There was a table with cheese, fruit, and bread on it, as well as pitchers of wine, water, and fruit juice. Several other temple masters sat there looking haggard and exhausted.
Our group joined them, with Rilen and Roran flanking me at the table, helping me with the crutch and the chair as I sat.
Master Bebbenel snorted. “I see you found your bedmates, Mistress Breaker.”
I stared at him. I hated him more than I had ever hated Master Dorian. At least with Dorian, I could see him doing what was right—no matter how much I had hated him.
Master Bebbenel just continued his jackassery.
I decided I owed him no respect, only an answer. “Indeed I have, Master Bebbenel.”
He leaned forward, his head on his chin. “And what has Master Dorian to say about you borrowing his mates?”
I stared him dead in the eye. “Usually? Something like, ‘Oh, Gods, yes, Kimber. Ride that cock! Ride it!’”
Dead silence.
Lunella burst out laughing, and Jallina followed her into sidesplitting guffawing. The twins were red instantly, but their eyes were full of mirth and pride. Everyone else at the table alternated between humor and horror.
Dorian cleared his throat, but there was no mistaking the smirk on his lip. “Now that we have established that Mistress Breaker is indeed having her sexual needs fulfilled nicely, perhaps we can turn to the pressing matter of the vampires with hand cannons and hate in their arsenal.”
Drez, across from me, fought for his composure and leaned forward. “Guns. Several of our researchers have been trying to recreate what they are using, and have come fairly far, but not near to what Doctor Symi dug out of Mistress Kimber’s thigh. What he pulled from there was a blunted teardrop shape, nothing like our hand cannons have. We’ve given them permission to study the tiny ball and see what they could do with it. It will lead to a breakthrough, but I highly doubt, given the lines of vampires and guns we’re holding at bay, that it will be in time to be of any use to us.”
“I agree,” Vitas said. He was the next on the shield. “Whatever we have now is all we have.”
“What do we have?” Mistress Sona’s voice was low and tired from her time on the shield. Her fingers entwined with Mistress Maurielle’s as Maurielle dusted her other hand up and down the woman’s arm, clearly a comforting touch.
Oh.
“Cannons, swords, and magic,” Vitas answered, pulling me out of the realization. “That’s about it.”
“What do we guess they have?” Mistress Sona asked.
“Guns, cannons, vampire magic,” Jallina answered.
Quirking an eyebrow, I looked around. “What’s the difference between their magic and ours?”
“We have the ability to…” Maurielle’s words started confidently but immediately dropped off. “…um, we can fight with it. Shield with it. We can call objects we’ve bound to ourselves. I, um…”
Everyone glanced around the room, sharing looks of confusion. There was no information on what the vampires could do. I wasn’t even sure they knew what we could do.
Dorian sat back in his chair and rolled his eyes. “We can do everything the vampires can do. Our magicks are equal.”
Bebbenel looked at him, the arrogance rolling out across the table. “The legends say they can move with incredible speed, Master Dorian. Their hearing is beyond compare. They can see in the dark and their marksmanship is perfect, so they don’t have to train at all.”
The entirety of the druid’s answer was contained in the quirk of his dark eyebrow.
The stories I had taught to the children had been full of the tales of the vampires. The way they could move, and the way they enjoyed their blood. Strong, fast, nearly death-proof, silent, and—though the books didn’t say it to young children—ruthless.
A picture of Elex’s dead body on the bed flashed through my mind.
We had ruthless covered.
Argo snorted. “You really think—Ow!” He slapped a hand on his ear and stared at Dorian. “What did you do?”
The sound of someone being slapped in the ear rang out again, and Argo tipped the other direction, covering that ear.
I didn’t even see Dorian move. No one did.
“What the hell, Master Dorian?!” Argo was really pissed he had become the test dummy.
“You can move as fast as any vampire. You’ve all just never tried.” He picked at a fingernail. “We’ve become lax and lazy in our lovely little pseudo-utopia, and that apparently needs to be resolved.”
“Are you going to take on the task of teaching all of us how to move with such speed?” Bebbenel asked.
Rilen was gone from my side and suddenly stood behind Bebbenel, mouth at ear level. “He’s not the only teacher. Do you think he would not teach his mates?”
And he was back and smiling at me.
Holy crap.
I leaned forward and stared down the tabletop at Dorian. “We can all do that?”
He gave a shrug. “If you care to learn.”
Drez nodded. “I sure as hell would. But that doesn’t change our current situation much right now. Even if we are as fast and resilient as they are, they have guns. Dangerous ones. We can’t teach all druids to dodge and duck like Master Dorian. And with those guns, every last person who isn’t highly trained or highly skilled is in serious danger.”
“But what can we do?” Sona asked. “We can’t hold the shield much longer. We’re all exhausted, and there are some of us who can’t rotate in to help.”
Her words were gentle, but I felt them pierce me. I couldn’t rotate in. And my leg wasn’t what was holding me back. Rilen grabbed my hand under the table and squeezed gently.
The civil patrol leader, Captain Staviz Panther, took a step toward the table. “Your honors, if I may?”
Mistress Maurielle nodded at him.
“Why don’t we just steal the guns?”
The temple masters around the table looked at each other, and I didn’t stop my little chuckle.
“That makes so much sense.” I rested my head on my fist.
“Steal?” Sona was appalled.
“Yes, steal,” the captain repeated. “With all due respect, they shot the Breaker by way of greeting after millennia of separation. I held out hope they would be as thrilled and delighted as we were to be reunited, but it’s clear”—he gestured to me—“they were not as pleased as we were.”
“We…don’t steal…” Master Argo sputtered. “That’s amoral. That’s not—”
“Oh, please.” Dorian snorted, leaning forward. “Amoral? You have no qualms about bending morality at your whim like anyone else at this table. We all have skeletons in our closets.”
“And some in our beds,” Master Bebbenel snapped at him.
I schooled my features, just barely. I knew all three had taken extra precautions when Elex had been killed. Dorian hadn’t come to bed that night—but could Bebbenel know that Dorian…?
Dorian stared at him. Rilen squeezed my hand again. My lips were sealed.
After taking a deliberate sip from the water goblet, Dorian stared him down. “And some in our beds and in our gardens. Do you really want to play this game, Argo?” He sipped the water again. “Because you know I’ll win.”
Argo grunted and sat back.
“Your honors?” Captain Staviz interjected.
Maurielle nodded. “Yes, Captain. We’ll take your suggestion. But what do any of us know of war? Or raids? Or even of these guns?”
“We have to learn as we go,” Drez said.
Dorian pointed to Drez. “Your cover is blown, Mister Orvson. I want you to work with the captain.”
The captain nodded. “I need someone to handle intelligence gathering, and I don’t know that you’ve been exposed so much that I can’t use you in more clandestine ways. And your mate, if she doesn’t mind.”
Jallina nodded. I could see the pride in her eyes, and I gave her a smile.
“Who is next on the shield?” Dorian
asked.
“I am,” Argo said.
“Then let’s let Captain Staniz head out and plan for this raid,” Sona said. “And we can see just how much Master Dorian can teach us about the vampire side of our powers.”
* * *
“I’m going.”
Dorian whirled and grabbed my arms. “You are not going.”
I stared up at him. “I am going.”
“You’re not going!” Dorian’s eyes glowed gold.
“Don’t pull your magic out on me, Dorian.”
“Kimber, please, be reasonable,” he said, calming down. “You’re the Breaker. You have to stay safe.”
“I’ve done my job.” I vaguely pointed toward a window, toward the scar in the middle of S’Kir. “Now what? I sit around being pampered? The three of you fucking me so you have power?”
“Kimber,” Rilen said.
I whirled on him. “You forget the power flows both ways?”
“No, no, that’s not it,” he said. “You are the Breaker. We don’t know what your destiny is.”
“So I sit around eating bonbons, hoping we can figure out what I’m supposed to do next before my ass melds with the couch?”
“You’re not going,” Dorian said again.
“I’m sure I am. You already won’t let me take the shield.”
“We haven’t needed you,” Roran said.
I could feel my anger raising my magic in my eyes. I was sure they were glowing gold as Dorian’s had. “You have needed me. It’s only been a week off my crutches, and I’ve seen how drained, how close to dead you all are when you come off the shield. And if you won’t let me take the shield, then I’m going on the raid.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Rilen traded a look with his twin.
“One or the other. Give me the shield, or I go on the raid.” I folded my arms and stared at the three of them.
Dorian stared back at me. “Neither.”
“Then why did you name me to the dais?” I picked up the bowl on the table and hurled it at the wall, smashing it. “What am I doing here? What is the point of having me wear the robes? If you wanted me in your bed, you could have just brought me here.”
They were silent again, all exchanging looks that were loaded with meaning, and meaning that they weren’t sharing with me.
I threw my hands in the air. “If you need me, or decide to talk to me and let me know what the hell is going on, I’ll be in the practice room!”
Banging the doors open and slamming them behind me, I marched through the halls down to the practice room where Lunella and Mistress Ophelia were sparring.
Both women looked up at me and smiled.
“Mistress Kimber, a delight,” Lunella smiled, but half a moment later, her grin slid away. “What’s wrong?”
“I want to spar,” I answered.
Lunella walked to the wall of swords. “Ophelia, I do believe there’s trouble in paradise.”
“One of the best ways to work out anger is either to hit your bedmate upside the head with a cast iron skillet,” Mistress Ophelia said, “or walk away and take it out on something else.”
I nodded and accepted the sword from Lunella. “Cast iron sounds tempting, Mistress Ophelia.”
“Drop the mistress,” she said, hefting her sword, “and I’ll lend you the pan for Dorian.”
I laughed. I was still steaming mad, but at least they had talked me off the ledge. With the two of them, I was able to burn off a lot of my angry energy.
There would still be a fight to deal with tonight, though. Apparently, my mates thought I was stupid—or still too naïve to talk about their issue with me.
RILEN TRIED TO SIT NEXT TO ME, but I slapped my book closed and moved to another seat. He let out a sigh and followed me.
I moved again.
He followed me again.
I moved again.
This time, he stood directly behind me, not allowing me to move.
“Kimber.”
I didn’t turn around. “No. I’m not talking to you right now.”
Rilen leaned in close. “It’s been nearly six weeks since you’ve done more than sleep in our bed.”
“That’s inaccurate.” I snapped the book shut, and turned in the chair. “Eighteen of those days were breaking the Spine. Five of them I was in the infirmary. Another week was spent recuperating, at your insistence. That’s a full month. My celibacy has only lasted for two weeks.”
“But why… you know we want you there. I thought you wanted to be there.” Rilen truly looked confused and contrite.
I stood up, forcing him back. “I do. I do want to be there. But I will not lay with those who won’t tell me the truth or confide in me. I’m just as much a part of this group—both the bed and the dais—as you three are, and yet you keep secrets.”
Sidestepping him, I headed out to the garden to see if I could do some reading there.
Naturally, Rilen followed. “Kimber, I don’t understand. We all have secrets. Dorian most of all. We—”
I halted and shoved a finger into his face. “That is not what I mean, and you know it. You know it.”
He blinked. Once, twice. “This is about the shield.”
“And the raid. And the robes. And how I am not given the information I need. I’m the Breaker! But the way you three have been treating me for the past four weeks, you’d think I was a babe in diapers! I may be young, Rilen, and maybe I am naïve, but I am not stupid.”
“No one said you were,” Roran said, striding up to his twin.
“Fuck off. Both of you. All three of you!”
Whirling on my heel, I marched back into the dorm and up the stairs.
The twins were there in the stairwell with me in just a heartbeat, showing off their newly revealed power in speed.
“That’s exactly what I mean!” I snapped as they caged me against the wall. “I had no idea you two could run like demons from hell were on your ass! How many other secrets do you plan on keeping from me?”
“You kept Drez and Jallina from us,” Roran said.
“That’s not the same thing! They were spies!”
“There will always be secrets,” Rilen whispered.
“Oh, for fuck’s—” I shoved them both away with a hit of power. “I know there are secrets! Dorian is ancient. You two aren’t much better off. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about you three not talking to me about the fact that you think my magic is weak.”
Instead of heading up, I headed back down, and this time, to the front door of the dorm. I crunched angrily down the pebble-strewn walk, just trying to get away from the two of them. I headed for the gardens, only for the two of them to cut me off again with their inhuman speed.
I let out a frustrated scream. “Stop it! Stop it! Both of you. Can’t you see I need time away from you?”
“Two weeks is too long for the Breaker to go without being granted power,” Rilen said.
“And it’s too long for her mates to go without pleasuring her,” Roran added with a wink.
“Bad move, brother.” Rilen’s voice was quiet.
My finger again landed in Roran’s face. “Don’t you dare bring up that mate shit right now. I’m not mating anyone who lies by omission! I almost tied myself to someone who would have seen me dead—you think I’ll allow anything like that in the middle of-of-of this catastrophe?”
Roran stepped into me and wrapped his hand around my waist. “Ilati—”
“No,” I snapped and yanked his hand off me. “Don’t try to talk your way out of this, you silver-tongued demon! I don’t care if you have skeletons in your closet. We share a horrible one! But if you think the three of you can talk about me behind my back, about things you think are wrong with me, and don’t come to me with that, you can all just sleep in a cold bed and jack each other off for satisfaction.”
One more time, I started walking away from them. A moment later, I heard their feet on the pebbles, and they flanked me.
/>
It was killing me not to give this up and just let them pin me against a tree in the garden and have their way. I wanted them in the worst way.
“Kimber, what have we done?” Rilen asked. “Please, help us understand, ilati.”
“You are all not talking to me about me. You’re not being open and trustworthy.”
Roran sighed. “We have kept secrets—”
Rilen stared across me and slashed his hand through the air. “Roran, shut up. Please, shut up. This is important.”
Roran’s jaw snapped closed, and he looked fairly admonished. He took my hand in apology but said nothing.
Rilen looked back at me. “I don’t understand. What aren't we truthful about?”
“I see the looks you toss at each other over my head when we talk, or when I say something, or when you tell me, once again that I can’t take the shield or go on the raid. Do you think I’m stupid? Blind? Just a simple schoolmarm?”
“None of those, ilati,” Roran said quietly.
“Then what is going on? You have to realize I’m not in a good place to play head games. We had to kill my last bedmate so S’Kir didn’t die. That does things to a woman.”
“Makes her untrusting?” Rilen asked.
I nodded. “For starters. And then add in all these secret looks and non-verbal discussions…”
Roran ran his thumb over my knuckles. “This has been so much for you, ilati. We have been worried.”
I snorted. “And you think I haven’t?”
Rilen sighed. “We were trying to protect you.”
“You took me out to a secret meeting of rebels, and I watched and helped you behead them.”
Roran opened his mouth to say something but reconsidered. “We knew you wouldn’t believe us.”
“And you could let me watch Dorian fuck my former lover in the ass and snap his neck?”
Roran cocked his head. “Well. . . that’s a good point.”
“But you won’t talk to me about what you think might be wrong with me?”
They stopped, and I took a few more steps to stand in front of them. I took a deep breath and turned to pin them both with my stare. “I am Mistress Kimber Raven of the Temple of the Lost God. I am the Breaker of the Spine. I am the Healer of S’Kir. I am not a simple woman. I am not a fool, nor stupid or ignorant. If you wish to continue to bed me, you will not hide your concerns about me or about anyone else who shares that space. If I cannot trust you three, I cannot trust anyone. Am I understood?”
Death of Gods (Vampire Crown Book 3) Page 2
