The Staff and the Blade

by Elizabeth Hunter

  “He’s added to it, or some of his sons have,” Sari said. “Remember, they appeared to be invested in the children’s well-being.”

  Mala said, And they took care with the human women too.

  Leo said, “Given the option, they might join Kostas if their sire is dead.”

  “We can’t assume that,” Damien said. “For now, we treat them as hostile.”

  Sari said, “Agreed.”

  “Katalin, how many soldiers can you give us?” Damien asked. “We need quiet feet and flexible minds.”

  “I’ll talk with Desmond and Natalya in the morning,” she said. “They’ll know.”

  Damien tended to agree. Desmond and Natalya were his mother’s right and left hand at Rěkaves. Both were extraordinarily competent, and Natalya was an expert archer. Damien had his eye on her for sniper training.

  “Katalin,” he said, “I’d like Natalya to join us if you can spare her.”

  Sari said, “Good thinking. Position her at a good vantage point and have her cover the dock. Two or three more archers would be ideal and would give us backup with the children.”

  “Agreed,” he said. “In fact…” Damien was distracted by some kind of commotion at the castle gate. Pounding steps heralded a man bursting through the door.

  “Praetora!” the man panted. “Grigori on the road!”

  “What?” Katalin shoved away from the table. “Where? How did—?”

  “How many?” Damien asked quietly. “And how did they approach?”

  The pale messenger said, “Two. They’re coming on horseback down the main road. One has the warden held at knifepoint in front of him.”

  “Two?” Sari asked, glancing at Damien. “Coming down the main road?”

  Katalin said, “Once the archers have them in sight, they’ll be taken care of. Calm, Edmund. Your father will be fine.”

  “Tell the archers to hold,” Damien said. “If this man meant us harm, he’d obviously not be using the main road and coming in clear view.”

  Katalin spun on him. “You do not have the right to call off my archers.” She turned back to Edmund. “The archers will fire.”

  “They will not.” Damien strode from the room. He headed toward the front door, his mother on his heels.

  “Damien! Grigori do not enter this valley. I don’t care who this man thinks he is, but—”

  “He will enter this valley if he is an ally, Katalin. He’ll enter this house if it’s who I think it is.”

  “You are not in command!”

  “Are you so foolish?” He didn’t stop walking. He had to get to the main guardhouse. And get the roster and contact number for all the guardians who stood on duty regularly. “Our relationship with the free Grigori is tenuous at best. I’ll not have you putting an arrow through this one’s brain. Not when he’s one of the few sane ones in the lot of them.”

  “Damien!”

  He didn’t stop. Damien pushed the doors open and jogged across the courtyard. Within minutes, he was in the main guardhouse.

  “Weapons down,” he said a moment before Katalin came barreling behind him.

  “Do not lower your weapons!” she shouted. “Keep them in sight.”

  The two archers on the wall didn’t turn. Their bows were raised and ready, but neither had drawn. Both were wearing top-of-the-line night vision goggles. Damien noted their relaxed stance and mentally added them to the sniper-training list.

  “Kevin,” one said softly. “Please deal with this.”

  Kevin stepped between Damien and Katalin. “Praetora, the intruders are sighted, though both remain waiting just outside range. Scouts have not reported any other incursions, though they continue to call in. The perimeter is being double-checked.”

  “He is an ally,” Damien said. “Call them off and lower the gate.”

  “Grigori do not enter this castle,” Katalin said. “Unless their head is mounted on the point of my ax.”

  “Katalin, this man is coming here to help.”

  “We do not need help from any Grigori.”

  “I suspect the second rider is his sister,” Damien continued. “She is one of the kareshta. Rarely among humans or Irin. Sari specifically asked for Kyra’s help, and Kostas would never allow her to travel alone.”

  “He has Fritz at knifepoint!”

  “Because you are already trying to kill him,” Damien shouted. “Do you think he didn’t anticipate your welcome, Mother? Kevin, tell the men to lower their weapons. I will ride out to meet him myself.”

  Katalin glared at him. “Kevin, ignore my son.”

  The guardian sounded acutely uncomfortable. “Praetora…”

  “Kevin,” Damien said, “I’m going to ride out to meet this man and his sister. I trust that the captain of the Rěkaves guard will not allow me to be skewered.”

  “Kevin, bar the gate. No one leaves the castle.”

  His temper spiked. His mother thought to hold him captive? In his own castle?

  Damien stepped closer, his eyes never leaving Katalin’s. “Kevin, lower the gate and saddle a horse for me.”

  “Bar the gate,” Katalin said, her voice sure. “And tell the archers to fire when the Grigori is in their sight.”

  Kevin said nothing, but Damien noticed the man hadn’t moved. He stood at calm attention, eyes darting between Damian and Katalin.

  “They do not answer to you,” Katalin whispered. “I am their praetora.”

  “And I am their praetor!”

  Katalin smiled, and Damien could hear the clanging of the gate as it swung closed behind him.

  The lock clicked.

  Praetor.

  “And so you are,” Katalin said softly. Raising her voice, she said, “Kevin, saddle the praetor’s horse. Ready the castle guard to receive these… Grigori. They are under the praetor’s protection until such a time as they become a threat.”

  “Did you orchestrate this?” he asked quietly, hating her in that moment more than he ever had before.

  “Did I orchestrate your Grigori friend showing up unannounced, taking my warden captive, and holding him at knifepoint?” Katalin asked. “No. But neither am I one to let a strategic opportunity pass. I am your mother, Damien, and I didn’t read you fairy tales in your cradle. I read you The Art of War.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “KYRA.” Sari embraced the nervous woman who was led into the library. “I’m so sorry about the… welcome. Damien’s mother is very, very old-fashioned.”

  “Please, don’t worry about it.” Kyra gave her a soft smile. “I told Kostas we should have called. He’s in the main hall talking to Damien and your mother-in-law.”

  Kyra was just as tall, thin, and ethereally beautiful as Sari remembered her. She was the daughter of Barak, an angelic ally of Jaron’s who’d been slain in the Battle of Vienna. Sari had always thought that Kyra, with her luminous skin and gold eyes, looked like a fairy princess.

  Sari said, “I hope your journey was uneventful otherwise.”

  “It was fine.” Kyra waved a hand. “I don’t live very far from here in fact. But please don’t ask me specifics, or Kostas’s head might fly off.”

  Sari laughed. Kyra didn’t look any different, but two years of peace from the soul voices that had tormented her early life had given the woman a peace and assurance she’d lacked when Sari and Ava had met her. She was still soft-spoken but didn’t seem as shy, though her eyes were darting over Sari’s shoulder nervously.

  “Kyra,” Sari said, turning to the others in the library. “I don’t know if you remember—”

  “Leo,” Kyra said, faint color rising in her cheeks. “And Mala. It’s good to see you again. Both of you.”

  “Yes.” Leo looked like he’d swallowed his tongue. “You look… well. Not that you looked ill before.”

  “I’m not. Ill, that is. I mean, I’m well. I’m… better.”

  “That’s good.”

  “Yes.”

  Leo and Kyra stood across from each other, ner
vous as sheep. Mala’s eyebrows rose, and she shot Sari a barely contained smile.

  They’re adorable.

  Sari signed back, They’re clueless.

  Doesn’t mean they’re not adorable.

  Before Sari could fling Kyra into Leo’s arms, the door burst open and Damien came striding in, Katalin at his side and Kostas at his back. Two of Katalin’s guards trailed the dark Grigori, but he paid them no attention.

  “Sari, thank you for waiting. We had to come to an agreement about protocol while Kostas and Kyra are here.”

  Kostas went to stand next to his sister, subtly drawing her away from the others in the room. Sari wondered if he was aware of his actions or whether the overprotectiveness was so automatic that it acted like instinct.

  “Damien has assured me that Kyra will have the freedom of the castle.” He offered Sari a grim smile. “I, of course, have guards.”

  “I do agree with Katalin on this matter,” Damien said. “The guards are more for your protection than ours.”

  “Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.” Kostas looked around, surveying the room until his eyes fell on Mala. “I remember you.”

  Mala made no attempt to greet Kostas. Though Sari knew that Mala believed in the new order and respected the free Grigori, the reality of confronting the specter of those who’d not only taken her mate but robbed her of her magic was another thing entirely. Mala met Kostas’s eyes with cool regard.

  “Hard to forget that face,” Kostas murmured under his breath before he turned to Sari. “Ava tells me you hunt Aurel?”

  “We do.”

  “He owes some fealty to Svarog,” Kostas said. “Are you certain you want to attract that angel’s attention?”

  Damien turned to the men standing at the door. “Leave us. Close the doors and wait outside. I’ll call if you’re needed.”

  “Yes, praetor,” both answered at once.

  Sari noticed that the exasperated grimace on her mate’s face that usually accompanied the title had disappeared. Damien didn’t correct them. He turned away and waited for them to close the door, his face set in a stony mask.

  She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  Damien said, “Sari, Mala, Leo, and I were going over the plan before you decided to take Fritz captive.”

  “There’s not a scratch on the man.” Kostas walked over to the photos and plans spread on the library table. “You’ve done your homework. Do you have anyone on the inside?”

  “No. We have no idea if we can trust any of them.”

  “You can’t. Not yet anyway.” Kostas cocked his head and tapped on a photo. It was taken in the early morning, a small child in what looked like purple pajamas curled in the arms of a guard who walked her up and down the dock. “But judging from these pictures… I’m guessing there are some of Aurel’s men who have loyalty to the children. This is a girl.”

  Damien looked up. “Is that significant?”

  “She looks to be around three years old. She’s alive and being cared for. Yes, it’s significant.”

  Kyra said, “Angels who don’t kill their female children rarely care for them. They leave them at hospitals or orphanages. The girls don’t cause harm to the humans, so leaving them doesn’t attract attention.”

  Kostas said, “And kareshta rarely make good soldiers. Still, this indicates…” He tapped the photo again.

  “Affection?” Sari asked. “Is an angel capable of that?”

  “No,” Kostas said. “I’d say it indicates possession. He likes to control his offspring whether he has use for them or not. And added to that is a guard…” He paged through more of the pictures. “More than one. Guards who are also caring for the children. They could be allies, but they’re probably not.”

  “Why not?” Sari asked. “If we’re trying to free them from Aurel—”

  “Remember,” Kyra said. “You are the bogeyman to those children. You are the ones who would steal them away. Kill their protectors. In those little ones’ eyes, you are the bad guys.”

  Sari heard Katalin curse long and low, but she didn’t have time to think about Damien’s mother or the leaden feeling in the pit of her stomach when she’d heard the word “praetor.” There were human women and vulnerable children who were more important than her personal dramas.

  “What do you suggest?” Sari asked.

  “Women only to get the children,” Kostas said. “You have female warriors obviously.” His eyes went to Mala. “Use them to get the children. They will be expecting scary men with tattooed arms. They won’t be expecting women.”

  Damien crossed his arms. “And?”

  “Whatever educated guesses you’ve made regarding security for the little ones, toss them out. Removing the children safely could be harder than killing this angel.”

  ※

  Sari hadn’t finished undressing for bed when Damien entered the room. Before he said anything, he came and put his arms around her from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder.

  “How angry are you?” he asked.

  “You’ve accepted the praetorship.”

  “Yes.” He didn’t move.

  Sari let out a long breath. “I’m not angry yet. I’m processing.”

  “I could make excuses about how she backed me into a corner, but I’m not going to. I’ve been thinking about it for days.”

  She’d known. Of course she’d known. When he’d drilled the men with Katalin’s weapons master. When he’d walked the castle walls with Natalya.

  “Sari, talk to me.”

  She groaned and let her head fall back into his shoulder. “Damien.”

  “Malachi is ready to take over in Istanbul. We both know it. If you can’t stand the idea of living here, we can live in Vienna and I can travel here when I’m needed.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t revamp the training regimen without being here.”

  “Milá—”

  “And I won’t live separately from you. That is not an option.”

  His arms tightened around her waist, and Sari knit her fingers with his.

  Damien said, “You’re making me feel very selfish right now. I should have consulted with you sooner, and I should not have let Katalin outmaneuver me.”

  “I can agree with that. She played you expertly. You’re getting rusty, old man.” She turned in his arms. “But Damien, there is not a selfish bone in your body. You’ve avoided this for one hundred and twenty years because you know how difficult it will be.”

  “It will be difficult.”

  She laid her head on his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat. “And even if you were being selfish, you’re overdue for your time, my love. If this is something you feel you must do, then I am with you.”

  “Katalin is not going to change.”

  “I don’t expect her to. We’ll fight often.”

  They stopped talking for a while, and Sari let the quiet resolution she felt from her mate sink into her own mind.

  She could live here. It was close enough to Vienna that she could continue to be involved in the political reforms, but being in Rěkaves would also allow her to take an active role in training new warriors in the reality of this new world.

  Would she have liked to have more time to think about it? Probably not. The more time she had to think about big decisions, the more anxious and belligerent she became. Damien had bent for her needs too many times to count. She was due to bend a little for him.

  ※

  But hours later, after her mate was sleeping soundly, Sari still couldn’t rest. She wrapped herself in Damien’s coat and left their chamber, seeking cool night air and a clear head. She walked into a deserted courtyard, but the shuffling feet and murmuring voices of the guardians on the walls drew her eyes up. She climbed to walk along the battlements, the night guard nodding to her in respect.

  Halfway around the walk, she smelled cigarette smoke and followed it to Kostas, who was staring over the wall and i
nto the black forest on the west side of the valley. His two guards stood away from him, one watching while the other closed his eyes and leaned against the wall.

  “I’m annoying them,” he said.

  “Because you’re not in your chamber?”

  “Yes. And neither of them smoke.”

  “You shouldn’t either.”

  He sucked on the end of the cigarette and let the smoke trickle from his lips. “I’ve never known a Grigori to get cancer, have you?”

  “I haven’t known that many Grigori.”

  Kostas grinned. “At least not many that weren’t at the end of your sword.”

  The guilt reared up and bit her. Kostas must have seen it on her face.

  “Don’t,” he said. “We’re not worth feeling guilty over.”

  “I probably killed some of your brothers who were only trying to survive.” She closed her eyes and remembered a dirty street in London. “In fact, I know I have.”

  “Do you think we’re not all murderers? We are. I guarantee that you’ve saved more human lives than the Grigori lives you’ve taken, singer.”

  Sari said nothing, suddenly wishing the taste of tobacco brought her any kind of comfort.

  “Is that why you’re doing this?” Kostas said. “Taking these children?”

  “We’re saving them.”

  “Are you?” Kostas took another drag. “Have you even thought of what you’re going to do with them once you ‘save’ them?”

  “That’s why I called Kyra.”

  He gave her a bitter laugh. “My sister has had enough trouble served to her. She doesn’t need additional worries.”

  “Then why did you bring her here?”

  “Because your mate did me a favor once,” Kostas said. “And I don’t forget favors. Especially when they’re freely given.”

  “If Damien did you a favor, he expects no recompense for it. That’s not who he is.”

  “But it’s who I am.” Kostas took another drag. “I do not like owing people. So I will help you free these children and help you figure out what to do with them. They’re only a few, after all.”

  A few, maybe. But they were a few who would soon be out of the Fallen’s hands and given some hope of a future.