“Nah.” She waved a hand. “I’m not a total idiot. He’s going to do whatever he has to do to get his hands on you, and then he’s going to attempt to wipe me off the face of the planet with his Malakhim flyboys. The coterie is watching them, but his forces are keeping a respectful distance to give the impression this is an honest transaction.”
“If you don’t trust him to hold up his end of the bargain, why risk antagonizing him?”
“I’m going to kill him.” She ran her tongue along the edge of her upper teeth. “You might have noticed I’ve been busy recruiting too. We’re going to make an end run at Ezra, bump him off, and then — sorry about this — we’re going to kill you and your coterie. That will make me the next best thing to the only cadre left on this terrene.”
“As much as I admire your ambitious plan, and I do, I’ve got to point out that it takes more than motivational speeches and a can-do attitude to become cadre. We’re born, not made. War is dead. There is no War 2.0 this ascension. All you’ll ever be is exiled coterie, the same as everyone else.” I shrugged. “Assuming he doesn’t smite you. I’ve heard he’s got a thing for smiting.”
Temper infused a tremor in her voice. “I should kill you for that, but I need you alive.”
“Too bad you don’t have a handy phonebook to beat me with. I hear those don’t leave marks but hurt like a mother. I can’t remember if the urban legend is to smack the victim with the book or hold it in place on your victim while you punch the book, though.”
A thoughtful expression stole across her features. “What is a phonebook?”
“They don’t make them anymore. Well, I guess they do. They just don’t circulate them. It’s pretty random. I would go two, three, five years without getting one and then bam! There it was, wrapped in a bag and tossed on the doorstep.”
The randomness of my thoughts made me question a possible head injury. Surely the healer would have patched up my brain. What fun was murdering your enemy if they didn’t know it was happening?
That left me with the possibility it was sheer terror responsible for my guts turning to water, and how ridiculous was that? I set Kapoor on the path to find Ezra. What did I expect but that he would, you know, find him? That then, I would have to, you know, confront him. That he might then, you know, kill me.
Oh, God.
I was rambling.
Yep. Definitely terror. Worse than any I could remember. Not to give Ezra too much credit. Without Conquest, I didn’t have the cold place to retreat when I needed my reality buffered. This was the first time in my life I was dealing with raw fear the way a human did, with nothing but their wits to aid them. Except for my inner dragon. Humans didn’t have those. So I guess I wasn’t having a one hundred percent authentic experience —
Damn it, Luce. Get your head in the game.
Slow inhales and exhales kept me company on the walk down the long hall to where all the action happened. It was a cement tube that ended with a metal ladder leading up through a hatch they had left open.
“Age before beauty,” Sariah said. “Just take it easy. Wouldn’t want you to trip on your chains and break your neck. Again.”
Grateful my hands were free at least, I used them to pull myself up the ladder. I gripped the sides, pulled my bound feet up the next rung. Gripped the sides, pulled up my feet. Gripped, pulled. Gripped, pulled.
A hulking Drosera with a rifle slung over his shoulder waited for me at the top. He reached in, hooked me under the arms like I was a child, and lifted me out. He set me beside him, and I wish I could say I kicked or fought for my freedom, something more dramatic and befitting Conquest, but I had been down in the dark for a long time. In the sudden light, I couldn’t see. Not a damn thing. And my legs were wobbling for real from the exertion after so much confinement.
“Keep an eye on her, Teddy.” Sariah hopped out next and dusted off her hands. “I’ll go receive our guest. He must be eager to see what he’s buying with his cooperation.”
The way she prattled on, like the deal with Ezra was legit, like she hadn’t admitted she planned on killing him, made me wonder how much her coterie knew about her intentions. She couldn’t expect to win a battle without priming her soldiers first. That was madness.
Either they were all in on the plan, or Sariah figured she had enough non-coterie support at this point that she could afford to sacrifice them. She might prefer it that way, building her own coterie instead of inheriting her mother’s mixed bag of offspring, who were already pushing back against her.
Squinting at my surroundings, I tried to get my bearings. I had a general direction we had been traveling, but I was clueless when it came to our actual location. We had been following Kapoor, not coordinates.
Had we gotten close enough to Ezra for this to be a daytrip for him? And if Kapoor and Wu weren’t captives, where the hell where they? While I didn’t entertain any fantasies of Wu charging to my rescue for altruistic or romantic reasons, the fact remained he needed me to die at a predetermined spot and time. This would seriously put a kink in his plans. That alone comforted me that help from that quadrant was incoming.
The coterie was a given. They would have been lying in wait for this exact moment — when I appeared aboveground, making me easier to rescue than fighting their way down into the reinforced bunker. The problem would be, after they sprung me, how would we retrieve Cole?
My dragon could crunch through the metal given enough time, but we had none to spare if Ezra and his forces were really here. It’s not like they would let me call for a timeout while I helped my mate escape.
A blinding light that might as well have been a miniature sun come to earth stabbed me in the eye before I could formulate any kind of plan. I raised my hands to shield my face, but the delicate skin on my palms felt sunburned from the brief exposure.
No one told me Ezra harnessed solar energy to barbecue his enemies like a kid with a magnifying glass going whole hog on an anthill.
Beside me, the guard wasn’t faring any better. He grunted and ducked his head, but not before clamping a beefy hand on my upper arm to keep me from getting any ideas about making a run for it before his eyes adjusted.
Damn it.
That was an excellent idea. Too bad I hadn’t thought it up thirty seconds ago. Not that it would have helped much since I would have been staggering around blind just like everyone else. I stood as much chance of stumbling off and falling back in the hole as I did clearing the gathered Drosera. That didn’t count the allies Sariah had gathered who camped farther away from the action.
The other clans might grumble that the Drosera got to have all the fun, but they’d shut up once Ezra retaliated. Sacrificing her coterie to protect her new buddies would win her brownie points if nothing else.
“I have come,” a rich voice boomed, deeper than thunder, harder than marble. “Bring Conquest to me.”
Gradually, vision returned to me. He must have flipped the switch on his dimmer dial. I was still fielding spots when a smaller hand grasped my elbow and hauled me toward the honored guest.
“Cadre scum,” he growled. “Your reign ends here and now.”
“Not quite yet,” Sariah interrupted. “We have a deal.”
However much of her intel was pure bluffing, she had known enough to pop on a pair of shades. Considering Ezra burned like staring into the flaming heart of our solar system, I envied her forethought. Though, now that I thought about it, Wu had never mentioned his father was a supernova. Anyone who based their assumptions about him on scripture might expect him to appear one way or another, but Wu had already debunked him for me.
Ezra might think he was a god, but he wasn’t God.
“Your immunity is granted,” Ezra thundered. “Give her to me.”
“That’s it?” Sariah kept her tone light. “We don’t need to shake on it or … ?”
“You will not touch me.” The brightest point centered on his face, and I couldn’t look at him, but I could imagine him curling hi
s lip. “Deliver Conquest to me, or you will suffer my wrath.”
“Don’t get your wings in a bunch.” She gave me a shove into the light. “There you go.”
The push slammed me into Ezra, and my breath caught. Up close, he was even more electric, more vibrant, more … resonant.
Tipping my head back, I tried peering through the gilded haze, but I couldn’t divine his features.
Thanks to the mate bond, I didn’t have to in order to know this, however improbable, wasn’t Ezra.
It was Wu.
The fact he hadn’t smited me for clinging to him should have been Sariah’s first clue too.
“You must come with me to face justice,” he intoned. “You have my thanks, demon spawn.”
“I don’t suppose you could arrange a front row seat for the justice you’re about to serve?” she said, still polite. “I would sleep better at night knowing she was dead.”
“I am not held accountable to you.” His power flared. “I owe you no comfort or assurances.”
“Can’t blame a girl for trying.” She shrugged and turned. “See you in the funny papers.”
“Our bargain included her mate. Where is the coterie filth?”
“I decided to keep him. I’ve always wanted a pet, and I hear lizards are easy to care for.”
A dangerous stillness swept through Wu, and I sensed his hesitation. Fight or flight. Push for Cole’s release or escape with me. Risk me punching in his teeth to get back to Cole ’cause leaving him behind wasn’t happening. Sadly, Sariah, being a predator, did too.
“I’m fond of wings as well.” She turned back. “The creatures wearing them taste just like chicken to me.”
Sensing the gig was up, Wu killed the light show and stood before the gathered Drosera with the haughty air of a king among kings.
“Release the dragon,” he commanded. “Or you will suffer the consequences of your actions.”
“I’m not much for suffering,” Sariah admitted. “I prefer inflicting pain over experiencing it.”
“Mistress?” The hulking brute behind her narrowed his gaze on Wu. “What are your orders?”
“Kill them.” Sariah pivoted on her heel and walked into the throng of charun, but she yelled back, “I’m rooting for you, Auntie. Really, I am.”
And this, right here, was how she kept surviving. She not only threw her people under the bus the second odds tipped out of her favor, but she also threw the driver, the passengers, and the whole damn bus too.
The order sent a ripple through the gathering, and they converged on us.
“This was your plan?” I snapped at Wu. “What were you thinking?”
“Sariah almost caught Father’s attention. This was the only way to beat him to the punch.”
“Kapoor?”
“He’s here.”
“The coterie?”
“They’re here too.”
Eyes dry and tender from his entrance, I couldn’t focus much beyond the second row of charun eager to murder us. Sheesh. Didn’t anyone settle their differences with a spirited game of paper, rock, scissors anymore?
Battle cries erupted, blasting chills down my spine. No, those weren’t challenges, those were screams.
The coterie must be closing in from the rear. Energized by their arrival, I gave myself over to my dragon and was grateful Cole’s advice had gotten me to this point.
Color bled from the world into a crimson wash that tinted my view as my head rose higher and higher.
With a metallic whine, the shackles binding my ankles snapped as I outgrew them.
I lashed out with my tail, knocking down the first row as they advanced, giving Wu room to draw his sword and dive into the chaos. A dark blot landed in a crouch a few yards away. Kapoor didn’t carry a sword. He didn’t have to when his fingernails had lengthened until they rivaled butchers’ knives.
Janitor was far too sanitary a name for a man with skills of his caliber.
Without a word, he flung himself into the fight. Soon he dripped with blood, and he smiled as he tasted it. Working his way to Wu, he covered his friend’s back. He was a beautiful fighter and terrible to behold. No wonder Wu had recruited him, befriended him. Kapoor was a lethal weapon. Eyes black and hard, he was blind to sentiment.
A gap appeared where Wu and Kapoor had broken through the Drosera’s line. Craning my neck toward the entrance to the bunker, I rumbled my intent to anyone listening. Swiping my tail through the stragglers, I bought myself time to shift and go for Cole.
“I got this.” Santiago sprinted past me. “Keep the exit clear.”
Happy to oblige, I stood guard while Santiago skipped the ladder and leapt straight to the bottom.
Intent on standing my ground, I didn’t notice the screams were tapering off until the lightning fast strike when Miller swallowed an advancing Drosera whole drew my eye. For dessert, he ate three Bushta who thought hiding behind their catapults would save them. Lucky for us, they couldn’t risk firing into the crowd without dosing themselves with their toxin.
About to risk sticking my head in the hole for a status update, I blinked against the churning of loose dirt and debris, kicked up by a sudden wind. Looking up, I spotted the Malakhim force Sariah had mentioned. Before panic set in, I recognized the nearest one: Able.
These were our allies, and they threw themselves into the fray with single-minded purpose. With their gleaming swords and ornate bows, they rained death upon our enemies.
“Move over.” Santiago shoved my claw. “You’re in the way.”
I snapped my teeth at him, but he didn’t jump. He snapped back.
Inching to one side, I made room for him to climb out then searched for Cole behind him.
“He’s coming.” Santiago stepped up beside me. “Give him room.”
Grumbling, I made them more space. Seconds later, Cole emerged. No sooner had his foot touched the earth than his dragon claimed his skin. His throaty warning explained what he had done, and I half galloped, half fluttered the heck out of Dodge.
An explosion engulfed the bunker, and the blast knocked me and everyone else in its path on our backs.
Once I got my feet under me again, I cut a path straight for him. He bared his teeth in a feral smile, and I did the same. In the distance, Portia and Santiago stood back to back, swords whirling, reminding me of a killer food processor. Until I took notice of how well they worked together, it hadn’t occurred to me that Santiago never shifted in battle. Ever. I got the feeling I understood why he took his chances as a man now. He was Portia’s backup, and he didn’t make her feel less for not having another, more dangerous form.
Their friendship disturbed me on many levels, more than I could count, but I couldn’t deny they loved one another in the way siblings love each other. No challenger could hurt or say a bad thing about one except for the other. It made me glad they had found each other. Conquest had done that much right at least.
A gleam in the distance caught my eye, and I risked glancing in that direction. Thom sat on a high limb in a tree. He carried a mean-looking pistol he must have taken from an enemy and had just taken a shot at a Drosera who attempted to scale the trunk to reach him. As if that wasn’t enough to give me heart palpitations, I spotted a certain tiny dragon egging Thom on from her perch on his shoulders.
I trumpeted a call to Cole then sliced through the ground forces to make my way to them.
He grunted acknowledgment then snapped a Bushta in half with his massive jaws before impaling another on his horns. The balletic dance of his dragon in battle stole my breath, and I wished I could climb a tree and watch him cut down the army while I munched on popcorn, but I couldn’t leave Thom. I was starting to think Phoebe didn’t need my help, considering how she had survived the crash landing plus found her way to the coterie. The kid had serious survival instincts. I was in awe. Too bad we didn’t have time for her to teach me half of what she hatched knowing.
I wasn’t the only one who had noticed the vulnerables i
n the tree. Several fighters were hanging back, breaking off their part of the confrontation in an effort to seize the prize for their own.
Great.
Just great.
Perfect even.
I didn’t stand a chance against charun used to how their bodies moved, who were able to use their heightened senses to their full advantage.
As I thought it, I tasted frost. The bangles vibrated where they rested against my skin, growing colder, and dread scooped out my middle. I couldn’t lose control of Conquest, but the smell of carnage was waking her. Or maybe it was buried maternal instincts. Thom wasn’t the only one stuck in that tree. She might not have loved Phoebe in a way I recognized, but through her memories I witnessed her twisted version of the pride she felt for her daughter.
“Forget it, lady,” I thought at her. “You’re not invited to this party.”
The tug of war in my gut ceased, but the bangles didn’t warm. She was still fighting to get out, and I couldn’t afford to split my attention between her and the enemies swarming around me.
A squeaky trill announced Phoebe had spotted me. She bounced on Thom’s shoulders, wings fluttering, then flattened her ears against her skull to growl at the Drosera. Pretty sure the kid was talking smack. Or cracking yo momma jokes.
Blasting an exhale through my muzzle, I forced my brain back on its task. I couldn’t afford to splinter now. I had to keep a level head, or I risked Conquest picking up where I left off.
Teeth bared in an eager grin, I threw myself into the turmoil. I used my tail to sweep Bushta off their feet, kicked a few Drosera into nearby trees, all the while biting and snapping at anyone dumb enough to get close.
“Behind you,” Thom shouted. “Luce.”
The goon who had been assigned to me must have tracked me this far. He was a freaking tank, and that was before — yep. His skin suit burst down the middle, and a massive alligator erupted. He didn’t even lose speed. The transformation barely cost him a hitch in his stride.
With a quick snap of my tail, I took out one of his eyes. He screamed bloody murder, but he didn’t slow.
Impact with him jarred my teeth as my shoulder rammed his, and I cried out when he slung his blocky head into my side then bit down above my freshly healed ribs. I lashed my tail at him, clawed at his armored sides, but I got nowhere. I was bleeding, and cold puffs clouded before me.
End Game (The Foundling Series) Page 11