“Am I supposed to know the answer to that?”
Brendan rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Let’s start with a caretaker. Tell me about caretakers.”
“They are retired assassins. They act as mentors and liaisons for younger assassins. Help them interact with the outside world.”
“Might come in handy. What does he think of all this?”
“All what?”
“Helping us take down your former employers.”
She leaned on the table balanced on her elbows. “His only worry is about me. I think you would call him a friend.”
His laugh was incredulous. “A friend? Since when do you have a friend?”
“I guess I’ve always had one, I just didn’t know what it was.”
His eyes searched hers for a moment then he laid his hand over hers. “I’m glad you came back.”
Her face dropped all emotion. “You shouldn’t be. It puts you all in danger.”
He shrugged. “We’re in danger anyway. At least with you here I’ll have someone to argue with.” She blushed and dropped her face. “Wait, is that…? Are you blushing? I don’t believe it! A normal emotion, I’m not sure how to deal with that from you.”
She pulled her hands from his and got to her feet. “I’d better go check on Gregor. Darius probably has him up there going through his childhood.”
Brendan remained sitting at the table long after her footsteps had faded up the stairs. Soon he heard Darius returning.
“Well, it seems my home is going to be interesting for a while again,” Darius said.
“Are you comfortable having both of them in your house?”
“You have somewhere you’d like to take one of them?” Darius glanced over his shoulder, a coy gleam in his eye.
Brendan glared at Darius’s knowing stare. “You’re an irritating old man, you know that.”
“We’ll be fine. Might need to be sure to set up some extra guards, just in case.”
“I’ll send Arna over, she’s enough to frighten anyone.”
The older man chuckled. “She does seem to have issues with you boys. Maybe I can talk to her for you.”
“Maybe we can just sick Eylsa after her.” Brendan’s eyes sparkled with mischievous glee as he glanced at the ceiling. “You think she’ll stay this time?”
“It’s hard to say.” He stood to make his way into the living room. “There is a sleeping draught in the cabinet, could you take some up to her for me?”
Brendan shook his head as he searched the cabinets and took out a red vial and a glass. The stairs creaked beneath his feet as he climbed to the second story. He tapped gently on her door. “Eylsa?”
The room was empty. He went back out into the hall and listened. Soft whispering voices caught his attention. He crept further up the stairs.
“I’ll support you in whatever you want to do, but you have to know this won’t be easy.” Gregor’s deep rough voice drifted down to him.
“What choice do I have, Gregor? They will discover my weakness eventually. How long will I live after that?”
“But these people, are you sure about them?”
“They may be the only thing I am sure of.” Eylsa’s response was soft, barely a whisper.
Brendan tapped on the wall beside him as he reached the top of the stairs. “Hey.” He leaned against the door jam, holding up the cup. “Darius sent you up something to help you sleep.”
Gregor’s eyes narrowed but he held his silence.
“Thanks.” Eylsa went to him as he held out his hand and guided her to her room.
He left her to sit on the bed as he emptied the vial into the glass. He held it up between them. “I thought you didn’t have trouble sleeping.”
She pulled her legs up beneath her. “It’s a recent trouble.”
“Well…” He handed her the glass. “Be sure to take it all. It’s strong but you have to take a full dose.”
She stared at it. “Will it stop dreams?”
He kneeled on the bed beside her. “Do your dreams bother you?” He brushed her hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear. There was a gentleness in her eyes, a vulnerability that wasn’t there before. It tugged at him. “This won’t, but I can.”
He moved the glass toward her lips before he cupped her face in his hands and sent a wave of power out through his fingertips. She gasped as her eyes moved to his.
“That should shield you from dreaming,” he said.
“That was incredible.”
He winked playfully. “Well, you know…” He found himself caught in her gaze, so strong and demanding. He could never tell what was going on behind that intense stare. It both frightened and excited him. Even when she had been trying to kill them, he couldn’t get her out of his mind. She was maddening and unpredictable, violent and beyond comprehension, but when he least expected it, she could also be sweet and naïve.
He took the glass from her as he came to his feet. “We’ll see you in the morning, rested.”
He pulled the door shut behind him starting as he found himself facing Gregor. “Gregor.”
“What precisely do you plan to do with her?”
“What do you mean?”
“Eylsa was one of my best students; her potential is beyond any I have ever seen. Then one day she comes to me and says she doesn’t think she can do it anymore. Says she can’t separate herself anymore. Do you have any idea what they did to her when she told them she wouldn’t kill Darius?” He stepped forward, his stare intense. “She was sent for retraining. First they starved her for a week. After that, she was beaten until she lost consciousness every night for the second week. Three years of intense work and training, under my personal supervision. You don’t think she would need a caretaker at her age otherwise, do you?”
The accusing tone pulled a wave of rage up from his stomach and he fought hard to suppress it.
“We didn’t send her back. We could have kept her safe had she not left.”
“She left because she feared someone would kill you, all of you. She puts your safety above her own, and I don’t like it one bit.”
Brendan glanced at her door before pushing past Gregor. “It is her decision. Not yours.”
He stopped as Gregor clamped a hand around his arm. “If she gets hurt for you, I will be sure to show you all of my best tricks before you die.” His eyes burned with the intensity of his words.
Brendan met his fire with cool determination. “We will do everything in our power to be sure she doesn’t.”
“See that you do. You have no idea what she will be in for. An assassin of her caliber without a master is a target for any who wish to make a name for themselves. She has already been through retraining; there is no second step. The price of making an assassin is high, and killing them would be an expense too great to fathom. First they will beat her, torture her until her mind is pudding, no longer a threat. Once that is done she will be used to recoup the price of raising and training her.”
Brendan’s face twisted in confusion. “But how would she…”
“The only way to recoup the price is to produce another assassin of equal quality.”
Brendan’s stomach churned as he stepped closer to the older man, eyes glaring into his. “Sounds like you should be convincing her to stay with us then, shouldn’t you?”
Cade and Trey were seated around the table when he entered the kitchen. “I hear we have company again.” Cade kept his eyes on the book spread open before him on the table.
“Well, you know me and my magnetic personality. No one can stay away.” He dropped into a chair across from them, smiling at Cade as he looked up. “What are you researching now?”
Trey waved his hand and sent a cup sliding across the table toward him. “Darius found some books on the Yagrecian slave trade, thought it might be something good to look into. Could stop someone else from becoming…” He glanced toward the ceiling. “Well, you know.”
“Where is Darius?”
“He went to the Tribunal. I think he’s going to fetch Keena.”
Brendan felt his stomach clench. “Great, like I don’t have enough problems today. Why doesn’t he just bring Arna too? Then I can have three women driving me crazy at once.”
“Magnetism again?” Trey’s eyes sparkled with a mischievous gleam.
Brendan rolled his eyes. “Don’t forget, my magnetism with Arna extends to you as well.”
“Keena still trying to get you to go to the Tribunal’s Spring Ball with her?”
“I do believe I no longer have a choice, according to her.” He was sure his stomach was going to rebel soon. He was standing on a tripwire and any movement he made would snag him tight.
Cade shrugged. “So go. We can hold things down around here for a day. Couldn’t hurt your job right now.”
“That’s not even funny.”
“It’s the truth, Brendan. Arna has been on about you two since the engagement party. It wouldn’t hurt any to schmooze a little.”
Brendan’s mind filled with a vision of a dimly lit dance floor, of himself on Keena’s arm like an ornament. “I’ll quit before I keep my job that way.”
“I don’t know if you’ll get the option.”
“Great, just great.” His hand flashed out and sent a plastic cup skidding across the counter.
Cade tapped the table. “Just sit down; there’s nothing we can do about it right now. Besides, Keena is higher than Arna, I don’t think your job is in that much danger.” He pushed the book across the table. “Take a look at this: There are photos of children who went missing, and families.” He pointed to a couple at the center of the page.
Brendan shook his head. “That could be Eylsa. Put a little age on her. Darius was right.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t help us any with getting her away from the king and his son.”
“No.” Brendan ran a hand back through his hair. “But it might gather sympathy for her among the Tribunal, which wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
“So you think your people will turn on her.”
Trey and Cade jumped to their feet as Brendan waved his hand. “You don’t have to skulk about Gregor; you can join us.”
Gregor glided into the room, his face stern. “That is not an answer to my question.” He glared a challenge at each of them before taking a seat at the head of the table so he could watch them all.
“There are very few people who are going to be chomping to protect an assassin.”
“But you are.”
Trey shrugged. “Well, Eylsa grew on us, but she is definitely an acquired taste when she usually shows up looking to kill people.”
Gregor’s slow blink swept his gaze around the room. “What would endear her to these…people?”
Cade smiled encouragement. “That’s what we have to figure out. Who are you, by the way?”
Trey sat back from him. “Besides a guard.”
“He’s Eylsa’s caretaker.”
Both Cade and Trey turned to stare at him. “Her what?”
Brendan held out a hand. “Long story. Short of it, without him here, she leaves. So now we have two people we have no hope of understanding or communicating with in the house.”
“Well.” Cade slammed the book shut. “Isn’t that just fun?”
“Oh, you have no idea.”
Gregor was unfazed by their exchange. “You will not find her parents. The academy ensures that they are all taken out. Except for the breeders. Eylsa wasn’t from a breeder, though. Her parents were strong, but they were not what the program looks for.” They stared at him, jaws agape. He nodded toward the book still lying open on the table. “She did tell you that I was retired. How do you think caretakers are set up with their charges?”
“How long have you known her?”
Cade didn’t even flinch, just slipped seamlessly into interview mode.
“She was taken at two and assigned to me a month later.”
Trey lurched forward. “Two?”
“I realize she was a bit old, but she did well.” Gregor’s voice held the gentle timbre of pride.
Cade pulled a sheaf of paper from a bag hanging from his shoulder. “Gregor, was it? How did the academy usually choose…children?”
Gregor lifted an eyebrow as he stared at the sheaf of paper. “I seem to be getting quite enmeshed with you people.”
Brendan held out a pot of tea. “If you intend to stay with us, you better get used to it.”
Gregor waved him off. “The academy looks for people who are a certain strength with a strong temperament. Personality is one of the big characteristics an assassin must have. They must be able to kill without being consumed by it. An out-of-control assassin is a liability no one wants to deal with.”
“I can just imagine.” Cade scribbled on the paper.
Gregor ignored the interruption. “When a suitable pair is found, they are brought together.”
All three men looked up at him. Brendan leaned forward. “What do you mean, ‘brought together’?”
“If they are amenable to the cause, they are brought in as breeders. Kept at the academy and paired with complementary mates and bred. If they are antagonists, as in the case of Eylsa’s parents, the academy utilizes a love draught.”
Trey chocked. “You drug them?”
“Yes. It ensures compatible breeding.”
“That’s terrible!”
Gregor blinked. “Is it? Eylsa is incredibly powerful and, as you’ve seen yourself, quite an amazing creature. You think something like that just happens?”
Cade held his head. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
Gregor jumped to his feet and glared back over his shoulder. “Someone’s here.”
Brendan tapped the table with a finger. “Sit. It’s probably just Darius.”
Cade made his way toward the door, narrowly missing being hit as it flung open.
“This had better not be a waste of my time, Darius. I am a busy woman.”
Keena eyed Cade as she brushed past him. Darius smiled an apology at Cade as he shut the door. “I would not bother you so late at night if it weren’t important.”
She spun in a whirl of coat and fabric, fists on her hips. “Well, where is this girl? This pet assassin you’ve been telling me about?”
Gregor ghosted up behind her, towering over her slight form. “Pet?”
Her breath caught as she jumped sideways but her face sobered in a quick cover of the break in composure. Brendan guided him out of the doorway. “She didn’t mean anything by that, Gregor.”
Darius indicated chairs around the room as Keena’s eyes widened. “Let’s sit. I assume Eylsa is sleeping.”
Brendan gave Gregor one more glare before he dropped into a chair next to Cade. “She’s out; won’t likely be coherent till morning.”
“Good.”
Keena shook herself, recovering after Gregor’s inaction. “What do you mean ‘good’? You drag me here to talk to this person and they aren’t even awake?”
Darius waved toward Gregor who was still standing next to the kitchen. “Gregor will be able to answer any questions you have. If you still wish to question Eylsa, you will have to return in the morning.”
She blinked before she moved to the chair next to Brendan, her hand slipping toward his as Gregor took a step into the room. “The Tribunal will not be satisfied with empty words, Darius. To extend protection to these…people, we must have some pretty substantial help against the Trinity.”
Brendan glared helplessly at his entrapped hand. “They have already told us more in the few times we have talked to them than we have been able to figure out in the years we have been studying the Trinity from afar.”
Gregor crossed his arms. “If you are not satisfied with what we have to offer you, perhaps you would like to do your own research.”
Her back straightened as she jutted out her chin. “I do not make it a habit to associate with men of questionable character.”
Bren
dan pried his hand free and stood before she could grab it again. “I really don’t think antagonizing Gregor is any way to go about this.”
Cade sat forward, tapping the piece of paper still clutched in his hands. “I have to agree; Gregor was proving quite informative just before you arrived. Surely you have to see the value of people who have intimate knowledge of the inner workings of something like the Trinity.”
Gregor held out a hand. “I do not have intimate knowledge of the Trinity.”
They blinked at him in confusion. “But you worked with Eylsa.”
“I was her handler. I guided her; I was not a part of the Trinity. She was the only one who worked directly with the Trinity.”
Trey jumped forward as Keena’s mouth opened. “But he does have information on an academy that kidnaps and trains assassins, which I believe will be just as useful to us.”
Gregor glowered as Keena eyed Trey skeptically. “And just how is it you four have become so…intimate with these criminals?”
Trey moved to block Gregor from Keena’s sight as Darius cleared his throat. “We first encountered Eylsa after that rash of murders some years back, I’m sure you remember.”
Keena shifted primly. Her sweeping eyes lingered on Brendan as he leaned against the wall behind him. “That is a long time to sit on something like this, Darius. Perhaps if you were a bit more active in the Tribunal, things like this wouldn’t be ignored for so long.”
Brendan scoffed. “It was hardly ignored. Are you going to help them or not?”
Her eyes narrowed at his tone. “Perhaps. We will have to see what this girl has to offer first, and the gentleman of course.” She stood and arranged her flowing suit around her as she began making her way toward the door. “I will do what I can. Brendan, you will bring this girl to my office in the morning.”
Brendan glared at the door after she was gone. “How did that just happen?”
Darius scratched his chin. “It’s a good plan. Eylsa is comfortable with you and Keena will be more likely to agree to a proposal from you.”
Brendan cringed. “Please don’t say that word.”
Gregor pushed off from the wall. “Well, as fun as that sounds, I think I have had enough entanglement with you for today.”
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