes, I can take care of it myself.”
“Well ... you probably shouldn’t go alone.” Calder shot a pointed look at Ash. “Can I assume you’ll be going with her?”
Ash nodded.
“Uncle Calder!” she exclaimed angrily. Hadn’t she explained to him that she didn’t want to count on Ash’s help anymore?
“Of course we’re going with her,” Lyre said cheerfully, sidling over to her. He slid an arm around her waist. “Or should I say, she’s coming with us.”
She looked at him in surprise.
“What? Were you planning to walk to Fairglen? We know a much faster way.”
She pulled a face. “That’s a long way to fly. We did it once already, remember?”
“Oh, I didn’t mean fly. I was thinking more along the lines of instantaneous travel.”
“What ...” Her eyes widened as she realized what he meant. “You want to use the ley lines?”
He grinned at her. “Daemons don’t like to waste time travelling when we don’t have to.”
“Well ... I guess if that’s how you want to go ...” She shrugged at Uncle Calder. He’d gone a little pale at the mention of ley line travel.
Still sprawled awkwardly across the desk, Quinn groaned and stirred.
Calder quickly stepped over to him and looked back at her and the two daemons. “You three get going. I’ll take care of your father, Piper. Let me know before you leave.”
She followed Ash and Lyre out the door, glancing back at her father and uncle. Her heart was beating a little faster than usual, the remnants of adrenaline. If she hadn’t brought Ash back to the church, and if he wasn’t so well versed in Ra poisons—a necessary survival skill since the Ras were his enemies—her father would have died from poisoning at the hands of a man he trusted. Who would’ve thought he was being poisoned? Despite his out-of-character behavior, she hadn’t even suspected. At least she knew now why he’d confronted Ash in such a dangerous manner.
Fury whispered through her. If Drew had been nearby at that moment ...
She looked ahead to Ash and Lyre, Zwi still perched on Ash’s shoulder. Although she was grateful that he’d intervened, she was going to have a talk with Ash about eavesdropping and appropriate boundaries.
She was so busy thinking that she didn’t realize Ash and Lyre had stopped at the end of the hall. As their shadows fell over her, she glanced up and stopped just short of crashing into them. Lyre’s arm snaked out and looped around her waist again, pulling her into the gap directly between them.
He smiled wickedly at her. “So now that we’re all going on a little adventure together, and you know it would be a total waste of time to walk there when we can take you through the ley lines, you’re going to forget all about any of those sneaky little ideas about leaving us behind, right?”
She blinked rapidly. “But—you—I mean, I wasn’t—”
“Piper,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Please don’t assume we’re stupid. You’re smarter than that.”
She scowled but, caught between chagrin and embarrassment, didn’t argue. Lyre started walking, his arm still around her waist, pulling her with him. Ash walked on her other side, not as cold as before but still undecipherable. Her shoulders slumped. It looked as if she had their help whether she liked it or not. If she was honest with herself, she felt as much relief as she did worry over what was coming next.
CHAPTER 15
PIPER sat on the stone windowsill in the bell tower, staring across the dark city. At an hour before dawn, there were no signs of life, unless she counted the glow of a fire in the south—a new one, if she was correctly recalling the skyline from her last visit to the tower.
She, Ash, Lyre, Seiya, and Kiev were leaving for the ley line at dawn, but she’d woken early from strange nightmares of dark prisons and endless mazes. Unable to go back to sleep, she’d gotten ready and snuck up to the tower, leaving the daemons to sleep a bit longer.
Dread over her new theory simmered in her belly, ever present. If Samael was truly influencing the Gaians ... Lyre’s comment about Samael playing the long game frightened her. What other plans was Samael working on? Did he have other secret campaigns that he’d been nursing for years?
The idea of seeing her mother again also worried her. She hadn’t gotten over her mother’s role in holding her prisoner at the Gaians’ facility, then assisting in drugging her and unsealing her magic. What kind of loving parent would do that to their child? The betrayal of her trust was irreconcilable. But at the same time, Piper was pretty certain that her mother, in her unstable state of mind, actually believed she’d been doing the right thing. Could she forgive her mother for her actions since her intentions hadn’t been malicious? She wasn’t sure she could.
Then, of course, there was Ash. Her feelings surrounding him had become so convoluted and confusing that they made her head and heart ache. She kept seeing it in her memory, the sight of his eyes black with feral, lethal intent as he rushed her father—and as she took her father’s place. Part of her had truly believed that Ash wouldn’t hurt her, even though she knew better than almost anyone how naïve that had been. But the moment when he’d stabbed her had changed something between them; she just wasn’t quite sure what. She still trusted him, but she wasn’t sure she could trust him the same way as before.
A huge sigh slid from her as she let her head fall back against the edge of the window.
“Such a weary, longing sigh! Troubles of the heart, Piper?”
She looked around as Kindra sashayed through the open door into the tower room, smiling in greeting.
“Hey,” Piper said. “You’re up early.”
“No, I’m up late,” Kindra corrected. “I prefer to sleep away the lazy daylight hours. But why are you up at this hour?”
“Couldn’t sleep,” she replied with a shrug. “We’re leaving in a couple hours anyway.”
“I heard as much from Kiev. He’s a fascinating boy. If only he were a few years older ...” The daemon laughed at Piper’s expression. “You have eyes for only one draconian. I know.”
Piper sighed. “We’re just friends, Kindra.”
Kindra perched on the other side of the windowsill. “I have six sisters. Did you know that?”
“Six? Wow.�
�
“Mhmm. Life is always interesting when I see them.” Kindra glanced at the quiet cityscape. “My youngest sister fell in love with a human boy.”
Piper straightened a little. “She did? How?”
“Daemons rarely spend time with humans, do they? I’m not entirely sure how they met, but oh, how they adored each other. Inseparable. She even pretended to be human so she could meet his family. She introduced him to us as well. She was very protective, but he was a delightful lad. She told us, and him, over and over how she would never hurt him, how she could never harm a hair on his head because she loved him so much.”
“That’s sweet,” Piper said, smiling.
“It was indeed for several years.” Kindra shrugged. “But Lalita has a bit of a temper, you know. One day, they had an argument—I don’t know what about—but her promises were forgotten and she struck him. Broke a few ribs. She was so very distraught afterward that she cried for hours. I tried to comfort her, but she was inconsolable. He would not forgive her, you see, and she never saw him again.”
“Oh,” Piper said, surprised by the dark turn of the story. “That’s ... too bad.”
Kindra nodded. “I told her afterward, I said, ‘Lalita, you should have known better than to promise to never hurt him. We are daemons. We have always been, and will always be, capable of violence toward anyone. Instead of romantic promises, you should have prepared him for the day when you would hurt him so he would know that it did not mean you didn’t love him, but that you are not human and that it is a reality of loving one of us.’
“She replied to me, ‘Kindra, you are just as naïve as you perceive me. Humans are incapable of perceiving love and violence together. To a human, they are incompatible and mutually exclusive experiences. If you strike your love, then you do not love him. This is what they understand.’
“So I said to her, ‘Then why did you stay with him for so long if you knew it was doomed to end in heartbreak?’
“And she simply shrugged and said, ‘I wanted to try.’”
Kindra fell silent, looking at Piper expectantly.
Piper cleared her throat. “I guess the moral of your story is that I’m like Lalita’s boyfriend, thinking Ash would never hurt me?”
“Oh, not at all,” Kindra said brightly. “You are far wiser than that foolish boy—you know what we are—but you should really be more cautious. Jumping in front of his sword ...” She shook her head.
“Yeah,” Piper mumbled. “So you think I should forgive Ash for stabbing me?”
“You have already forgiven him, haven’t you?”
“I—well, yes, I have. But ... I’m not sure how much I can trust him now.”
“Just don’t jump in front of his sword next time.”
Piper snorted in amusement. Kindra’s sister had a point about her not understanding how non-daemons perceived violence. Kindra still didn’t get it. Most humans and haemons just couldn’t casually shrug off being stabbed through the stomach by someone they loved and trusted. Piper didn’t want to hold it against Ash, but on a gut-deep level, she couldn’t help it.
On the other hand, that didn’t change how much she cared about him. She sighed again.
“You two just need to stop being so melodramatic,” Kindra told her. “Why don’t you have him teach you some spells now that you have magic? A bonding experience, and it would be very useful for you.”
“I ... don’t think so,” Piper said. “I don’t think he wants to do anything with me right now.”
“But you’re leaving together. That doesn’t count?”
“That’s necessary.” Piper lifted one shoulder in a small shrug. “Where are you headed to next?”
“This place is not much fun anymore. I will go have some adventures with my sisters and return here in a few years.”
“A few years, huh ...” Piper muttered. It probably would be years before Earth was safe again, assuming the current conflicts could be settled soon—which wasn’t looking likely. She would need every skill in her arsenal, and then some, if she would be of any help in getting her home back to normal.
She straightened. “Speaking of learning spells, there is something I want to practice that maybe you could help me with.”
Kindra pushed her red curls off her shoulders. “Oh?”
“Daemons have used paralysis and sleep spells on me before, and I was helpless. But I heard about a way I might be able to counteract that.”
Kindra frowned. “Some daemons can counteract such spells but I have never known a haemon to be capable of it.”
“I heard about a special way—different from how daemons do it. Could you help me practice?”
With a little shrug, Kindra agreed.
Piper wasn’t sure whether Natania had told her the truth about her dual magic allowing her to defend herself from those kinds of spells, but she wanted to test it before she attempted it in the middle of a critical situation.
She and Kindra moved to the floor of the tower and sat in the center of the small space. Taking a deep breath to release some tension, she tried to mentally prepare herself. Natania’s instructions hadn’t exactly been clear and Piper’s grasp on controlling her magic was weak at best, especially when she wasn’t working with physical gestures.
Kindra reached out and touched Piper’s wrist. “I’ll use a paralysis spell. Are you ready?”
Piper nodded, bracing herself. Kindra’s eyes darkened as she tapped into her magic. A moment later, tingles rushed across her skin from where Kindra’s fingers were touching her wrist. Her muscles went limp and she flopped over backwards, her head barely missing the wall as it smacked into the floor. Haziness clung to her mind, dulling her thoughts.
Kindra touched her arm and another wash of tingles spread over Piper’s skin. The cloudy feeling left her thoughts and strength returned to her muscles. She gingerly sat up, rubbing the back of her head.
“Well ... that didn’t work very well.”
“Do you want to try again?” Kindra asked worriedly.
Piper nodded, hiding her frustration. The spell had taken hold so fast. One moment it had just been tingles and then she’d been helpless. How was she supposed to defend herself when she barely had a second or two to react? Massaging the back of her skull again, she laid down in front of Kindra to prevent another fall, her feet resting against the stone wall.
“Okay, I’m ready.”
Kindra took her wrist again. Piper tuned into her magic, reaching for that spot in her head where the power seemed to come from—where the pain had been at its worst after the seal on her magic had broken. Tingles washed over her skin as Kindra began her spell. And then Piper went limp again, her mind blurred by the magic.
Kindra removed her spell and Piper blinked, clenching her teeth.
“Dammit,” she said. “It’s so fast. Is there a way you can cast the spell more slowly?”
“I can try,” Kindra said uncertainly.
Again she took Piper’s wrist. And again the tingles spilled over her. And yet again, Piper went limp as a doll. Four more times Kindra cast the spell, and four more times Piper couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it. Thankfully, Kindra didn’t complain. She just waited for Piper to pull herself together.
Piper extended her hand toward Kindra for the eighth time, taking deep breaths and trying hard to focus. She needed to pulse her magic through her body. Nothing she’d tried so far had done anything. The spell took her down so fast that she barely had a chance to react. Her thoughts went to Lyre helping her with her glamour. Was it something like that? Maybe she needed to visualize it more clearly.
Tingles on her wrist as Kindra’s magic slid into her body. Piper’s face contorted in concentration. She imagined her magic as blue and purple fire rushing through her body, swirling through her veins, burning away the alien daemon magic. Her nerves started to burn with sudden pain—and then she went limp again, paralyzed.
When Kindra lifted the spell, Piper propped herself up on an elbow.
“I might be starting to get the hang of it,” she said excitedly. “Let’s try again.”
Kindra nodded, though she looked skeptical. Piper offered her hand and the daemon took it. Once again that familiar tingling sensation. She quickly recalled the image of multi-colored fire racing through her body. The heat under her skin quickly turned to pain but she could still feel the tingle of magic. Time seemed to slow as she bent all her concentration on stopping the coming spell. She imagined the fire blasting through her, taking over her whole body.
The burning pain flashed to agony. Her lungs seized as her vision went white. She was on fire, an inferno contained under her skin, burning away her bones and flesh. Without thinking, she wrenched herself away, half rising to her hands and knees before her limbs gave out and she flopped to the floor, panting for air as the fire dissipated.
When she composed herself, she gingerly sat up, flinching from the lingering ache.
Kindra quickly examined Piper. “You did it.”
“Yeah,” Piper said, still catching her breath. “Wow, that sucked.”
Kindra tilted her head to one side. “Magic isn’t supposed to hurt.”
“Mine hurts,” she said dryly. “Let’s try one more time.”
“No, I think that’s enough. You should save some energy for your adventures today.”
Piper snorted but decided not to argue; Kindra had already been more than patient. Piper stood, stretching sore muscles. The fire in her body from her magic had been debilitating all on its own. She would have to be careful that she didn’t successfully defend against a spell only to be killed because she was in too much pain to fight back.
She finished her stretch and turned to find Kindra watching her.
“What?” she asked curiously.
Kindra shrugged. “Many haemons are just humans with magic. But you are more like us than like them. I have always felt that, even when I first met you.”
Piper blinked. “Really? How am I different?”
“I’m not sure. It’s just a feeling.” She smiled. “Always trust your instincts, Piper. Daemons have very good instincts and I am confident you share that with us.”
Reap the Shadows (Steel & Stone Book 4) Page 17
