“The cemetery ought to be quiet this time of night,” I conceded. “It’s a tourist attraction, so the trails should be safe.”
Santiago didn’t acknowledge me past that point. He dove into whatever filled his tablet screen and ignored us.
“Join me?” I touched Cole’s arm. “I could use the fresh air.”
He laced our fingers and held tight, even as we took the stairs.
Charun in the saloon glanced up at our entrance, but we didn’t acknowledge them. We left the building and strolled the narrow main street until we reached a sprawling graveyard. The sign on the gate stated the hours were from dawn until dusk, but we had no trouble leaping the ornate fence. It was decorative, not meant to keep out trespassers with agendas.
“Do your people mark their loved ones’ graves?” I wondered. “I don’t know anything about your culture, but I would like to learn.” I squeezed his fingers. “Maybe you can tutor Phoebe and me together.”
The idea appealed to him if the rumbling purr vibrating his chest was any sign. I wasn’t sure if he liked the idea of me embracing his culture or if he just liked the idea of me embracing a relationship with his daughter. He ought to know by now that I loved him too much to do anything that would hurt him, and that included holding it against Phoebe that she was his child with another female. Sort of.
“I would like that.” He took in the statues and wrought-iron fences surrounding individual graves and family plots as we took a winding path down the side of the hill. “I can also tell you about Otilla, your heritage, if you want to know.”
“I don’t,” I said too quickly. “I need to keep going forward as myself, with my own values, if I’m going to make it through this.”
A vibration in my pocket brought my attention to my cell.
Miss you.
The text from Sherry, her first attempt at reaching out to me since I burned Rixton, made my heart ache.
Miss you too.
How can you godmother
from all the way over —
wherever you are? John said
you left town.
I did. I had to. For work.
I hate you guys are fighting.
A tendril of relief snaked through me. He hadn’t told her the real reason why I left Canton, or what I had done. She must think he was upset about losing his partner on the force. He was, but he was pissed at me for tampering with evidence. I had my reasons, but since I couldn’t share them with him, he had no way of knowing if my intentions were honorable. You’d think he would know me better than that, but the Luce who had been his partner for four years never would have compromised herself — or her partner.
I’m glad you reached out.
Call me sometime? It’s been
so long since I’ve had adult
conversation outside of visits
to the pediatrician, I can’t
remember what it’s like to
have a convo about anything
but Nettie’s BMs.
Hating to lie to her, I typed an empty
Sure.
Pebbles rolling downhill to our right pulled me up short, and I glanced around. “We got company?”
Grateful for an excuse to end the conversation, I tucked my phone back into my pocket.
“We’re upwind of them.” Cole flared his nostrils. “I can’t tell if we’re being hunted. Yet.”
“Then we walk on.” I scouted the area and located a flat terrace several yards ahead. “Let’s head for that angel. The ground is level there. If we have to fight, we’ll stand a better chance than we do here.”
“Your followers may have trailed us from the saloon.” He swept his gaze from left to right, scanning our immediate vicinity for movement. “They might think cornering you is the only way to get your attention after one of them attacked Santiago.”
“I really don’t want to shift twice in one night.” I rubbed my stomach. “I ate that female’s hand, and part of her wrist. That’s …” I bit off the sentence when Cole tensed beside me, aware any stones I cast at myself would bounce off him first. We were the same, both of us biologically Convallarian, and I had no right to judge what was natural for charun until I understood the various species better. “That’s a lot to digest.” I stared at the front of my shirt. “Where does it all go?”
A teasing note entered his voice. “Are you sure you want to know?”
“Probably not,” I decided when he started chuckling, the low sound clenching my gut for other reasons.
“I can hear them.” He cocked his head. “They’ll overtake us in three minutes or less.”
We chose the best spot for our standoff, and then we waited. Sure enough, three minutes later, the two charun who had escorted us from the saloon to the meeting appeared with tear-streaked faces and red-rimmed eyes.
“Fancy meeting you here,” I said with as much sarcasm as I could muster. “What do you want?”
“To serve you,” they said in unison.
“You blew your chance when you let two members of your rebel band attack a member of my coterie.”
“Angela and Helga don’t speak for the clan,” the female protested, drawing a knife from her belt. “They acted without warning us of their intentions.”
Cole loomed beside me, he was good at that, and they cowered away from him.
“Let me sacrifice myself so that the debt can be paid,” she pleaded, clutching the blade, ready to drive it straight into her heart. “Please, Mistress. Allow us to make amends. The Oncas are yours to command.”
“Put the knife down,” I snapped. “There’s enough death coming without you throwing away your life.”
The blade clattered to the ground, and she hit her knees, weeping. “I’m not worthy.”
Grateful Santiago wasn’t here to watch me squirm, I kept the grimace off my face. “You’re worthy, and that’s why your death serves no purpose. You can do more for me alive than in a grave.”
“You’ll give us another chance?” The hope in the male’s voice gave me a migraine. “Let us prove ourselves — ”
“You’ve done enough.” I held up a hand. “Trust me. We’re good here. You’re in. You can join Team Conquest at the final battle.”
The pair broke into hysterics, hugging and sobbing together like I’d just told them they’d won the lottery instead of handed down a death sentence.
“You’re doing well,” Cole said for my ears only. “You’ve given them purpose, redemption. They’ll be more loyal to you for it.”
“Assuming there aren’t more malcontents in their ranks happy to sabotage us.”
Guess I wasn’t using my inside voice. The pair broke apart, and cold intent glazed their expressions. “We will get our clan in order. Any who no longer wish to follow the old ways will be cast out. Any who speak against you, or raise a hand against you, will pay the blood price.”
A sour taste flooded my mouth. “Angela and Helga?”
“We slit their throats.” The female beamed. “They will never question your right to rule again.”
The dead did have a way of keeping their opinions to themselves.
“That’s great.” Acid churned in my stomach, that stupid hand I swallowed felt perched in the back of my throat, ready to grab me by the tonsils. “Now that we’ve all made amends, I’m ready for bed.” Past ready. “Santiago will text you coordinates for a rendezvous when we’ve got them.”
They almost snapped in half in their eagerness to bow and scrape.
I wondered if I had to stand there and watch or if it would be rude to step over them.
Catching the drift of my thoughts, Cole took me by the elbow and skirted the pair, leading me back up the path toward the front gate and sweet escape.
A text message had me checking my hip, and I prayed it wasn’t Sherry, that she wasn’t going to push me, not now, when my plate was full to overflowing, but the message wasn’t from my friend. “Sariah wants to meet.”
I hadn’t seen her since she
took over her mother’s coterie after Death killed War and her father, War’s mate, Thanases.
Tension coiled in his shoulders. “Does she say why?”
“Just that she has a proposition for us.” I frowned. “That doesn’t sound good.”
Sariah still wore the rosendium bangles Cole had made for me out of the rose-gold metal Conquest used to bind the coterie to her. They forced her to obey my orders as long as she wore them, which, in essence, meant I was in control of the remaining Drosera as long as Sariah kept them on.
So much for our scouting mission. Sariah took priority, for the moment. The enclave would have to wait.
“She either wants out of her bargain, or she wants you to remove the bangles.”
The promise of a headache throbbed in my temples. “That amounts to the same thing.”
Freeing her meant freeing the Drosera, and Drosera as a species hadn’t done much to win my trust.
Tapping my phone against my chin, I mused, “Do I respond or do I pretend I didn’t see her message?”
“She’ll know you’re ignoring her, and she might escalate,” Cole said at last.
“Fine.” It was annoying, but he was right. “Guess I’ll make the arrangements.”
Where are you?
I’ll come to you.
You’re keeping tabs on me?
I’d be a fool not to, Auntie.
Pick a spot. Cole and I will
meet you there.
The coffee house off
the square.
The one where local cops, my former coworkers, tended to congregate.
You’re in Canton?
She didn’t reply, happy to leave me on read, and I growled under my breath. “I don’t like this.”
“Neither do I.” A shimmering pulse of energy consumed him as he exchanged one skin for another.
Moonlight caressed his faceted scales, glittered in his leonine mane, and illuminated immense racks of branching antlers. The serpentine lines of a Chinese dragon melded with the sturdy arms and thickly-muscled thighs of a European dragon in him. His crimson eyes found mine as his gossamer wings rustled against his spine. His tail found my ankle in the next instant, and I laughed, which earned me a nuzzle and him scratches behind his rounded ears.
“Let me text Santiago, and we’ll go.”
About to do just that, I jolted when a tall figure stepped onto the path ahead of me.
Santiago sighed, long and loud. “Did you really think I would let you two out of my sight?”
“You’ve been out here the whole time?”
“You came to make out with Cole in a cemetery, away from prying eyes.” He tapped his temple. “You would have been vulnerable.”
“We didn’t come here to make out,” I argued, though I had been hoping for an unchaperoned kiss.
“Whatever.” He waved his hand, dismissing me. “Are we leaving or what?”
I noticed he wore a backpack crammed with his electronics, and another bag hung from his fingertips. He tossed it to me, and I grunted from the weight. He must have combined Cole’s and my things to make it easier to transport. Threading my arm through the strap, I swung it over my shoulder and secured it with a clasp that crossed over my chest in case of just such an emergency.
And then we set out for home.
CHAPTER THREE
My darling niece was easy to pick out of the customers enjoying their coffee and treats. For one thing, she eyed the patrons with more interest than her latte. For another, she sported a purpling bruise down one side of her face.
I skipped the coffee — I was jittery enough without a caffeine hit — and sat across from her. “Who did that to you?”
“The dominant bull in what remains of Mother’s coterie.” She touched her cheek with gentle fingers. “Don’t worry. He won’t get a chance to do it again.”
“You killed him.”
“Yes, I did.” Her posture shouted she would do it again in a heartbeat without losing sleep over it.
“Well, I’m here. You’re here.” Cole stood watch outside in case I needed backup, and Santiago was en route to the farmhouse, where Miller, Portia and Maggie waited for us. “What’s up?”
“I want the bangles removed.”
“Nope.”
“That’s why this happened.” She pointed at her face. “They can smell you on me. They weren’t suspicious at first. As far as they knew, you held me captive for weeks. Now I’m with my own kind, but I still reek of Conquest.” Her lips thinned. “I can’t control them unless they trust me.”
“Trust is exactly the problem.”
“I won’t move against you.”
“Without the bangles, I have no way of knowing if you’re telling the truth. You betrayed your mother, and your coterie, to escape The Hole. You’d stab me in the back too if the right offer came along.”
Her answering growl turned heads, but she had no easy retort prepped for that one. “All I have left is my word.”
Scowl settling into place, I gave it to her straight. “Then you don’t have much, do you?”
“I might as well stay with you then.” She heaved a sigh. “The dominance fights will keep coming until they overpower me. I haven’t stayed alive this long by being stupid. I would rather walk away now and let them kill one another than die.”
One thing about Sariah — she was a survivor. But she wriggled out of danger at the expense of others. She would sacrifice anyone, anything, to stay alive. I could respect that, but I couldn’t trust it. Not while we sat in a coffee shop in my hometown.
Rixton patrolled these streets. His family lived a few minutes from here. The enclave, with Thom among them, hid outside the city limits. She might not know that last part, but she knew the rest. There was a reason she chose this as our meeting place: a subtle reminder of where I came from and what mattered most to me, and that she knew both of those things.
“You took responsibility for the coterie, and that makes them your problem.” The hope I could wash my hands of them, and her, was dwindling. “I don’t have time to hunt them down and kill them all.”
Shrewdness overshadowed her features. “You’re too busy building an army, is that it?”
“I can’t sit here and discuss strategy with you.” I pushed my chair back, and it raked across the floor. “I can’t set you free on your own recognizance, either.”
“What if I offer you a trade?” Her fingers curled on the tabletop. “My freedom in exchange for Deland Bruster.”
Tabling the facts she knew he existed, and that I wanted him, I asked, “You know where he is?”
“Not yet,” she admitted. “I’m looking, though.”
Taking a risk, I ventured, “Do you know anyone by the name of Ezra?”
“No.” She crossed her legs. “Not one interesting enough for you to make me a counteroffer, anyway.”
That slight hesitation, the twitchiness, made the spot between my shoulder blades itch.
“Keep your eyes and ears open.” I rapped my knuckles on the table. “Bring me Ezra, and I’ll remove the bangles.”
“Wait. That’s it?” Her eyes goggled. “Do I get any hints?”
“No.” Despite setting the task, I didn’t want her to succeed. “You’ll know when you find him.”
And, as soon as I talked to Santiago, so would we. If she managed to succeed where we had failed.
With all his doodads and knowhow, I was certain he could track her, make sure she didn’t get into more trouble than she was worth. Giving her an impossible job to keep her out of my hair seemed like a win/win to me.
“Challenge accepted.” Her eyes glittered. “I’ll check in when I find a lead.”
“You do that.”
Behind me a plate shattered, and I twisted around like everyone else to see what had happened. They were probably thinking butter fingers. I was thinking more along the lines of sneak attack. But what I saw caused my heart to swell and pound, and my palms to go wet with sweat.
“
This meeting is over.” I gripped Sariah by her upper arm and hauled her out onto the sidewalk where Cole waited with a blank expression. “Make sure she leaves.”
As much as I wanted to vanish with them, I had to go back in and face the music. Sherry would run after me otherwise, and it was better that Sariah not understand how much Sherry meant to me by overhearing the reaming out she owed me.
Back in the shop, Sherry remained frozen in place. Two customers who had stood behind her in line cleaned up the mess so she wouldn’t have to bend with Nettie worn in a sling across her chest.
“Luce?” After thanking the people on their knees, she stepped around them to reach me and take my hands in hers. “I can’t believe you’re here.” She swung our arms from side to side. “I would have texted you sooner if I’d known that’s all it took to get you home.”
Actually, a psychopathic relative had brought me here, not a desire to rekindle our friendship, but I couldn’t very well tell her that.
“I’m just in town for the day.” I couldn’t stop the genuine smile overtaking my face. “On business.”
“Oh.” Understanding crowded out all those happy emotions. “You weren’t coming to see me, were you?”
“No.” I squeezed her hands. “I wasn’t.” I lowered my gaze. “I don’t want to cause problems between you and your other half. He wouldn’t want us talking now, let alone me in his house.”
“John is a grown-ass man. He can’t control who I call a friend.” Her nails sank into my skin. “I’m not losing you, Luce.” She thrust out her chest to get my attention, probably afraid if she let me go I would run. “Nettie needs you. You’re her Auntie Luce. Look at her squishy baby face. You can’t say no to squishy baby face.”
Probably why I had avoided looking down at the tiny rosebud mouth and slumberous eyes in question. “Your marriage is more important than our friendship.”
“John is being a butt monkey. I got you two through worse rough patches than this one. I can do it again.”
“You got us to both stop being assholes long enough to get to know each other, and I’m forever grateful for that, but I was his partner. I did an unforgiveable thing and broke his trust. He won’t move past that, and I can’t blame him. This is all on me.”
Rise Against: A Foundling novel (The Foundling Series) Page 3