“Inside,” Tau repeats grimly to Zephyr, not waiting for me to finish.
Chilling wind flows over my already numb limbs as Zephyr transports me in his arms. He follows Tau through the maze of corridors at dizzying speeds. Looking over Zephyr’s shoulder, my eyes rest on Russell’s who follows close behind us. The burn of betrayal constricts my throat, making me glance away from Russell to Xavier edging closer to me.
The ghostly hint of an expensive fragrance lingers in the air when Zephyr carries me through a sitting room to Brennus’ office. The perfume had been a gift from Brennus, bought for me when I occupied the suite of rooms connected to this office. Pushing past the office door, I can see that the room is largely untouched by the battle that had damaged most of the estate. Brennus’ enormous mahogany desk is still here, graced by silk-covered chairs.
Zephyr passes the small table where I once ate my breakfast every morning, taking me directly to an elegant sofa beneath the large, arching windows with their view of the sea. Placing me upon the cushions, he immediately starts assessing my injuries. Tau stands beside him, speaking to him in Angel and following every detail of the examination.
“No time for this!” I rasp laconically to Zephyr. “Reed needs us.”
“What happened?” Tau asks.
I try to speak, to tell him everything that happened, but I can’t; my lips twist in an anguished expression. Quickly, Russell comes to my rescue, recounting the night’s events in gut-wrenching detail. When he’s done, they all seem to be in shock.
“She was forced to drink Gancanagh blood and then you healed her?” Tau asks Russell.
“Yeah,” Russell replies with a grimace, adding, “but it was my fault she was out there in the first place—”
“How could she have ingested Brennus’ blood, Russell?” Tau asks quietly. “She’s alive and she still retains her soul.”
“I don’t know,” Russell answers honestly. “I was hopin’ one of y’all could tell me how it works.”
Ignoring them, I whisper in Zephyr’s ear, “We can save him—I need to get close—touch him—take away his thrall—”
Tau interrupts me, “How do you know that you can heal the thrall of the Gancanagh in an angel like Reed?”
“Russell healed me—toxic skin is a weaker poison than their blood,” I whisper in a raspy voice, “and I’m immune to it.”
“Yes, but how do you know it will work for Reed?” he asks again. “You and Russell share a similar physiology…not so with Reed.”
I still at his words, seeing that it questions the logic of my plan. “It will work,” I state firmly.
Pessimism is in his tone when he replies, “It’s a great risk.”
My heart sinks another degree. “It won’t be you taking the risk,” I reply in a sinister, gravelly voice.
“Nor will it be you,” Tau replies calmly. “Your plan is flawed. It could very well end with Reed killing you when it fails…or worse, Brennus turning you into his undead queen.”
“Reed would never hurt me,” I retort.
“He’s not Reed anymore,” Tau says grimly.
My throat constricts like he’s put a noose around my neck. “What’re you saying?” I ask as renewed panic heaps upon my already overwhelming sense of fear and dread to make me feel sicker inside.
“The best we can do is hunt for Reed, attempt to capture him, and then, perhaps, you may try to heal him if he were properly restrained…” Tau says as he begins to outline a totally ridiculous plan.
“You’ll never get close to him!” I rasp. “He’s being controlled by Brennus—the only chance we have is if I go to Brennus, meet him—”
Xavier’s deep growl interrupts me. “No!” Xavier argues, shaking his head at me. He’s by Brennus’ desk and in his hand is the small statue that Reed had carved of me.
“No?” I ask, like I don’t understand the word, but my heart stumbles on it.
Xavier sets the statue back down on the desk. “You must know that everything you’re saying is completely irrational,” Xavier says.
“Irrational?” I ask him rhetorically. “No, it’s completely feasible!” I insist as cold sweat breaks out on my brow.
“You can’t do it,” Xavier says in a soothing tone, while his fingers linger on the figurine. “We’ll take care of this for you.”
“How?” I ask, feeling sick.
“I will kill him for you. He will not suffer,” Xavier replies with compassion in his mismatched eyes.
“What?” I ask in shock.
“Reed has to die before he harms others,” Xavier answers cautiously, gauging my reaction.
“Will you kill me next, then?” I ask in swelling fury, “because the angel that kills Reed before I can heal him will have to kill me, too. I’ll never stop hunting him. It’ll be my only mission.”
Tau speaks to Xavier in Angel, effectively cutting me out of their conversation. Wanting a translator, I lift my eyes to Zee’s. The soulful sadness in them makes me have to bite my lip against bursting out in tears again. I feel torn at the seams.
I ask Zephyr almost inaudibly, “What’re they saying?”
“Shh…not here,” he replies conspiratorially. Then to Tau, he raises his tone, saying, “Evie needs rest. I will take her to her room.”
Tau’s gray stare turns to me again with an unreadable expression. He says calmly, “I will take care of her.” Then, Tau speaks to Zephyr in Angel.
Zephyr stiffens. Something’s way more wrong than it was even a minute ago. My hand reaches out to Zephyr’s, taking his, I ask, “What, Zee?”
“They are going to force me out, Evie,” Zephyr replies in a cold tone.
“Force you out?” comes my numb question.
“The choice is not mine to make. I am outranked,” Zephyr says with his eyebrows drawing together in a deep frown. “They have only to say that my mission here is concluded and I must leave.”
My hand tightens in his as I shake my head. “But…I’m Seraphim, too. No one truly knows where I rank, right?” I ask, looking for a loophole in their laws.
“In what scenario would a daughter outrank her father?” Tau asks in a gentle tone.
“Why are you doing this?” I demand hollowly.
Reaching out, he touches my cheek, saying, “My desire is to help you.”
Hostilely brushing his hand from my cheek, I retort, “How is sending my friend away possibly going to help me?”
“Without your friends, you will have to rely on me for help, council…guidance,” Tau replies with cold logic. “If they’re allowed to remain, you’ll never let me in.”
“WHOA!” Russell cuts in angrily. “You’re not serious, ‘cuz no one’s breakin’ us up!”
“I am very serious, Russell,” Tau replies, unruffled.
“This is about control, isn’t it?” I ask with narrowing eyes. “It’s about getting me to do as I’m told.”
“That would be the goal for now until you learn to trust me,” Tau replies.
Gazing around at the contingent of Power angels guarding the windows and doors leading to the balcony and the sitting room, I calculate the odds of my fragile situation. It’s bleak; they all answer to Tau. Then, my eyes shift to Xavier who watches me grimly, in full agreement with my father.
My eyes shift back to Tau. “I’ve never asked you for anything. I’m asking you now: please, please, help me get Reed back!” I beg him. “I’ll trust you—I’ll do anything you want me to do, I promise!”
“Every effort will be made to locate Reed,” Tau replies.
“Good,” I breathe in a sick kind of relief. “Whose team am I on?”
“You won’t participate in the recovery,” Tau says.
“But…you need me to heal him,” I say slowly, my voice hitching.
“If we take him alive, you’ll be informed,” Tau says softly.
“If you take him alive?” I ask.
“Yes,” he affirms with paternal tolerance.
“I’m gonna be s
ick,” I groan. “Please don’t do this. You have to help me,” I plead.
“I am,” Tau says with resolve. “I will not allow your idiosyncrasies and misguided loyalty to lead you to sacrifice yourself or your soul.”
“My misguided loyalty?” I ask in a shallow voice. “Wouldn’t you do anything—everything to save your aspire if you could?”
Tau frowns grimly, looking away from me.
“Evie,” Xavier says in a tone meant to caution me. When I glance at him he shakes his head in warning.
“What, Xavier?” I ask him in an anguished tone, “am I supposed to just let Reed die like he let my mother die? Is that what we do in my family?” I ask in growing rage. “I can’t do that! Reed doesn’t get another chance. He won’t go to Paradise if I let him die.” I put my trembling hand to my chest where the pain is excruciating.
“He is a Power. He is prepared to make this kind of sacrifice,” Xavier says while he edges closer to me. He stands just a little bit between Tau and me, looking tense.
Tau loses any hint of calm he had once possessed, as his frown grows deeper. In a stern voice, he answers me, “You will be protected in ways your mother was not.”
“I don’t want your protection!” I retort through my tears.
“You cannot be allowed to put yourself in the hands of your enemy. Going to Brennus in supplication is in direct violation to Angelic law,” Tau’s tone is askance, as he explains his point to me. “Your plan is flawed.”
Refusing to see his point, I counter, “Is it coincidence then that I don’t know your laws or your language? I’m learning that nothing is coincidence, so that leads me to conclude that I don’t know them because they don’t apply to me. I’m a more effective killer when I’m not hemmed in by protocol—and isn’t that what you all want out of me, for me to be a killer?” I ask him with my eyebrows pulling together in anger. “Let me do what I was created to do. Let me kill Brennus.”
Tau’s eyes narrow, “You’re deliberately being intransigent,” he says accusingly.
“No! You’re the one who’s unwilling to see my point!” I deny his accusation, throwing it back at him.
“You cannot see clearly through your emotions. Until you can, I will be making all of the decisions that affect your life,” he states with an attempt at calm and order.
“No,” I say, stepping towards the door to the sitting room. Cole immediately blocks it as he crosses his arms over his chest. I hesitate, seeing his resolve. Slowly, I murmur, “You can’t keep me here,”
“You will cooperate,” Tau replies like a parent.
“No, I won’t,” I counter, giving him my severest look.
“Evie,” Tau sighs my name in exasperation.
“How can you stop me?” I ask him. “You can’t hold me here—I can shapeshift into butterflies and fly up the chimney if I want to.”
“Phaedrus,” Tau says softly.
“Phaedrus?” I ask with a sense of deepening dread.
“Will tell us what you’re planning,” he responds, indicating that he knows that Phaedrus is able to read most of my thoughts as I have them. He can hear them just as if I were speaking to him.
“Phaedrus would never do that,” I reply with certainty.
“Phaedrus respects rank. He will follow orders,” Tau says with the same kind of certainty that makes me blush. “Now, I will give you a moment to say goodbye to Zephyr and Russell.”
“NAW!” Russell shouts in anger, while his wings spread out behind him and his hands ball into fists. “You’re not breakin’ us up!”
“You’ll see her again when this mission is complete, but for now, you’ll leave here for your own protection. Brennus has shown that he can control you at will. That makes you a dangerous liability, Russell,” Tau says in a reasonable tone.
“I’m not leavin’ her,” Russell retorts, pointing at me.
“You have the potential to hurt her, Russell. You demonstrated that this evening, therefore, you’ll leave here within the hour with Zephyr and the Reapers,” he responds with his mask of calm firmly back in place.
“You’re makin’ a mistake!” Russell argues as he prowls back and forth. “Y’all need me to stop him and get Reed back. I can cure Reed, too.”
“My decision is made. We will contact you when the Gancanagh have been eliminated,” Tau replies emotionlessly.
With all the confusion and rage of a wild tiger being caged for the first time, Russell probably would’ve lunged at Tau, but Zephyr reads his body language and stops him by putting his hands on Russell’s chest.
“Russell,” Zephyr says, looking in his eyes. “We must go.”
Russell, with his face reddening in anger, tries to shrug Zephyr off him. Zephyr grips him tighter, making Russell look at him. “Listen to me,” Zee says adamantly, “we have our orders. There is nothing we can do now.”
Russell must see something in Zephyr’s eyes, because he stops struggling and stares at him.
“This is wrong, Zee, and you know it!” Russell argues, while looking around at the Powers closing in on him. He growls at them, making them hesitate.
“It is less than ideal,” Zephyr agrees in a grim tone, adding, “but I can think of several ways we can occupy our time waiting to see Evie again.”
“Zee! You can’t go!” I plead with renewed panic. I need his help. He’s like a big brother to me.
“You will see me again, Evie,” Zephyr promises, letting go of Russell as I break into sobs.
“I need you. Reed needs you!” I cry, clinging to Zephyr while he hugs me. “You can’t just walk away from us.”
He squeezes me hard, “Hide the cracks in your armor, Evie,” Zephyr says softly in my ear. “Show them no emotion and look for us where you found Buns.” He presses something cold into my hand, which I immediately conceal in my sleeve.
In the next moment, I’m snatched out of Zephyr’s arms and engulfed in Russell’s. I cling to him in quiet desperation, trying hard to stop crying.
“I’m not goin’ far,” Russell whispers in my ear and my throat constricts to the point that I can barely speak.
My breath hitches again as I squeeze him tighter. “I know,” I reply.
When Russell lets me go, he points at the Seraphim in the room saying, “Anythin’ happens to her, and I’m comin’ for all y’all.”
Xavier’s wings seem to grow even bigger than before. “Say goodbye,” Xavier growls at Russell.
Russell’s eyes narrow as he says, “I’ll see you soon, Red.”
I just nod to him, unable to speak. Finding it hard to breathe as Russell and Zephyr leave the room, I look around wildly for a means of escape.
“Phaedrus?” Tau speaks in a louder tone with his eyes on me.
Phaedrus enters the office from the sitting room. His black eyes focus on me while a grim expression twists his lips as he reads my thoughts. I resist the urge to run to him and press my wet cheek against his downy, caramel-colored wings.
“I need to know what Evie is planning,” Tau says with his eyes never leaving mine.
I stiffen, and my eyes remain locked with Phaedrus’ while I wait to see what he’ll do.
Phaedrus takes a deep breath before he replies, “She was trying to devise a means of escape and locate Reed as I entered. Then…she saw me and had the urge to hug me for comfort—she likes my wings,” he explains quickly.
“How would she attempt to escape?” Tau presses him with a frown.
“She contemplated shapeshifting into butterflies…” he trails off as I hurl insults at him in my mind, “rat” being foremost among them.
Phaedrus’ frown deepens as he responds to my mental tirade. “I’m not a rat!” he insists with a blush creeping to his cheeks. “I have a duty—”
Tau interrupts him, saying in a stern tone, “Evie, should you consider shapeshifting, please know that I have but to capture one of your butterflies and contain it. You would then be unable to shift back until I released it, making you my prisoner.”
“I’m already that,” I retort in fury while my hands ball into fists.
“What is she thinking now?” Tau asks Phaedrus.
I try to stop thinking, so that I can conceal all of my thoughts, but I’m so filled with raw emotions that things keep swirling and tumbling around in my mind.
“She…” Phaedrus hesitates.
“Yes,” Tau presses him.
“It has nothing to do with escape,” Phaedrus replies, trying to hedge.
“What is she thinking?” he asks again sternly.
My eyes plead with Phaedrus, whose wings begin to sag when his shoulders round forward. In a low tone, he says, “She’s seeing her dreams…”
“Dreams?” Tau asks him, confused.
“Pictures of you and her that she wanted to someday make real—they were so alive and vibrant, she wanted someday to call you dad—to find mercy in your arms, but now…” he trails off.
“Now?” Tau’s tone is grim.
“They’re fading, being replaced by scenarios that will exclude you from ever knowing her or her mind,” Phaedrus reluctantly admits.
“You will find mercy in my arms, Evie,” Tau says to me in a gentle voice.
I shake my head, feeling crushed by all that has happened. “If you wanted to know what I was thinking, you should’ve asked me. I could’ve shown you,” I say hostilely.
Nearing me, his hand twitches, like he’s resisting the urge to touch me. “I’d like you to show me what you’re thinking,” Tau says while his eyes stare into mine.
With my eyes narrowing, I gaze dangerously at him, knowing that he doesn’t know what he’s asking for, so I reply, “I’m not a mess for you to clean up, Tau.”
His eyes bore into mine. “Then, make me understand you,” Tau orders.
Sick with desperation, I say between my teeth, “This isn’t about you and me. It’s about Reed.”
“I want us to see eye-to-eye,” Tau says solemnly. “I want you to see that I’m unwilling to risk your life for his.”
“He is my life!” I respond feverishly, fighting against Tau’s indifference.
Xavier interrupts us, “He is a malignant obsession.”
I feel myself pale. “If you believe that, Xavier, then you’ll never know who I am,” I reply without an ounce of insincerity. “You all have an opportunity to help me now, should you pass it up, there will not be another one.”
Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) Page 36