by Keri Arthur
“And here I was thinking Adlin had an ‘eat until engorged and hunt again later’ approach to their food.” And maybe being immediately eaten wasn’t the worst that could have happened to Saska and me.
“Generally, they do.”
The edge in his tone had my eyebrow rising in query. “So this has happened before?”
“Once, some thirty years ago, from what I’ve discovered so far. It was an event that involved the lady Hedra Harken—”
“Surprise, surprise,” I muttered.
His lips twisted in acknowledgment. “And the ladies Maya Myrl and Kora Sanna. The latter two were never seen again.”
“When and where was Hedra found?”
“Two years later, out in the middle of the Tenterra desert.” He paused. “She was pregnant. Saska is the product of her captors, whoever they might be.”
Just as Saska’s child would be. Was it a coincidence that both mother and daughter had suffered an almost identical fate? I suspected not—and the wind agreed with me.
“It obviously wasn’t the Adlin, then.” Not given Saska showed no sign of that heritage. “I’m gathering you’ve done a full reading on them all?”
The dark energy that was his magic stirred, reminding me of a viper rattling in frustration or anger. Interestingly, though its power caressed my skin, it didn’t hold anywhere near the pull that it had on other occasions.
“Yes. There’s no awareness of what happened to them in the time they were missing, or who their captives were.” He paused. “To be honest, the totality of the memory loss makes me suspect it was deliberately done.”
“So why do you think the Adlin were so furiously determined to recapture Saska? That’s not normal behavior for them, I can guarantee you that.” I gathered the fur around my chest then knelt up to pour three mugs of coffee. I handed one to each of the men then gripped mine and sat back down.
“I don’t know.” Kiro took a sip of his coffee, and then gave me a nod of thanks. “But the possibility of an Adlin alliance with enemies unknown is something that scares me greatly.”
And if he was scared, then the rest of us should be damn well terrified. “The Adlin might now be capable of rudimentary weapons, but they certainly haven’t the knowledge to produce silverwork as fine as the bracelets Hedra, Saska, and Pyra wear. Whatever is happening, those bracelets are a part of it.”
Kiro’s gaze narrowed. “Why would you say that? What happened here between you and Pyra?” At my amused look, he rather dryly added, “After the seduction, that is.”
I gave them a detailed rundown on everything Pyra had said, then added, “Those voices are real, by the way. I heard them.”
“How?” Trey’s voice was flat and perhaps a little fearful—no surprise given he had an unlit daughter to worry about.
“It was just before she turned the wind on herself. I shifted to ease the ache in my legs, and my knife pressed into my right leg.”
“Your stained leg?” Kiro asked.
I nodded. “It was then I heard them—they were chanting, kill, kill, kill. I’d thought they meant you two, but I was, of course, mistaken.”
“Let me look at this knife,” Kiro said, voice sharp.
Trey motioned me to stay and got up instead. Two minutes later he was back with both my knife and Pyra’s bracelets. Kiro accepted the knife and rolled it over in his hands several times. “I have never seen its like before. Where did you get it?”
“From armory three. According to Jon, they’re called ghost blades, and were supposedly forged in the blood of the Irkallan. He doesn’t know where they came from, but there’s apparently swords and more kept in the older recesses of the armory.”
“Interesting.” He offered me the knife, hilt first. “Can you hear the whispers now?”
I put my coffee down then gripped the knife with my right hand. The glass was cool and oddly inert against my skin. “No.”
“Touch the blade to the bracelets.”
I did. “Still nothing.”
“Now shift the blade to your stained hand.”
I did so, and almost instantly the whispers started. This time they were chanting, retrieve, retrieve, retrieve.
“You can hear them, can’t you?” Kiro said.
I grabbed my coffee and took a sip, but it didn’t ease the sudden dryness in my throat. “But why?”
“At a guess, the knife is some sort of conductor, but one that taps into communication lines rather than being a recipient of them.”
“Which doesn’t explain why it only happens with it comes in contact with my stained hand.”
“No, but your staining is the reason your magic has gone unnoticed. Perhaps it also allows you to tap into other magic, but only if you carry the right implement.”
“That’s a whole lot of perhaps.”
“It’s all we have at the moment, I’m afraid.” Kiro paused. “What about the bracelets?”
I reluctantly reached for one; it was nothing but cold metal in my stained hand. “Saska told me that the queen would find her if she wore them, so maybe they’re more a tracking device than a means of communication. She said she still hears the voices even though she no longer wears them.”
Trey held out a hand. I tossed him the bracelet and then said, “The more important question would seem to be, what do those voices want the women to retrieve?”
“Hedra and Saska would be our logical targets to uncover that particular secret,” Kiro said. “But it might also be worth trying to get into Pyra’s suite and seeing if any information can be found there.”
“Her family is being housed in the Harkin house,” Trey said. “Which makes it difficult for either of us to get in there, given you’re not welcome and I have no reason to be there.”
“What, there’s no ladies of seducible age in that entire house?” I queried, amused.
Trey half smiled. “Pyra was Brent’s youngest and the others are all committed.”
And he would obviously never consider breaching such a bond—even at a festival like this, when the ties that bound were released for five nights, and the freedom to be with whom you wish, however you might wish, had the goddess’s blessing. “What about the Harken line? No uncommitted there?”
“Yes, but males, one and all.”
“And you are not partial to any of them?”
“Nor males in general, I’m afraid.” His gaze met mine and something warm ran through me. “I do have full appreciation of Astar’s many teachings, however.”
“Indeed, Commander? Perhaps that is something we might explore—”
Kiro cleared his throat. “Concentrate on the matter at hand, please.”
I laughed softly and glanced back at him. “But we are—or are you not planning to ask me to lure Pyra’s husband away from the ball?”
“Lure yes, anything else no. All we need is for you to ensure he takes you back to his suite. Once there, you can drug him, and be free to search both Pyra’s and Hedra’s suites.”
It mightn’t be as easy as that, and we both knew it. “And his name?”
“Ewan.”
I cast back through all the men I’d met over the last few days, and then said, “Is he a whip-lean, rather aristocratic-looking man with dark gray hair and pale blue eyes? I think he was wearing a horned mask of some kind.”
“Yes,” Trey said. “Why?”
“Because he just happens to be one of the many men who approached me on the first night.” He was also one of the ones for whom a gentle no had not been enough.
“Good. He’s taken a succession of masked ladies back to his suite over the last few days, so no one will raise an eyebrow at your presence there.” Kiro glanced at Trey. “I think our task tonight should be shadowing Hedra and Saska.”
“If the latter comes out of her suite.”
“Oh, she will.” Kiro’s smile held an edge of satisfaction. “It’s the night of the unmasking, and she’ll want to reclaim to her place by Marcus’s side rather than ceding it
to his hetaera.”
“I wonder who whispered that possibility in her ear,” Trey said, clearly amused.
“Rumors do have a tendency to get around at events like this.” There was a gleam in Kiro’s eyes as he pushed upright. “I’ll see you both in a couple of hours.”
“You need to answer one more question, Lord Kiro.”
He stopped and glanced down at me, one dark eyebrow raised in question.
“What happens when all this is over? Will you, or will you not, report the change in my status?”
“I see no reason to do such a thing if you pose no threat to Winterborne. That is my priority, and has been ever since—” His mouth twisted and he glanced at Trey briefly. “Unless and until Winterborne’s safety relies on the revelation of such secrets, they will be taken to my grave.”
Relief stirred through me. He gave me a sharp nod and departed. Trey’s gaze swung back to mine; once again it was critical and decidedly nonsexual. Even the raw energy that surged between us seemed to be testing me, judging me. The earth mother was as concerned about the state of my health as Trey, it seemed.
“How are you feeling?”
“Weaker than a newborn, but otherwise healthy.”
He nodded. “You need to eat. Lots. Initiation tends to sap your strength for days, but we, unfortunately, haven’t got that sort of time.”
“Why are you both so certain there’s a time limit to whatever it is that is happening?”
He hesitated and then shrugged. “In my case, it’s nothing more than intuition. That, and the uneasiness in the earth.”
“So why isn’t she telling you what is going on?”
“I’m not sure, but I suspect there’s one or more powerful earth witches behind it. There could be no other reason for her reticence.”
“But Hedra, Saska, and Pyra are all air witches.”
“I know. But the other women who went missing held earth power, even if they were from a minor house. If Saska and Pyra survived being snatched, it’s possible they did too.”
“Then where the hell are they?”
“If we knew the answer to that, this mystery might well be solved.” He hesitated. “There’s one other thing Kiro didn’t mention—Hedra, Pyra, and Saska all bore children in the time they were missing. The latter two have had at least eight each, if not more, if the healers are to be believed.”
“But Saska was only missing for twelve years!”
“Indeed.” His voice was grim. “It would seem that whoever held them treated them as little more than incubators.”
But for what darker purpose? And where were those poor children now? What was being done to them? I scrubbed a hand across my face. “This situation just seems to be getting darker and darker.”
“Yes.”
I cursed under my breath and studied the bracelet on the table for a minute. “And what about those things?”
He glanced at the one he was holding. “What about them?”
“They need to be kept somewhere safe. It’s possible they’re what the voices are looking for.”
He rose and picked up the second one from the table. “Then perhaps you need to take them to Saska before the masque, and ask her about them.”
I frowned. “Pyra very nearly succeeded in killing me. Saska is a far stronger air witch.”
“And yet, Pyra said you’re the reason for Saska’s resistance, that you’re somehow a touchstone for her.” He frowned. “Why do you think that is?”
“I honestly don’t know.”
“Perhaps that’s another question you should ask.” He put both the bracelets down on the table. “I’ll organize something to eat. You’d best be getting ready.”
I nodded, flicked off the fur, and rose. His gaze skimmed me again. “Celibacy,” he muttered, “has never been so hard.”
“Celibacy,” I replied, amused, “is rather overrated.”
“At this point, I’m tending to agree.” He held up a hand as I stepped toward him. “The mission comes first, whatever the cost.”
“That cost,” I said, my amusement growing as my gaze skimmed down to what his towel wasn’t hiding, “is, as you said, probably going to be very hard to bear.”
“Don’t I know it.” He waved me past. “Go get dressed. I’ll arrange everything else.”
I deliberately walked close enough that my arm brushed his. He groaned softly, but made no move to touch me, to stop me. The damn man might not be made of stone, but there was certainly a whole lot of steel in his makeup.
Saska’s maidservant once again led me toward the outside balcony. The wind was bitter, and the rain fell in thick sheets that would drown me the minute I stepped out. I hesitated, eyeing the wild night warily. The wind whipped around me, chilling my bare stomach and tugging at the scarf-like layers of my skirt. I felt no threat in her touch, but I wasn’t hearing her voice, either.
“I have a coat, if you wish it, Lady N,” the maidservant said.
“Thanks, that would be great.”
As the maidservant hurried off, I brushed my fingers against the knife strapped to my left thigh, feeling safer for its presence as I studied the shadows. Saska was once again standing in the far corner of the balcony. Her dark blue dress was plastered to her body, and she looked decidedly frailer than she had out in the desert. The weight loss made the small bulge of her belly look huge by comparison to the rest of her, even though the scanner had said she was little more than eleven weeks pregnant a week ago.
The maid came back with a long, fur-lined coat. I gave her my mask and the bracelets to hold while I donned it. Once I’d zipped it up and securely tied on the hood, I reclaimed the bracelets and stepped out into the storm. The rain hit me hard, instantly freezing my unprotected face and feet. The wind was a little more reticent in its attack, preferring to scoot around me rather than forcing me to battle against it.
I walked across to Saska and once again leaned on the capstone beside her. Far below, the sea crashed against the ragged cliffs, its force such that I could feel the shudder through the stones under my toes. Thunder rumbled overhead, an ominous warning that worse was to come. A heartbeat later, lightning streaked across the sky, a display of power that was at once beautiful and threatening.
“Nights like this are inspiring, are they not?” she said eventually.
“Yes, they are.”
She raised her face to the sky. Silvery droplets clung to her lashes and water sluiced down her cheeks, but she didn’t seem to care. “My mother used to tell me the firestorm that followed thunder was nothing more than the gods disagreeing, and that there was little to fear in such fierceness.”
“So what do you think the gods might be arguing about tonight?”
She smiled, but it was a hollow thing. “Perhaps that is a question you should ask my mother. She’s the one communing with them, not I.”
“Is it the gods she talks to, or merely a queen?” I asked softly.
“They are one and the same.”
“And where does this queen reside, Saska?”
She shrugged. “She is everywhere and nowhere. In our thoughts, and in the ground; she sees all, she hears all.”
“But is she flesh and blood?”
“Yes.” Her gaze came to mine, haunted and desperate. “But her desire for revenge has all but consumed her.”
“What does she want to avenge?”
“Death.”
I frowned. “Whose death?”
“Everyone’s.”
Which made no sense. I placed the bracelets between us. “What can you tell me about these?”
She didn’t even glance down at them. “They were Pyra’s.”
“Do you know what happened to her?”
“No. Nor do I want to. I fear her fate is what awaits me if I do not obey their wishes.”
“If their wishes are to retrieve the bracelets, then you have them right here beside you.”
“That is not what they command of me, but rather my mother.” Her
gaze came to me briefly, her silvery-white eyes distant and stormy. “Your presence mutes their voices and gives me strength.”
So in that, Pyra was right. “Why do you think that is?”
She shrugged. “Perhaps it’s nothing more than a kinship born of air. You can hear her, I know.”
“But not control,” I said, as alarm surged. The last thing I need was someone like Hedra—who appeared to be the main force behind whatever was happening here in Winterborne—spreading rumors in the wrong ears.
“She likes you.”
“Who?”
“The wind. That’s why she saved you, and why she whispers not in the ears of the others.”
I briefly closed my eyes and thanked the wind and the collective consciousness of all those who resided within her. “So what are the whisperers asking of you that they are not asking your mother?”
“Something far darker.” She paused and picked up one of the bracelets. “But they are very desperate to get these back.”
“Why? What is so special about them?”
She twirled one around her fingers. Its silver surface reflected the power and the beauty of the storm around us, seeming to glow with a white-blue fire that oddly reminded me of the glow the knife sometimes had.
“They are limited in supply, and not made by the queen’s people but rather those of Versona.”
Communications between Versona and Winterborne had been irrevocably shattered after the war, though why that should remain the case in this day and age, with all the technology we now had, I couldn’t say. All I knew was what the history books said—that their efforts to protect their lands had, like ours, seriously disrupted the weather patterns close to their shores. To this day, our ships couldn’t find a way through the constant storms and waterspouts that battered the seas between us. Even the few ships that did make it through the first barrier then had to battle the fierce wind that drove them onto the jagged rocks that had risen like a wall after the Versona earth witches had severed the connection between our lands and theirs to stop the Irkallan. To my knowledge, no shipmaster bothered with the Versona trade route these days. Not when easier trading was to be found in Elprin and Cannamore.
