by Dean Murray
"Bennet was no good. He was scared of her, that much was obvious. He was careful to strut just like all of the rest when he was around the other dominants, but if it was just her and him he didn't engage in the same kind of excesses that the rest of them did."
"That doesn't sound like someone you'd want to see out of the picture."
"Yeah, at least not until you know that he was worse than the rest of the hybrids when it was just us and him. He was really sick."
"You guys never told Celeste?"
"No. He was bad, but not bad enough that any of us wanted to see her get beaten like that again. We kept our mouths shut, but there were signs that she knew. I think she was just having a hard time admitting to herself that she was going to have to kill again. That kind of thing is easier when you're full of rage from finding out that one of your friends has been killed. It's a lot harder to come at it cold. We used to hear her crying occasionally after she killed the first guy."
"She cried like that again after Bennet disappeared?"
"Yeah, but it could have just been because her brother was gone. We all thought he was gone until recently. Some thought that Bennet had killed him, but others thought he'd killed himself like Bennet had claimed. Bennet was a good liar, but masking your pulse and scent only go so far. Eventually those around you figure out whether you can be trusted or not regardless of all that. That's why con men always move on eventually."
"And Celeste? She's a good liar."
"That she is, but we all figured out a long time ago that she's got a good heart underneath all of that."
Jax yawned and then grimaced at the way that the motion pulled at his bandages. "Sorry, but I think I'm done played out. I can barely keep my eyes open."
"That's fine, Jax. Don't stay awake on my account. You need your sleep."
His eyes started moving around in the classic sign of someone in REM sleep even before I'd finished talking. I tiptoed over to the food and carefully ripped a large piece of fruit free of its vine before going outside.
I ate as I walked towards the main cave where the queen was located. There were two guards, just the same as always, but this time one of the guards was a consort. I didn't need him to show me his fangs to recognize Pal, but he opened his mouth and hissed at me regardless.
"I'd like to talk to Set."
"Go away. Set doesn't want to talk to you, sun person."
"Please go tell him that I'm here and would like to talk to him if he has a few minutes to spare."
"I said go away!"
I cocked my head to one side and gave the consort my best nonchalant smile. "We both know that I'm eventually going to run into Set again, and when I do I'm going to tell him about this conversation. If Set really left instructions not to bother him, then you don't have anything to worry about. If you're lying to me, then you'll have interfered with his promise to teach me. Do you really want to cause him to break his promise and act in a dishonorable way?"
The lamia shot me a look that said he would have liked nothing quite so much as the chance to bury his claws in my chest, but he hissed something to the worker standing next to him. The worker disappeared into the cave, leaving the consort and me to exchange glowers.
Five minutes later the worker, or another one that looked similar enough that I couldn't tell them apart, returned with Set following a few steps behind.
"I'm sorry if I'm disturbing something important, Set."
"No, Isaac Nazir, nothing is more important than my promise to see to your instruction. Come, let us retire to the challenge circle."
It wasn't until we reached the sand-filled cave that I realized why Set was moving so gingerly. He had a sizable gash across his right leg and what looked like a nasty puncture wound in the bottom quadrant of the left side of his chest.
I couldn't see the actual wounds, but I could see where the bandages were breaking the line of his simple white clothes. He'd taken much more damage than I'd realized in the early stages of the fight with Onyx's guys, and yet he'd still saved my life there at the end of everything.
"I'm sorry, Set, I didn't realize that you were hurt. I would not have asked you to come teach me if I'd known."
"It's fine, Isaac Nazir. It is within your rights to ask for the assistance that you have earned. I will not be able to spar with you, but I can still show you some new techniques."
We worked together for half an hour before it became apparent that even just showing me the different blocks and strikes was becoming difficult for Set. Lamias were tough, at least as tough as hybrids, but I didn't want to put him through any unnecessary pain, so I looked around for a reason to stop and talk.
It didn't take long to recall one of the reasons that I had gone looking for him in the first place. I probably would have already started asking him why time wasn't behaving itself if I hadn't been so concerned about his injuries. Still, I decided to lead with something else.
"Set, you brought back Onyx's prisoner. Isn't that going to cause you problems? Won't he further shrink the amount of time before the Consumed find the enclave?"
"Again you go right to the heart of the matter, Isaac Nazir. Yes, his presence is already causing us problems. We returned to the enclave significantly later than the point in the time stream where we left it, so some of the difficulties caused by your presence have been able to dissipate, but it is a temporary measure at best and even that causes more difficulties."
"What kind of difficulties?"
"It is lamia business, nothing that you should have to concern yourself about."
He turned as if to end the conversation and return to our training, but I put a hand out and gently gripped his shoulder.
"You saved my life, Set, when nobody could have blamed you for not being able to save me. Letting me die would have made many of your problems go away. With me gone, Celeste would have lacked the challenger she needed to stay here and the enclave would have been safe."
"Honor compelled me to do all that I could to save you. You joined my men to fight for the safety of the enclave. I could do no less for you than I would have done for one of them."
I nodded. "I understand that, Set. My honor also compels me to ask about the difficulties that our presence is creating for you. I would not cause harm to your people without at least knowing the effects of my actions."
Set was quiet for a moment and I realized in a moment of insight that it was hardest for him to talk about himself. I didn't know enough to tell whether that was a cultural thing or just part of Set's personality, but it was something that I needed to remember.
"The problems are many, Isaac Nazir. The loss of so many lamias has made the enclave even weaker and more susceptible to the Consumed's efforts to find us. I had no choice but to bring us back here later or the Consumed would have found us within the month. That was not a popular decision.
"The other consorts did not like leaving our queen so defenseless for such a long period of time, and they blame you and me for our losses. You for bringing the sun people to our territory and me for not abandoning honor and forcing you out of the enclave."
"I am sorry, Set. I would not occasion such difficulties if the need of my people, of my queen, were not great. Are these troubles the kind that will…dissipate over time, do you think?"
Set was silent for so long that I'd almost decided that he wasn't going to answer me. "It is hard to say. My wounds mean that I have three more days of immunity before I can be challenged. If things have cooled off by then, then I should be fine. If they have not, then I fear that I will be going into a challenge against Pal, the angriest of the others, at less than full strength."
Chapter 25
Isaac Nazir
The Lamia Enclave
It was obvious that Set just wanted to be alone to lick his wounds. I wanted to do more, to fix the mess that I'd made of the lamias' internal dynamic, but we both knew that there wasn't anything I could do. I came up with an excuse to end the practice session and promised myself
that I'd find a way to convince Set to leave off of training for the next few days.
I didn't know enough about lamia physiology to understand why it was going to take him so long to heal from the injuries he'd sustained, but it was obvious that he wasn't convinced that he was going to be back to full strength by the time his immunity wore off. A hybrid was capable of healing back from almost anything that didn't kill him within three days, but lamias apparently had some offsetting weaknesses to compensate for venom that was capable of dropping even werewolves in seconds.
Celeste and Jax were still in the living room when I got back to our rooms. Jax was still asleep, but Celeste had apparently left his side for long enough to shower and change her clothes. Even just a couple of hours of sleep had done wonders for her. If I hadn't woken up when I had, I never would have realized how worried she'd been.
I suspected that would have been her preference, but I couldn't un-see what I'd seen any more than I could un-hear the things that Jax had told me. I nodded to her as I walked through the living room, headed towards my bedroom, but she stood up and followed me.
If I'd had my choice, I would have chosen for this particular conversation to happen later, preferably a few days later, so that I could have some time to think over everything I'd just heard. Celeste apparently had other ideas.
She stepped inside my room so that the curtain of vines would block the sound of conversation from reaching Jax, and then leaned against the smooth rock of my wall.
"I'm glad that you survived, Isaac. I had a lot of time to think about stuff while you were gone."
I wanted to avoid her eyes, wanted to look anywhere but at her. Looking at her felt dangerous, but I forced myself to do it, to really examine her like I hadn't done since I'd first met her.
Her blond hair fell in loose waves down just past her bare shoulders. It looked so soft that I wanted to reach out and touch it, but I forced myself to stay right where I was.
She was still just as fit and muscular as always. She had the exquisite build of a professional dancer and skin that was flawless, but that wasn't what was dangerous about her.
My gaze, or maybe my lack of response, made her uncomfortable enough that she adjusted the white tube dress that had been among the clothes that Set had given us. I thought about teasing her for wearing the exact same thing she'd been complaining about just when we'd arrived, but I didn't. It wasn't the right time for teasing. Besides, she looked good in white.
Black made her look hard and in control, which had its place and time, but she'd been wearing a lot of white lately and it suited her even better. In that dress, made out of a material that looked soft and touchable, she looked young and vulnerable.
Ash was older than me, which meant that Celeste had to be older still, but she wasn't human. She didn't look her age, whatever it might be. On a normal day she looked all of twenty-two. Today she looked my age, seventeen or eighteen, but that still wasn't the real danger.
I finally looked at her eyes—her soft, gray eyes—and I saw exactly what I'd been afraid of. She really had been worried about me, and not just because she needed me to fight the challenge matches that allowed her to stay in the enclave in the hopes of being able to talk to the lamia queen.
She was developing feelings for me, and despite her best efforts, she wasn't hiding that fact very well. Celeste, the perfect liar, the girl who'd fought an extended shadow war against Onyx where she had to always keep her true emotions hidden, had let her mask slip and that terrified me.
It terrified me because I knew how badly I wanted to reciprocate those feelings. On some level I was even to the point where I could see myself letting go of my feelings for Jess. Nothing I currently felt for Celeste was going to change the fact that I'd desperately loved Jess while she'd been with us, or the fact that I still missed her every day. Despite all of that, Jess was gone and she wasn't going to come back.
I'd been chasing Jessica, who was a completely different person, was it really that different if I let myself feel something for Celeste? Jessica, the new person who'd spent the last few months doing everything she could to keep me at arm's length, wouldn't care—in fact she'd be overjoyed at the idea of me moving on. She wasn't a concern, not now.
Jess, my beloved Jess who'd stood at my side through half a decade of hell as Brandon tried to grind our pack into the dust, wouldn't have wanted me to go through the rest of my life pining for her. She'd been insanely possessive and even occasionally jealous when she'd been alive, but that had been a function of what she'd been through. If she'd known that I was going to be forced to go on without her, she would have told me to be happy, to find someone I could trust, respect, and love.
No, none of that was a valid reason to hold back from what I wanted to feel for Celeste. The only valid reason was the fact that I didn't know if I could trust her. She was falling for me, but I wasn't sure that there was room in her heart for a boyfriend, didn't know if she was even capable of a healthy relationship after what she'd done to Bennet.
"I guess that is all I wanted to say. I'm glad that you're okay. Thank you for insisting that Set and the others bring Jax back."
Her voice was low and rough, she was holding back tears, but I couldn't let that sway me. If I was going to act on my feelings then it needed to be because I was ready to accept what being with Celeste would mean, not because she'd netted me with her tears.
"I didn't. Set brought him back of his own free will because Jax was one of your people."
"Oh. I guess I owe him my thanks."
She turned to go, but I reached out and wrapped my hand around the bare skin of her arm. She was warm in a way that I hadn't realized I missed quite so much.
"We can't keep doing this."
"Can't keep doing what, Isaac?"
She hadn't torn her arm free from my grasp, instead she'd stepped into me, looking up at me with her lips slightly parted.
"We're destroying the enclave. Having Jax here now too would have been bad enough all by itself, but when you combine that with the fact that we lost another consort and some more workers in the fight against Onyx, it spells disaster. The enclave can't remain hidden for very much longer."
There was a flash of something in her eyes that I didn't initially understand. It wasn't that I couldn't categorize it, it was that I didn't want to believe it of her. She'd been glad to hear that the lamias were reaching the end of their rope.
"Does that really make you happy, Celeste?"
"Yes, but it's not like you think. I don't want them all dead, but this is the one thing that's guaranteed to bring their queen to the table. She's refused to see me up until now, but she won't risk the complete destruction of her people just to avoid answering my questions. This is all just one gigantic game of chicken. If you can win just one more fight we're guaranteed to get what we want."
I shook my head at her, but I couldn't bring myself to step back. Having her so close, occasionally brushing up against each other as we swayed, was intoxicating and part of me was sure that she would change her mind if I could just explain the cost she was imposing on the lamias.
"No, you'll be guaranteed to get what you want. Remember? You said that you wouldn't ask about where the Coun'hij was. You're going to ask for a way to save your people. This isn't about us, it's about you, and it's about them."
She was mad now. I didn't step back away from her, but she ripped her arm free of my hand.
"Someone needs to take care of them, Isaac. You've met Jax. Can you really look at me and say that you don't care what happens to him? You're actually going to abandon him and the others like him by refusing to fight one more damn match?"
"If we stay here they are going to kill Set. The other consorts are mad that he's let us stay. They want us gone and in a few days one of them is going to challenge him and probably kill him because he's still recovering from the wounds he took saving me and Jax both."
"In less than a few days Onyx is going to start killing my friends. He'
s going to execute them one at a time if I'm not there to stop him by letting him torture me. Those people are my family, Isaac, not Ash. He ran away, but they stayed. They've stood by me through thick and thin, I'm not abandoning them to save one lamia, regardless of how nice he's been to us."
"He's the only reason we've made it this far, Celeste. Without him Ash would be dead already. Without him I would have died during my last match, or while we were fighting Onyx. He's a good person. He doesn't deserve to die like this, killed by his own people because he's so honorable."
She stabbed me in the chest with one finger. If she'd been in hybrid form she would have speared me through the heart, but her human finger merely hit me hard enough to leave a bruise.
"I didn't force him to be that way, Isaac. I can't change that, all I can do is play the hand that is dealt me. His honor is something good, but it's also something that I can use to save my people, people who are just as good."
She was so mad she was shaking, but it wasn't the kind of shake that would have presaged a transformation. It was nothing more than human emotions running hot. I knew because I was feeling the same way.
The desire to push past her and avoid the logical conclusion of this fight was strong, but I forced the words out that needed to be said.
"What if I had another way? What if there was someone else who could come take Onyx down. I could get them down here faster than you would believe. Do you trust me enough to leave the enclave with me and go back to New Orleans?"
She looked at me for several long seconds. I could see that she wanted to believe just as badly as I wanted her to believe, but in the end she shook her head.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe the answer is just to call Alec up and have him take away all of our problems, but I just can't believe it will work. That sounds like a fairytale, and my life doesn't have room for fairytales. I trust you, Isaac, not somebody a thousand miles away who I've never met. You will do the right thing because it's who you are. I just need you to win one more fight for me and then this will be all over."
