“You managed to stay alive the first two times the Genisi attacked you, which meant we got a third shot to bag the fuckers.”
“Well, in that case, glad to help.”
“You fancy a job?” Leo asked.
Hon elbowed him in the ribs. “Hey, I was going to ask her that.” She turned to me. “Bastion, would you like to work for Gateway?”
“In space?”
“Yep.”
“In a different universe?”
“That’s right.”
“Nah. Messed up as this world may be, it’s mine. I think I’ll stick around and keep saving its ass for a while longer.”
She snorted. “Worth a shot.” Her expression sobered. “I should warn you, Loraine is pretty intrigued by you, more so now that the Genisi were gunning so hard for you. I downplayed their attraction to you, but I’ve a feeling she’s going to be on your tail a little more now.” She paused, studying me again. “They don’t usually get so worked up about one particular person’s DNA.”
“My DNA?”
“It’s what the Genisi want, and they wanted yours pretty badly for some reason.” She cocked her head. “Do you know why?”
I shrugged. “No idea. I was raised in an orphanage. No idea who my parents are or what kind of neph I am.”
She pursed her lips. “Just ... watch your back, Bastion. Loraine’s not the only one pulling the strings at The Collective. I get the feeling there are other forces at work there, stuff they’re hiding. Shady shit. Don’t get sucked in.”
“Trust me, I won’t. They’ve been trying to recruit me forever. I’m not about to cave now.”
“Good.” She backed up, gnawing on her bottom lip.
She was mulling something over. “What is it? Something’s bothering you.”
She swept her tongue over her teeth. “Look, I don’t know if it means anything, and I’m not saying you should do anything about it. But I overheard Rowan talking about the clean-up of the Underground ...” Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t think they’re planning on actually cleaning up.”
“What do you mean? They’re just going to seal them back up?”
She shrugged. “Rowan used the word extraction.”
Huh? No. That couldn’t be right.
“Just a heads up. We may be forced to work with the Arcana in this world from time to time, but they’re a shady bunch.”
My mind was whirring. If Loraine was planning on moving the Lost, then I needed to know where and why. I needed to make sure they weren’t going to be a threat. “Thanks for letting me know. Do you know when they’re planning on doing this extraction?”
“They’re headed there now.”
I looked to Azren. “Not our problem.”
Hon chuckled. “I’ll leave you two to duke it out. I better jet. It was nice meeting you, and if you ever change your mind and fancy a job in the stars, then give me a call.” She threw a flat disc at me.
I caught it and turned it over. “What’s this?”
“High-tech shit. Activate it with the switch on the side and it’s a direct line to me.”
I pocketed the tech. “And if you ever fancy a drink in a pretty cool bar on a shitty rock, come look me up.”
With a mock salute she backed up, turned, and headed back into the stadium.
Azren pushed off the van and headed toward his bike. I guess normal was over.
Hound nudged my shoulder.
“Okay, boy, you head off home. I’ll be there in a bit.”
Hound turned and sped off into the night, and I made my way to Mini. Azren started his engine but waited for me to get into my car. My hand hovered on the handle. On the one hand, it wasn’t really my concern what The Collective did about The Lost as long as they contained them, but on the other, I needed to know for peace of mind.
I spun on my heel and headed back into the stadium. Rowan was rounding up his team; weapons were being holstered and debris packed into huge metal boxes.
“Hey!” I jogged up to him.
His lips turned down. “What is it, Miss Bastion?”
“What are your orders regarding the Lost?”
He frowned. “That’s classified.”
“Well, as of twenty-four hours ago I have clearance, so spill.”
He smiled, but there was no amusement in it. “That clearance was for an altogether different issue, Miss Bastion.”
Fuck. “Look, you can either tell me or I’ll just follow you and see for myself.”
His jaw locked, and his steely gray eyes bore into me. “You’ve been extremely lucky, Miss Bastion. Don’t push that luck.”
A shiver of foreboding skittered down my spine. I sighed. “Look, I just need to know they won’t be hurting anyone else ever again.”
This time his smile was grim. “Oh, that’s something I can assure you of.”
His radio crackled. “We have a code 809. Code 809.”
His face drained of color.
“What’s a code 809?”
But he was already turning away as one of his men ran up to him. “It’s Subject X, sir.”
And suddenly, it was like I didn’t even exist. They packed up and sprinted out of the stadium, leaving me standing alone in the dark. Something glinted on the ground. I crouched and picked it up—the tiniest sliver of metal.
Barnaby would be pleased.
Azren was waiting patiently by his bike. Or at least it looked patient until you got up close enough to notice the white-knuckled grip on his bike. Fuck this, I had no time for his issues right now. I was over the hot and cold.
I pulled out of my parking space and gunned the engine. With a throaty roar, the bike followed.
We made it home in record time, probably because we drove like demons. Mini was practically panting in exhaustion by the time I pulled up outside the house. I’d been racing Azren—dumb move considering he was on a motorbike, but still, for some reason I’d needed to do it. He’d won, of course, and was leaning up against his motorbike when I climbed out of Mini.
I patted Mini on the hood. “I’ll make it up to you, baby. We’ll fill up with the expensive stuff next time.”
He shot me an amused look before heading toward the entrance at a stride. Like heck he was beating me to the door too. I broke into a sprint, brushed past him, and reached the door a second before he did.
“Well, that’s certainly mature,” he drawled.
“About as mature as blowing hot and cold is.” Ha, take that on the last-word front, demon dude.
I unlocked the door and sauntered into the foyer to find Valance sitting on the bottom step of the staircase. His chestnut hair was disheveled as if he’d been running his fingers through it. Had it grown longer? It was curling under his ears, softening his chiseled jawline.
He shot up at the sight of us.
Azren moved fast, placing himself between us.
Valance rolled his eyes. “No need for the macho tactics. Leather girl and I had a heart-to-heart last night. I kissed her boo-boos, and we made up.”
Azren’s face darkened as he looked to me. “You were alone with him, after what he did.”
“It’s fine. We’re fine, and there was no kissing of any boo-boos.”
“Yes, we’re good,” Valance added. “But we do have a problem.” His expression sobered, his electric-blue eyes flashing. “Elora’s moved up the meeting. She wants to see you tonight. Now.”
12
My heart stalled and then began to beat super-fast.
Azren shook his head slowly. “No. She can’t. We’re not ready.” His eyes flashed dangerously bright and his glamour flickered, leaving his hands curled into talons and the lower half of his body flickering and wavering.
I held up my hands, mind racing. “It’s okay. We’ll explain what’s been happening and why we’ve not had any luck.”
But Azren was glaring at Valance. He took a menacing step toward the prince. “What did you do?” he demanded.
Valance slapped a hand to his chest. �
�Me? What has this got to do with me? I didn’t do anything.”
“Elora wouldn’t bring the date forward without a reason. So tell me, Valance, what did you do?”
Valance’s face hardened, all angles and chiseled planes, and his startling blue dragon eyes narrowed to slits. “You don’t get to call me by name. You never get to call me by my name again.” He stalked closer until he was toe to toe with Azren.
This close together, the differences in their bulks and statures were evident. Although Valance was taller by a couple of inches, he was leaner, broader in the shoulders and slender-hipped, whereas Azren was bulkier, his body packed with tight muscle. They glared into each other’s eyes, but Azren was the first to break contact; he turned his head slightly, nostrils flaring as something dark flitted across his harsh features.
Valance’s throat bobbed and then he took a deliberate step away from Azren. “I was commissioning another dagger for Azren and Elora found out. She now knows you lost the first one and she’s furious.”
Azren growled and stalked off toward the kitchen, but pivoted on his heel before reaching the door and headed back toward me. “I’ll go alone.”
Valance sighed through his nose. “No. She won’t accept it. She wants to see you both. She’ll want her pound of flesh for the disappointment, for the loss of the dagger, but Wila won’t be her target.” His tone was tight.
“She’s going to hurt Azren?” My eyes were wide. “Hell no.”
Valance frowned, looking from me to Azren and then back again, and then he tucked in his chin and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Oh, you fool, Azren. What have you done?”
Azren locked gazes with Valance. “It wasn’t intentional.”
Valance exhaled sharply. “No, of course it wasn’t.” His eyes roved to me, skimming over my face. “It never is. But you’ve put her in danger now, and we have no choice but to deliver her into it. If Wila refuses to attend the meeting, Elora will utilize the clause in the contract that allows her to send Shedim to claim her, and Wila will have broken the agreement, which means she’d be back to the original sentence of death.”
“And if she goes, she’ll wish she were dead,” Azren said softly.
This was me they were talking about? My fate, and the possible pain Elora may put me through, but Valance had been certain she wouldn’t hurt me a moment ago, and now, not so much. What had I missed? “Hey, guys. Talk to me, why would she hurt me?”
“I explained this to you already,” Azren said. “I told you what would happen if we went to her emptyhanded.” Azren kept his back to me, but Valance met my gaze, his mouth twisting in annoyance.
“Enough.” He glared at Azren. “Tell her the truth, demon.”
Azren hung his head.
“Fine, I’ll do it.” Valance stepped around him and faced me. “Azren is Elora’s ... pet. He belongs to her. He isn’t permitted to have outside attachments, particularly not the feminine kind.”
Oh, God. My dream. It was real. “She killed one of his lovers.”
Azren turned sharply. “How could you know that?”
I swallowed hard. “I dreamed it. I’ve been dreaming stuff. It’s like I’m in your body when it happens.”
His chest heaved as he stepped closer. “What else have you dreamed?”
I glanced at Valance. “I saw you about to beat Valance.” I winced.
Valance’s face drained of color, and he took several steps back.
Crap, Gilbert had been right. “Oh, shit, it’s true. She made you do that? But why?”
Valance was breathing heavily. “How is this possible?”
The question wasn’t directed at anyone in particular, but I answered anyway. “Gilbert seems to think it may be something to do with the whipping the rogue Shedim gave Azren. The whip touched me too. He thinks it may have linked us somehow.”
“Elora can’t know about this,” Valance said, waving a finger between me and Azren. He pushed past Azren, who was staring at me dumbfounded, and gripped my shoulders. “Do you have feelings for Azren?”
My mouth was suddenly dry and the words failed to come. I slid a glance the Shedim’s way. He parted his mouth as if to speak but then snapped it closed, his expression shuttering.
Valance released me. “Your face ... Not a poker face. She’ll read you like an open book. Fuck.” He looked to Azren. “It’s up to you now. You need to convince her Wila means nothing to you.”
Azren nodded.
“And you,” Valance said. “You’re with me.”
Bossy much? “Firstly, I have an excellent poker face when not taken off guard, and secondly, what do you mean with you?”
Azren made a low sound of disapproval in his chest.
“Seriously?” Valance rounded on him. “You want to get all territorial now?”
Azren hung his head, hands on hips. “This won’t work.”
“Trust me,” Valance said. “When I’m done, Elora will be planning Miss Bastion’s and my nuptials.”
“Wait. What?”
Valance rolled his eyes. “Keep up, Miss Bastion. I’ve already paraded you around at the ball and told everyone I love leather-clad women. It won’t be hard to convince my mother that her man-whore of a son is fucking, rather than eating, a neph.”
My stomach quivered, partly at the thought of playing his lover, but more so about what she’d do to me if we fucked up the charade. “What will she do if she finds out the truth? I need to know.”
Valance blinked slowly and it hit me that he hadn’t blinked in ages. The whole blink thing was voluntary, an afterthought to fit in. “I don’t know. Elora is mercurially creative when it comes to her punishments, and the contract you signed allows her to mete out punishment for failure to deliver on the terms. If we can hide the connection between the two of you, she’ll vent her frustrations on Azren. Let you watch, to ensure you get the point, and then send you both packing.”
She was going to hurt Azren. This was a definite by the sound of it, and my stomach tightened. “How? What will she do?”
Azren was the one to reply. “It doesn’t matter what she does. What matters is that you remain unmoved.”
“You want me to watch her hurt you and not be bothered by it?”
Azren’s expression was hard, his jaw flexed. “Yes. That’s exactly what you’ll do, because whatever she does to me is nothing compared to what she’ll do to you if she sees you react. Do you understand?” My horror must have shown on my face because his expression softened. “Wila, I have endured far worse than you can imagine. The only thing that can hurt me now is watching you in pain. Don’t give her that power.”
His words slugged me in the chest and melted into my heart. It was the first declaration that he more than cared for me. I blinked and averted my gaze, unable to meet his vibrant eyes. Azren’s anxiety about facing Elora hadn’t been just about having nothing to show for our time searching for the rogue Shedim, it was about his feelings for me. Feelings he’d been fighting. He’d pushed me away the last couple of days in an attempt to dilute the attraction, and now we were out of time and it was my attraction to Azren that could possibly get me killed.
Valance cleared his throat. “Are we agreed?”
That was it, then. There was no option but to play the part. I plastered a grin on my face. “Agreed. And hey, you never know, she may be seduced by my sparkling personality, entranced by my stunning wit and humor, and find me a perfect match for her dashing son. Her heart will be warmed and torture will be off the table.”
Valance let out a breathy laugh. “Oh, Wila ...” He sounded equal parts amused and despondent.
“She has asked you to bring us in personally, hasn’t she?” Azren said.
Valance’s eyes filled with shadows. “Yes.”
A freaked-out giggle bubbled up in my throat, but I tamped down on it. Now wasn’t the time to lose the plot. Now was the time to don a facade and play a role and hope to God Elora bought it.
“Wila?” Gilbert materialized
behind Valance, his form a murky residue of the man he used to be. “What’s happening?”
“I have to go, Gil. Elora’s summoned me.”
“Early?”
“Yes. I won’t be long.” I injected a cheery tone into my voice.
He scanned my face. “I have a bad feeling. I don’t think you should go.”
He had no idea. “I don’t have a choice.”
Azren made a tortured sound in the back of his throat and then stormed into the kitchen for real this time.
Valance stood between me and Gil, his chest heaving as a series of emotions I couldn’t quite catch passed over his face, and then he pushed back his shoulders and followed Azren into the kitchen.
“Call Noir,” Gilbert said urgently. “Get a transponder. You need a way out.”
“I can’t. If I run, then I breach the contract, and if I breach the contract, then I go back to the original sentence of death.”
“She can’t get you on this side of the border.”
“I signed a blood contract, Gil. Even the Arcana can’t protect me from that, and if they find out I lied to them about the contents of that contract, Elora won’t get a chance to kill me, because the Arcana will do it for her.”
Gil’s form flickered in agitation, and he drifted closer. His presence wrapped itself around me in a hug and then my skin began to prickle.
“What are you doing?”
“Lending you my strength.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “My endurance ...”
And then he was gone, and the tingling soaked into my skin, leaving a pleasant warmth in its wake.
Azren strode out of the kitchen, followed closely by Valance. I straightened and hooked arms with Valance. “Well, come on, stud. Let’s go put on a show.”
Valance shared a look with Azren. Azren nodded, then grasped my right elbow. The world tilted on its axis.
We materialized in a gray stone chamber, just the three of us. Chains hung from bolts hammered deep into the walls. And shackles lay on the ground attached to thick chains which had been bolted into rock. There were other things hanging on the stone walls too, shadowy pointy things that made my toes curl.
City of the Lost (Chronicles of Arcana Book 2) Page 13
