Valkyrie clenched her left hand so hard around the sword pendant that its tiny, sharp metal tip pierced her skin. The pain brought her a flash of clarity and she forced her right hand open. The scepter fell, straight into the box, and she slammed the lid closed. The whispers, the promises, died as Random’s magic contained the scepter’s.
Valkyrie unclenched her hand from the pendant and stared at the tiny pinprick of red on her palm. Who would have thought a piece of jewelry would prove useful in a magical battle of wills? If she survived, she would really have to thank Random properly for the gift.
Blood magic—a small shiver went through her at the remembrance of oily caresses against her skin—no wonder it had been outlawed.
She didn’t have long to contemplate it. The room shuddered and the runes on the walls and floor flickered as a pulse of light went through them, as if they were searching for something. She’d made the foolish assumption that these runes were just like those in the Warded Room, that they had been etched simply to contain any magic within the room’s boundaries. But what if they had instead been made to guard a specific magic? One they couldn’t now locate because it was hidden behind the box’s magic?
Valkyrie grabbed the box and sprinted up the stairs. She was halfway to the top when the scrape of stone told her that the room had found its occupant missing, and decided to lock down. She poured Aspect recklessly into her body, her legs gaining strength and speed. She took the steps six at a time, reached the top as the statue was already three-quarters returned to its place.
She hurtled herself at the opening, pouring so much Aspect into the sheer vertical jump that the stone step she pushed off of cracked from the force. She felt the kiss of stone against her toes as she cleared the opening, the statue’s pedestal snicking into place behind her. Valkyrie barely gave the faceless goddess a glance. She just kept running.
The Council might not be able to track the scepter when it was in the box Random had made for it, but they would have felt the pull when Valkyrie had drained traces of their power. They would converge on this location, and she needed to be gone before that happened.
Thank the goddess only Random could teleport.
Valkyrie flung herself out the front door and jumped in the Jeep’s passenger seat. She didn’t even have to bark out an order to drive because Meredith took one look at her face and hit the gas pedal before Valkyrie’s ass was even fully in the seat. Valkyrie clutched the roll bar overhead as the vehicle bounced over bumpy terrain.
Meredith flew threw gears, apparently uncaring of the possibility of flipping—really, the woman should have been a race car driver—and Valkyrie didn’t waste her breath on words of caution. This dirt road was the only path into or out of the Council’s headquarters, and it was another mile back to paved asphalt. They needed to be out of the woods long before anyone else hit the entrance.
Meredith knew her vehicles. They were, near as Valkyrie could tell, the woman’s only passion other than shoes. If the bumps and swerves made Valkyrie feel like she was on an ill-maintained rollercoaster, well—she was too much Elijah’s creation to feel truly nervous, but she decided closing her eyes until the ordeal was over was a fine idea.
“You can open your eyes,” Meredith said. The Jeep’s front tires gripped onto gloriously smooth asphalt. “Where are we going now?”
Valkyrie snapped her eyes open. “Back to your car. I’ll take it from here.”
“I thought we discussed this. I’m coming with you.”
“I’m going to fight my nearly-invincible father in physical combat and attempt to kill him. You’re a Truthfinder and a Tracker, Mer,” she said as gently as she could.
“So, what? I’m useless?”
“You barely passed Basic Defense in Academy, and only then because you flirted with the instructor.”
“I was sixteen, I didn’t know I’d need self-defense.” Meredith threw her hands up in exasperation, and Valkyrie fought the urge to grab the steering wheel for the three seconds Meredith’s hands were off it. “I thought I was going to marry your brother and live a life of quiet luxury. Besides, I’m not completely without natural defensive capabilities.”
“From what I understand, for a Truthtelling to hurt a person, they have to have a conscience. Elijah doesn’t.”
“I’m not talking about a Telling.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
“There has to be something you want to know from him.”
Valkyrie stared at her. “You ranked high as a Truthfinder. You didn’t rank high enough to compel truth from someone.”
Meredith shrugged.
“You scored low on purpose?”
“Do you have any idea what my mother would have done with me if she knew I could make people answer me? No, just no.”
“Theoretically, how many questions would I get?”
Meredith lost a little of her outward confidence. “I don’t know. I only did it once and that was by accident.”
“Who?”
“Does it matter?”
“Jace, then,” Valkyrie said.
Meredith made an irritated noise. “How do you do that?”
Valkyrie shrugged. “For you to not want to tell me it would have to be someone I cared about. You wouldn’t be stupid enough to do it to Siren, and your abilities don’t work on Random.” His Aspect had a way of slipping sideways out of other people’s. That left precisely one person Valkyrie cared about. “So what did you want to know badly enough you forced it out of my brother?”
“I’m glad we’re friends again and all, but some things are none of your business.”
“He never mentioned it.”
“He was drunk off his ass at the time. I doubt he remembers.”
“Are we talking about the same Jace? I’ve never seen him go past tipsy.”
“That’s because you never saw him directly after Elijah disowned him and I broke his heart. So, are we agreed that I’m going with you, or do I need to go back to my car and follow you again?”
“This is Elijah we’re talking about. He isn’t going to just let you waltz up and interrogate him.”
“Sure he will,” Meredith said easily, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She did not elaborate, clearly wanting Valkyrie to ask.
“Okay, I give. Why would he do that?”
Meredith smiled at her. “Watch and learn.” She pulled the Jeep off to the side of the road and made a phone call. “Martin? It’s Meredith.”
Valkyrie couldn’t make out the words of DuPont’s response, save that it was clipped and irritated.
“You sound stressed, is everything alright?” She paused, then, “You did say to call at any time once I returned to town. Should I verify Mr. Winters’ statement immediately?”
She tapped her fingernails on the steering wheel while DuPont’s angry voice issued out of the speaker. Meredith had the nerve to cut him off. “Yes, yes, I’ll record everything for the legality of it all. You’ll call ahead to let him know I’m coming? Wonderful.” She hung up and turned to Valkyrie. “See? One doesn’t have to go in sword drawn.”
“You just irrevocably tied yourself to this entire mess. There’s no hiding it now.”
“Oh, wake up, Val. There was never any hiding it. From the moment you took that,” she pointed at the box that held the scepter, “it was all over. All I did by masking your trail at headquarters and calling this in was buy us some time.
“You said the second that thing comes out of the box they’ll know where it is. So we’re going to get caught. The only question is, are you going to be able to do what you need to first?”
“You came with me expecting to get caught? Why would you do that?”
“Because the situation is seriously fucked up. It’s wrong. The whole thing is wrong. Elijah, the Council, blood magic, everything. It needs to change.”
“You can’t change centuries of ingrained corruption.”
“Then we overthrow it. Wasn’t that you
r plan?”
“I didn’t have a plan.” Not past making sure her father was dead and Random was safe. Nothing else mattered.
“Well, I do. It’s called you’re banging a lawyer. Hell, you’re banging the Aspect defense lawyer. If he can’t blow up a scandal like this six ways from Sunday, no one can.”
“I don’t want him involved.”
“We don’t always get what we want.” Meredith put the Jeep in gear and pulled back onto the road, heading towards the Winters’ estate. “And at some point, Val, you’re going to have to stop trying to make everyone’s decisions for them.”
17
In the end, Meredith reclaimed her Porsche for appearance’s sake, and Valkyrie now followed the silver sports car through the gates onto Elijah’s estate. She could no longer think of the place as her own. In truth, it hadn’t felt like her home since her mother died. Even in Elijah’s absence it had only felt mildly like a home for the brief time Jace and Siren had lived there with her. With their departure it had simply become a cold, empty, too-large space, filled with ghosts that refused to move on.
Now, as the towering gates closed behind her and she approached the house, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the mansion was nothing more than a mausoleum that had patiently awaited her death for years. She parked in the circular drive out front rather than the garage, directly behind the Porsche, and met Meredith as she exited the vehicle.
“You’re sure about this?” Valkyrie asked.
“A little late now if I’m not. But yeah.”
“As soon as you lose your hold on him, run. I’ll ensure he’s too busy to follow.”
Meredith wiped her palms on the thighs of her jeans. “You’re certain you’ll be all right?”
“Positive,” Valkyrie lied. The scepter, in its spelled box, was tucked under her left arm. Elijah would no doubt guess what the box held the moment she walked inside, but he wouldn’t do anything about it until Meredith left. He would want to play everything above board until the witnesses were gone.
Even if he suspected she was up to something by arriving with Meredith, he wouldn’t truly believe the Truthfinder could be a danger any more than Valkyrie had seriously considered she could be an asset. An arrogant oversight, on both their parts.
She let Meredith ring the doorbell. They could have simply walked in—the doors were never locked—but Valkyrie no longer belonged here, and guests waited for an invitation. Besides, waiting at the door forced him to physically answer it, which was better than walking into a house with no idea of where Elijah lurked within it.
Her weapons were sheathed in plain sight—the two short swords crossed at her back, one hilt rising over each shoulder, knives at her waist and thighs. There was no point in hiding them. He’d been the one who’d taught her how to hide them, after all.
The door opened, revealing Elijah framed in the doorway. He wore an expression of cordial geniality that chilled the blood in her veins. Valkyrie’s heart slammed against the cage of her ribs. Her wrists burned, expecting the cruel jerk of chains that were no longer there.
Elijah’s lips twisted, and she knew his thoughts had turned to the same subject as hers, that he had reached to deliver that hit of pain out of habit. He didn’t look surprised when it didn’t work, only mildly annoyed, confirming every one of her suspicions. What Danvers knew, Elijah knew.
“Mr. Winters,” Meredith said, her voice bright. “It’s such a relief to see you well.” She was a hell of an actress—she actually sounded like she meant it.
Elijah turned a wide, convincing smile on her. “Thank you, Meredith. I find it such a comfort to be home. Though my daughter, apparently, feels differently. I admit, I didn’t expect to find her on my doorstep. Have you talked some sense into her?”
His words were charming, teasing. They revealed no hint of the hollowness that lay beneath them.
Meredith waved a dismissive hand. “No need for that. I’m sure it was the stress of the moment. And I know you two must have a lot to catch up on, so I’ll just get the formalities over with, shall I?”
“Please do.”
He stepped back and ushered her inside. Meredith went. Valkyrie waited. She had no intention of presenting Elijah with a back in which to plunge a blade. His lip curled up in a sneer, but the expression smoothed when Meredith turned back to him for direction.
“The parlor,” he told her. “You remember where it is?”
“Of course,” she said airily, turning right.
Elijah stepped away from the door and followed Meredith. Valkyrie didn’t miss how he held his left arm just a little farther from his body as he turned, the way he always did when a long knife rested in a shoulder sheath under his coat. It was hardly any tell at all, a mere centimeter more of distance that most people wouldn’t notice. She noticed. She’d always had to notice. She’d also bet he had a dozen or more weapons hidden in the parlor room. It was what she would have done, after all.
Valkyrie stepped inside, shut the door behind her, and followed them both. The parlor was a room that had seldom been used after her mother’s death. Elijah had rarely received guests in the house, conducting most of his business outside of it, and Valkyrie herself had certainly never had any use for it. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d bothered to go into it.
The room was practically a memorial to her mother, untouched since her death, a beautiful, serene expression of the woman Evelyn Winters had been. It was painted a soft robin’s-egg blue. White lace curtains adorned the floor-to-ceiling windows on the two exterior walls, the furniture all pale pinks and golds. A sectional lounged in the middle of the large room, an ornate antique coffee table nestled in the curve.
A smaller table sat before the fireplace, low chairs seated around it, another similar setting grouped in front of the window that overlooked the front gardens.
She had a flash of her mother seated at the couch’s center, smiling, the parlor filled with women and laughter during one of Evelyn’s weekly socials. She had surrounded herself with people, as if she’d been determined to experience every moment of life she could.
Or as if she hadn’t been able to stand being alone.
Elijah seated himself on the sectional, directly in the middle. Just where Valkyrie’s mother had always sat and she knew, without doubt, that he’d chosen this room to unsettle her.
“Nothing to say, daughter mine?” He smiled at her.
“Oh, I have plenty to say. But it will wait until Meredith is gone.”
He shrugged. To Meredith, he held out his hand. “Shall we commence with the formalities?”
Meredith took out her phone, set it on the table, and hit record. She took his hand without so much as a flinch and her Aspect rose to the surface.
“Are you Elijah Winters?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Have you been in the captivity of the man known as Danvers since your initial disappearance?”
“I was under his control, yes.”
“How did you escape that control?”
“He let me go.”
“Why would he do that?”
Elijah shrugged. “I imagine he thought it would be to his advantage, in some way.”
The questions continued, Meredith tossing them out like a robot following a script. Sometimes it was the same question twice, phrased a little differently. Valkyrie could see her father growing weary of the inquiry. She didn’t know if the lengthy repetition was necessary for Meredith to do what she needed to do, or if the other woman was simply working up her courage. Valkyrie did know Meredith needed to make her move, soon, or Elijah was going to put an end to the session.
As if the thought had sparked action, Meredith’s power exploded from her without warning. Elijah stiffened as her Aspect wrapped around him like a vise. Sweat broke out along his forehead. He struggled to move and failed.
“Was it your decision or Danvers’ to bind Valkyrie to the Council in your stead?”
“Mine.” The
single syllable seemed physically wrenched from him.
“Is there a way to remove her from the adnexus? If so, how?”
Elijah’s face turned red with strain as he fought the compulsion, and an answering tremble went through Meredith. Finally, he answered, “Yes. If she can pull her ring from the scepter, her connection to the adnexus will be broken.”
That much, Valkyrie had already guessed.
“What will happen to her then?” Meredith’s voice shook with strain.
“She’ll die.” He smiled. If he could smile, Meredith’s grip on him was waning.
Valkyrie set the box with the scepter on the coffee table and pulled both her short swords. She would prefer to already have a blade at his throat, but any contact from her to Elijah, even if just from the metal of her sword, would interfere with Meredith’s Aspect.
“Let him go, Mer.” She hadn’t gotten the answer to the most important question, but Meredith was almost tapped out. And if Elijah managed to break the connection instead of Meredith releasing it voluntarily, the woman wouldn’t have the two to three second head start she would need to get away from Elijah so Valkyrie could get between them.
But instead of leaving, the blonde woman stubbornly shook her head. Her grip on Elijah’s hand tightened and another slug of Aspect surged from her. “Why will it kill her?”
With what looked like herculean effort, Elijah Winters turned his head to look straight at the Truthfinder, rage and the promise of death in his eyes.
“Meredith, run. Now,” Valkyrie ordered.
Meredith didn’t run. She clung to Elijah, the last of her Aspect hitting him in one final command. “Why will it kill her?” she repeated.
“Breaking a spell bound by blood magic causes a reversal of the intended effect. The spell is meant to heal when she is injured. The reverse is to harm her when she’s not. And a spell that can call her back from the brink of death can lead her to it.”
Sweat poured off Meredith’s body. “But you receive those benefits,” she managed.
“Yes, but she is the conduit. My taking what flows into her from the adnexus is optional. The backlash of the breaking will hit her alone.”
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