Everyone’s eyes in our group fall on Anya. Reed speaks to her in Angel and she looks from Russell to me. Straightening her shoulders, she nods her assent.
My eyes drift to Phaedrus and he smiles, saying, “Oh, I have to go…I’ve been sent to aid Tau.”
“You’re on his side?” I ask him, feeling irritated.
“Perhaps he’s the one praying for a miracle,” Phaedrus murmurs.
“Are you sure you’ve never been a parent, Phaedrus?” I ask. “Because you’ve got that guilt thing down.”
“It’s a gift,” he replies.
Around us, angels are lifting off into the air, having been given their orders to move out. “Okay, but if Tau turns out to be a stalker, we’re gonna have words,” I warn Phaedrus in a grave tone, knowing I’m in for trouble…aggravating, messy trouble.
**
After flying for hours through what feels like a snowpocalypse, we land among the multitude of angels on the deck of one of the coolest ships I’ve ever seen. Militaristic and sleek, it is like a floating city with military grade aircraft on the vast deck. The sun is just beginning to rise over the aft of the ship, as a Power angel on board leads me to a room.
Pausing at the threshold, I say, “Uh, this is a single room.” A single, berth-style bed, a small closet, and a tiny shower are the only appointments in the small space.
“This is the room I was told to give you,” the angel replies.
Narrowing my eyes at him, I ask, “Who instructed you to give me this room?”
“Xavier,” the angel offers the name freely.
“He’s on my last nerve,” I mutter, before stumbling into my room, feeling as stiff as a Popsicle. Reed follows me, and it’s annoying that he doesn’t even seem fatigued.
“Xavier was teasing you about your flying so that you’d get angry and try harder,” Reed says, watching me step into the bathroom and turn on the shower.
Walking to him, I put my finger to his lips, saying, “Shhh, let’s not talk about Xavier…in fact, let’s not talk…” Dragging Reed into the small shower with me, we don’t talk for a long, long time.
Reed leads me from the shower to the single bed. Wrapped in a towel with my head pillowed on Reed’s chest, we fall asleep in each other’s arms on the bed—grateful just to be together.
**
Genevieve…Genevieve…come ta me, mo chroí…it will be ye dat wears me crown…forever from harm…ye belong ta me…
“EVIE!” Reed shakes me hard, and my eyes open to the glare of bright sunlight. Standing outside on the deck of the ship in my towel, I’m dizzy and disoriented. Reed, in a towel too, lifts me off my feet and carries me past gawking Powers as the breeze lifts my hair like a windsock.
“Ye will be returned ta me,” I whisper as the warmth of Reed’s body penetrates the thin layer of icy frost covering me.
Someone drapes a blanket around my shoulders as we enter a dim hallway. Several Powers usher us into a posh room as one tells Reed that Tau wants to see us. My eyes rest on a set of glass doors that lead to a balcony overlooking the sea. Reed sits down on a leather chair, settling me on his lap. He strokes my hair as I slowly become aware that I’m numb from cold. Trembling in his arms, he whispers words in Angel in my ear.
Lifting my head off Reed’s chest with my teeth chattering, I become lucid enough to realize I’m not in our bed. Glancing around, it’s plain that we’re no longer in steerage, but in one of the presidential suites of the ship. It’s masculine in its appointments with dark, wood floors and shelves—more like a den than what I’d expect to see on a ship.
Seeing Tau watching me from an elegant chair across from the one we’re in, I look away, resting my cheek back against Reed’s bare chest again.
“Does she do that often?” Tau asks Reed in a soft tone.
“I’ve never known her to walk away in her sleep,” Reed replies, sounding concerned.
I feel muddled—my mind is foggy and it’s hard to focus. “Dddid I jjjust…wwwalk outside in mmmy ttttowel?” I ask Reed in a small voice, my teeth chattering.
Rubbing my arms, Reed says lightly, “Yes, but don’t worry, I think the crew enjoyed it.”
“Where were you going?” Tau asks me.
“I dddon’t kkknow,” I reply, embarrassment creeping over me.
“Would you like something warm—coffee? Tea?” Tau offers, his gray eyes scanning my face.
“Cccofffeee,” I reply, gritting my teeth, while pulling the blanket tighter to me.
Handing me a cup of coffee, I wrap my cold fingers around it. Someone pounds on the door of the cabin then, making me stiffen.
“Enter,” Tau barks, not taking his eyes off of me.
“Red!” Russell says, bursting through the door. “You okay?” he asks, looking worried when he sees me on Reed’s lap.
I nod with my teeth still chattering.
“I came lookin’ for you when I felt their energy. I can smell the magic…it’s thick—your room is foggy with it,” he says, sitting down in the chair next to us. “Ah shoot, he’s playin’ with you, isn’t he?” Russell asks.
“Wwhenn have yyyou known mmmee to wwalkk around nnnakked on the ddeeckkk of a ssship?” I ask him.
“Now, that’s been awhile,” he grins teasingly. “At least a few centuries.”
“Was it Brennus?” Reed asks, his arms tightening.
“Uh huh,” I nod.
“Was it a spell?” Russell asks.
“It didn’t fffeel like his other ssspells,” I admit, after sipping my coffee. “It was like he wwwas inside my head—and exerting energy fffrom without.”
“Thrall,” Tau says, “and magic, too. You were bitten recently?” he asks me.
“Yes,” I answer, glancing at Tau.
“And you were bitten before—months ago?” Tau asks.
“Yes,” I respond.
“More venom makes their thrall stronger—maybe it’s beginning to work on you. But they still had to use magic, too. You’re covered in frost,” Tau says. He gestures to my skin that is just now losing the twinge of blue. “What did Brennus tell you to do?” he asks.
“He tttold me to come to hhhim,” I reply in a small voice.
“You know where he is?” Tau asks.
“No,” I say hesitantly.
“No…but?” he prompts me.
“No, nothing,” I reply, not looking in his eyes.
Tau says nothing; he just watches me drink my coffee. I glance at Russell. He’s aware that I have the means of locating Brennus—we both do. I begin to get warmer and my teeth stop chattering.
“I look forward to meeting him,” Tau says.
“Do you know where he is?” I ask as confusing emotions erupt in me, fear the most dominant among them.
“Not at the moment, but I don’t need to because he will come to me,” he replies, before sipping his coffee.
“Why would he do that?” I counter.
“Because I’m going to make it so that he has no other option,” he replies easily.
“How?” I ask.
“I will begin by insulting him,” Tau says. “When I make him appear ridiculous, he will have to retaliate or risk losing his stature among his peers.”
“How will you insult him?” I ask, my brows pulling together.
“I intend to move into his home, assume his throne…with his queen,” he replies.
My stomach clenches in fear as my mouth goes dry. “We’re going back to Ireland?” I ask in a raspy tone.
“Yes,” he replies easily, like we’re discussing the homework assignment for English class.
“You should be careful. Brennus is very clever and…determined,” I say, meeting his eyes again.
Tau pauses, his gray eyes showing amusement. “Are you afraid for me?” he asks, his head tilting to the side as he assesses my demeanor.
I shake my head slowly. “No, I’m afraid for me,” I reply angrily. “I’ve lived with them and it was a struggle for survival from one day to the
next and you want to take me back there.”
“You don’t trust that I can protect you,” he states, his brows pulling together in a frown.
“I don’t trust you. Period,” I shoot back.
“Yes, I can see that,” Tau agrees. “You don’t need to trust me. You just need to obey me.”
My eyebrows rise in surprise. “Obey you?” I ask incredulously. “I don’t even know you.”
“If you don’t respect that I am your father, then respect my rank,” he says in a calm tone, his face a mask of tranquility. “I am the authority here.”
Glancing at Russell, he’s frowning at Tau, too. “Are you hearing this, Russ?” I ask him.
“Yeah, I’m hearin’ it,” he replies. “I’m just tryin’ to understand it. I mean, I’m down for the whole insultin’ Brennus part—I just got a problem with draggin’ you back to the creepy castle. You want your daughter to be bait?” he asks Tau with agitation in his tone.
“I want what you want: my daughter to be safe, and she will be safe with me,” Tau replies.
“Brennus wants me on my knees—you can’t protect me from that,” I retort, angrier with him than I probably should be. He’s not doing this, it’s Brennus, but my emotions are a tangled mess right now.
“He will grovel on his knees to you,” Tau counters.
“I don’t want that,” I reply.
“What do you want?” he asks.
“I want him to stop…just stop,” I breathe.
“Then, I will make him stop,” Tau says.
“What if you can’t,” I whisper.
“I can,” he replies, his eyes softening a little in the corners.
“You think you know him, but you don’t,” I say grimly, feeling a desperation I can’t even begin to describe. “He’s seductive and sweet one minute and then he turns ruthless and horrifying the next. He changes, adapts. He makes alliances with the most awful monsters. He kills women and he only craves one thing: me. You can’t stop him—no one can stop him,” I say, shaking my head.
Tau rises from his seat. Drawing nearer to me, he crouches by my side, looking into my eyes that are a replica of his own. “You don’t have the benefit of my experience to know that he is not all-powerful. He has many, many weaknesses—especially when it comes to his desire for you.” Tentatively, Tau reaches out, tucking a piece of my hair behind my ear. “I will show you how to bring down your enemies…you just need to remember that that is exactly what Brennus is: your enemy.”
Stiffening, I pull back from his hand. “You don’t think that I know that he’s my enemy?” I ask.
“I think that if you truly believed that, you would have killed him already,” he replies.
My eyes narrow at Tau menacingly. “You think that I want him in my life?” I ask between my teeth.
“I think you are reluctant to kill him,” Tau replies honestly. He stands up and moves away from me. “He can’t be allowed to exist, Evie. He’s a killer. He preys upon the weak. When you see him for what he truly is, you may then be able to do what you were meant to do.”
“And what am I meant to do?” I ask him.
“Protect the weak,” he replies. “Draw out evil and dispatch it, not pity it.”
“Black and white, good and evil, sinner and saint?” I ask him derisively.
“Yes,” he replies.
“Then why can’t I think in those terms?” I ask.
“Maybe it’s your soul that always wants to leave room for the possibility of redemption,” he answers contemplatively.
“Or maybe I’m just not like you,” I counter in a not-so-nice tone. “Did you know that Brennus saved my life from an Ifrit?” I inquire.
“Yes, Valentine,” Tau responds quietly. His back is to me as he’s staring out at the sea beyond the glass doors. “He did it for him, not for you…and you saved him from the Werree, and that also, was done for him, not for you—although, with your life tied to his, it did work in your favor as well. I was at Dominion recently; they apprised me of what happened while you were with the Gancanagh.”
“So you know everything?” I ask him in a derogatory way, because he can’t possibly know everything—he has no idea how I felt when all of that was happening.
“Everything?” he asks me, glancing over his shoulder at my face. “No one among us can know everything,” he replies. “And you haven’t spoken to me about it, so I cannot know your perspective.”
“That’s right…you don’t know my perspective. You haven’t had a chance to speak to me about it,” I agree softly, “because you’ve been, where exactly?” I ask him, trying to keep anger from leaking into my voice with little success.
“Paradise,” he answers.
Nodding my head, I say, “Right, Paradise…a little R & R from all that parenting you were doing,” I reply with sarcasm. “You must have been exhausted.”
Tau slowly turns around to face me. He has lost his blank mask of calm and the scowl on his face speaks volumes.
“Okay, love, I think you need to rest now,” Reed cuts in, lifting me in his arms as he rises from the chair.
Russell rises, too, saying, “Here, I’ll get the door for you, Reed.”
“You had an excellent parent…James. He loved you very much,” Tau says and my throat closes as tears instantly come to my eyes.
Wiggling out of Reed’s arms I make him put me down. Facing Tau I say, “He was the BEST parent and he LOVED me more than anyone and ANGELS killed him for it!” I sob as tears run down my cheeks. “They tore him apart in the house that we lived in because NOBODY WAS THERE TO PROTECT HIM—NOT YOU, NOT ME—AND HE SUFFERED...and he died,” I whisper the last part as it becomes almost impossible to breathe. My hands go to my eyes and I feel like my heart is breaking all over again.
“Evie…you couldn’t have protected him—” Tau says with concern.
“I have to get out of here,” I breathe, before turning and bailing out of his room.
Running as fast as I can, everything is just a blur. I wind down halls and stairwells in fractions of seconds. Finding myself in an engine room, I hide behind a huge, metal bulkhead and cry my eyes out.
CHAPTER 14
I’m On A Boat
Russell
Roundin’ the corner to the engine room, I hear someone sniffle and then hiccup. A small smile crosses my lips, ‘cuz I know that hiccup. I push past the metal door and listen as another hiccup comes from around the bulkhead.
“Go away, Russell,” Evie says, when I sit down next to her on the floor.
“Now you’re askin’ me to walk away from a damsel in distress. That’s a guilt I can’t carry,” I reply.
Pullin’ off my shirt, I hand it to Red. She takes it with a grudgin’ look on her face. Shruggin’ into it, it covers the towel and falls almost to her knees.
“Thanks,” she grumbles. “You don’t have to stay.”
“Yeah…well, maybe I want to hide out, too,” I say with a shrug, thinkin’ of Anya in the cabin next to mine.
“Why? Your creepy-old dad show up, too?” she asks, rubbin’ a tear away from her eye.
“Naw, but what’s really creepy is he looks younger than me,” I admit in an easy tone. “I bet I could take him.”
Red rolls her eyes at me, sayin’ sarcastically, “Yeah, Russ, you fighting Tau wouldn’t add another layer of strange to this or anything.” But she smiles.
“How ‘bout that other one—Cole?” I ask her.
“Cole Martin?” she asks me. When I nod, her tone turns suspicious, “Why? What did Cold Misery do now?”
“He was airplane talkin’ Anya all the way here,” I say, and I hear the edge in my own tone. When I see the confused look on Red’s face, I explain. “He was way too close to her on the flight here and he was talkin’ in a loud voice, like he had to talk over the engine, ‘cept there were no engines. I didn’t know what he was sayin’ to her ‘cuz he was speakin’ in Angel.”
“They were just talking?” Red asks.
&
nbsp; “Well…yeah,” I admit in a low tone. “But, it was the way he was talkin’ to her…all buddy-buddy and smooth…like ‘I’m an angel and I know how to speak Angel…’” I trail off from the derogatory imitation when Red starts gigglin’.
“What?” I ask her, smilin’ too. “The way I figure it, you and me have gotta knock someone’s head off soon—show them we’re not the new kids ‘round here.”
“And we’re not putting up with their shen?” she asks, and then hiccups again.
“That’s right,” I agree. “We gotta show them we can carry our own weight.”
“So, what you’re saying is I should suck it up and stop crying?” she asks, bitin’ her bottom lip so it’ll stop pushin’ out in a pout.
“Oh Lord, look at you now,” I say in a gentle tone, leanin’ over and wipin’ at her last tear. “All tragic and beautiful. You know we have to get a plan together.”
“A plan?” she asks, lookin’ alarmed.
“They’re takin’ us back to the snake nest. We know what that means,” I say significantly.
“All our angels are vulnerable,” Red replies, followin’ my line of thought exactly. Her need for a plan is makin’ her sit up straighter.
“I don’t like it. The cold freaks know every inch of that place. We saw the surface when we were there, but—”
“The Gancanagh’s magic goes deep,” she finishes.
“To the bone, Red,” I agree. “We need to stop thinkin’ in terms of humans and angels and start thinkin’ like faeries.”
“But their magic doesn’t affect angels,” she says.
“Naw, but they got that place rigged. You showed them how portals worked and they, well, they liked that so much they probably portaled the livin’ crap outta that place. I could smell magic there before, but now it’s gotta be everywhere. Just ‘cuz the angels can’t get slapped ‘round by magic, doesn’t mean those sneaky lil’ devils won’t use it to get close to them—close enough to touch ‘em.”
“Like Declan and the fellas did at Dominion,” she breathes, while lookin’ wide-eyed at me.
“And if they can turn one of us, they have an instant killin’ machine ‘cuz everyone would be reluctant to take out one of our own.” Red’s face turns pale, so I quickly press on. “The first thing we do when we get there is go room by room and look for anythin’ that’s…wrong. Now that their stink isn’t workin’ on me, it should be easier to smell other stuff,” I explain, hopin’ that if she can focus on a plan to be proactive, it will divert her from the fact that we’re leadin’ her back to her prison.
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