Belador Cosaint

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

  "That wanker Sen deserves the bloody headache he's suffering, but I am glad he did something right. Having our world exposed to humans would be an unimaginable crisis." Everything Quinn had heard so far reinforced his plan, which he hoped would also aid the Beladors. "Time is clearly of the essence. I don't wish to hold you up so I'll get to the point. I have an idea for how to get Phoedra back."

  "Yes." Evalle fist pumped.

  Reese didn't weigh in. Suspicion peeked out of her eyes.

  "I am going to speak with the Tribunal to--"

  "No!" echoed in the room from Evalle and Reese shouting.

  "Hear me out," he snapped at his grumbling audience. "I believe from all you're telling me that the Tribunal would be open to negotiation. If they aid us in getting Phoedra back then we'll help them recapture Veronika."

  "Huh. That would do it if the Tribunal could pull off their part," Evalle mused. "How are we going to capture Veronika, though? Daegan took Adrianna to Treoir to prevent Veronika being able to access her and so that Adrianna could work with Garwyli. That also helps protect Beladors and Phoedra from that wacko."

  "I will offer only our assistance in trade, not guarantee that we will be the ones to capture Veronika," Quinn clarified. "She is too powerful for anyone to boast of a single-handed capture. We stand to lose lives just by being involved with confronting her, though."

  "True, but when Daegan finds out Veronika's role in Phoedra being captured and the Medb now having her, he'll definitely be all in. He's serious about keeping Phoedra away from both groups."

  "I realize that, but I don't think we should interfere with what he's doing right now. I'll have more to tell him once I go to the Tribunal." Quinn hoped once he entered, he'd be able to leave again and with an agreement. This would test his negotiating skills. He explained, "We must assure two things no matter what, Evalle. One is that Phoedra is freed safely, and two is that we protect our dragon king at all costs. He is the future. Without him, it will be a dark future for the Beladors."

  She stood. "Agreed. What else?"

  "I would like to ask Reese to use her remote viewing gift to aid in locating the missing children."

  Reese rose. "No. I want to go with you as backup."

  "The Tribunal will not allow you to join me, and even if they would, VIPER doesn't know you exist. Show your face there and you'll be subject to their rule. I won't allow you to put yourself in that position."

  Evalle added, "He's right, Reese. And if he trusts you, then I do. We need any help we can get. We've lost twelve children as of earlier tonight. It could be more by now. The Medb have managed to hit at the heart of the Beladors."

  Clearly torn and disappointed, Reese nodded. "I'm going to need some clothes."

  Giving Reese a long perusal, Evalle said, "I wondered about the party outfits."

  Quinn said, "Trust me when I tell you that neither of us chose these clothes or wished to have been where they were foisted upon us, but that's how we found a lead on Phoedra."

  "Ah! That sounds like a good story when we finally get a chance to breathe and catch up over wine." Evalle had recently tried wine for the first time, thanks to Storm, and only because she trusted him enough to let her guard down. She walked to the door, telling Reese, "Come up to the fourth level when you're ready. I'll find something you can wear even if we have to roll up sleeves and cuffs."

  "I'll be there in a moment," Reese replied.

  Once Evalle's footsteps thumped away up the steps, Reese walked over to Quinn. "Foisted? Where do you get these words?"

  "Me? You never fail to surprise me with the things you say."

  "We all have our gifts, Quinn. Mine is being annoying."

  "Something I do love about you," he admitted.

  Her eyes softened, pushing away the cockiness. She said, "This plan of yours is what you call doing your best not to leave me?"

  "I said I'd do my best to keep you informed, which I have. I have only one move in all this and it must happen quickly. Please help the Beladors. They are a loyal lot who will not forget any aid. It would gain you ally status for as long as you never cross them."

  "One of these days, you're going to have to stop taking care of everyone else, Quinn, and do something for you."

  He had stolen a moment for himself back in the Keith's realm. "I'm doing it right now. I'm a selfish bastard who wants you and Phoedra to be safe, and I won't accept anything less." He leaned down and kissed her sweetly. "Remember what I asked you to do."

  She tugged on his tux lapels, but gently this time. "Don't make me have to tell Phoedra that both of her parents are dead."

  He could not make that promise, so he kissed her again and walked out. He was still the Belador Maistir of North America, which gave him the authority to contact Sen.

  Once he was two blocks from Evalle's home, Quinn sent out a telepathic call to the liaison. He'd risk using telepathy to locate Sen immediately.

  Power slapped the air when Sen arrived in person, snarling, "What the fuck do you want, Belador?"

  "A Tribunal meeting."

  "This is your lucky day. VIPER is pissed and the Tribunal is in a rare mood. I can't wait to drop your tuxedoed ass in there."

  Quinn kept his eyes open, prepared to watch as Atlanta spun out of view for the last time.

  Chapter 29

  --------

  In Cathbad's private quarters of TAmr Medb

  Cathbad had never spent a lot of time around children, but he found Phoedra interesting. He could feel power seeping out of her, but he had no idea how much or what form it would take.

  She might prove to be a more intriguing experiment than Ossian now that he'd shielded his mind from her random zaps of power.

  She didn't even know she was affecting anyone.

  Oh, yes, this one would be special.

  He could compel her to answer his questions, but he'd rather leave that as his last option. He'd much rather hear her uninfluenced answers.

  Phoedra sat across from him at a table covered with succulent meat, fresh fruit and enticing vegetables.

  He'd warded this area of TAmr Medb to prevent the queen from showing up whenever she chose. She might like all that traffic through her personal quarters, but he did not.

  Phoedra cast a stony look his way. "What is this place?"

  "It's a safe house of sorts." He'd gleaned that term from his visits to the human world and thought it might sound familiar to her. He admired the way she'd handled the strange things happening to this point, but his Scath Force warrior had said she'd been in an enclosed vehicle, so she probably hadn't seen a lot of preternatural activity during her travels.

  There was no reason to upset her, but he couldn't imagine possessing power and not realizing it on some level. Still, finding out she was not sitting in the human realm she'd lived in since birth would likely cause her distress.

  Did she know yet that she was different from mere humans?

  "How'd I get here?" she asked, face glum.

  "My assistant brought you to me."

  "Is he a cop?"

  Cathbad found that amusing. "More of a special operative."

  "Did he drug me? I don't remember how I got here."

  "No. Do you feel drugged?"

  "Not really." She continued to stew while her gaze flitted around the room fashioned for fine dining with furniture from the early eighteen hundreds of the human world. Candles gently lit the space from eight different spots. He could snap his fingers and replace it all with modern implements, but this was where he felt most at home.

  Sounding defeated, she asked in a small voice, "Are you going to kill me?"

  "Killing you would be a terrible way to start a friendship."

  She rolled her eyes. "Well, no one is going to pay a lot of money to get me back."

  Did she really not know her value?

  Her stomach growled for the third time since she'd become lucid again, but she had yet to drink the water or touch the food he'd arranged to have read
y for her.

  Avoiding his face this time, she asked, "What are you going to do to me?"

  She feared him.

  He knew it without asking her, but she kept her fear hidden fairly well. Of course, he'd been doing everything he could to make her relax.

  Smiling with a splash of majik to up his charm, he said, "I have nothing bad planned for you."

  Phoedra looked surprised for a moment, then recovered. "Why should I believe you?"

  "Why shouldn't you?"

  Her face scrunched up with confusion. "Because I believed that jerk, Joey, who was some kind of thing. His weird friends helped him kidnap me. I don't know who to trust now." Her eyes filled with water, but she sniffed hard and fought against crying.

  Cathbad would pay a king's war chest of gold if she managed not to turn on the waterworks.

  He had caught her reference to Joey being a thing, which meant she at least suspected everyone was not entirely human.

  He kept his voice in a soft, grandfatherly tone. "You are correct to question all of this, because it is unusual. That doesn't necessarily mean you're in a bad place. You're not. I will keep you safe. You're far better off with me than the person who sent Ossian to retrieve you."

  "That freak? He ... he ... his face changed. That was crazy stuff. I don't think he could control it. He got upset when Turbo pointed out his head wasn't on tight. Ick. Made me sick to look at him."

  Cathbad took offense at any criticism of Ossian, who had been a work of art before Veronika got her claws into him. Oh, yes, he had figured out what happened to Ossian. When Cathbad could not reach him telepathically, he put every Scath Force warrior on tracking Ossian, which resulted in getting answers from his polymorph's computer.

  The odd thing was that Ossian hadn't protected access to his computer. In fact, he'd left an interesting note about this child's mother.

  Had he gone there after Veronika got her hands on him and left his electronic security weak so that someone would discover his activities? Quite possible since Ossian had to know Cathbad would come for him.

  Cathbad regretted not developing Ossian further to the point of giving the polymorph teleportation ability. If he had, Ossian might have escaped the witch.

  On the other hand, Veronika would have taken advantage of that power, which would have given her unlimited possibilities for moving around. She'd have escaped before anyone could have locked her up, and Cathbad would have missed the chance to nab Phoedra.

  But she did have a way to shield Ossian from Cathbad when Ossian returned to Atlanta.

  For now, only for now.

  There would be time to deal with finding Ossian. At the moment, Cathbad had a majikal prodigy to study and develop.

  He explained to Phoedra, "If my man had not intervened when he did, you would have been handed over to an insane woman instead of sitting here, having a peaceful dinner." When Phoedra's stomach grumbled yet again, Cathbad said, "Please eat. You are hungry, right?"

  She stared with heavy suspicion at the perfectly prepared steak.

  Giving her a sigh worthy of any disgruntled father, he lifted a fork and knife. After slicing a piece of steak, he ate that bite, then stabbed a broccoli floret and consumed it, too.

  After swallowing, he said, "I will test the rest of this if you're still concerned about being poisoned or drugged. It's very good. I have an excellent chef and I would not go to this much trouble if I wanted to harm you."

  "Guess you have a point." Making a sound of frustration the young had perfected over centuries, she started eating. After the first bite, her face gave away how much she enjoyed it.

  Finally, she might be more open to chatting. "Now, let's talk so we can get to know each other, Phoedra."

  "I want to go home."

  "I understand that and perhaps we can work something out."

  That got her attention. "Really?"

  Lying had always come easily to Cathbad. "Of course. I'm not an ogre."

  "Who are you?"

  "My name is Cathbad."

  Another scrunched up look. "What kind of name is that?"

  The young in this era had no manners. "The only one you need at the moment."

  Putting her fork down and wiping her mouth on the cloth napkin, she said, "What I want to know is, why did you send someone for me? Who are you to me?"

  "I will explain that, but not right this second. Just know that I am the only person who can protect you from some very dangerous and powerful people." He watched her face as that sank in.

  "You mean those weird guys?"

  That opened the door for him to test just how much she knew about the preternaturals. "That is exactly who I'm talking about. By the way, have you experienced anything unusual recently?"

  Phoedra had started eating a six-layer parfait. She paused with a bite halfway to her mouth. "What do you mean?"

  "Like a supernatural ability or gift?"

  She shrugged, and that action alone told him something. If she had not experienced powers, she would probably have said something tart or condescending.

  Interesting. She truly didn't know?

  Cathbad lifted a handful of nuts, munched on them, then took a drink of his wine. "Let's talk about something else first. Do you know anything about your mother or father?"

  "No." The word had slipped out on a sullen note.

  "Who raised you?"

  "My foster mother, Donella. She said she doesn't know anything about my background other than I was handed to her as an infant. She was surprised when no one adopted me."

  "I see." Cathbad kept casually snacking on nuts. Donella could not be human. Human babies were adopted quickly, especially a beautiful infant, and this child would have been one. No, this girl had been shielded from anyone with powers.

  He hadn't believed Ossian's computer notation about Phoedra's mother being a Medb, but it all made sense now. Kizira was Phoedra's mother. His mind gathered pieces of the puzzle, adding to it the image of the Belador known as Quinn holding Kizira as she died.

  The queen would kill to know what Cathbad had discovered. She should not have crossed him.

  He allowed a pleasant silence to drift along until Phoedra felt the need to speak.

  Staring at her food, she asked, "What would an ability feel like?"

  There it was--that sound of curiosity rising up and forcing her to ask a question she had probably been keeping to herself. "Have you felt anything unusual that you can't explain, Phoedra?"

  She didn't answer while she finished eating. Once she put her fork down, she murmured, "You'll think I'm a freak."

  "No, child. On the contrary. I would never think that, because I possess gifts and abilities. I've also known gifted people my entire life and feel certain you are one of a special breed."

  For the first time, she looked at him as something other than a kidnapper. "Really? What kind of abilities? Show me."

  He considered all the things he could show her and realized small would work best. Anything large might destroy this fragile moment of building trust.

  Pointing at the fork in her hand, he said, "Allow me." Using his kinetic ability carefully, he moved the fork out of her hand and dished up a small piece of cake that he floated back up to her lips.

  Her eyes got so large they threatened to pop out of the sockets. She whispered, "No way."

  He waited for her to eat the dessert. "You may take the fork back. It won't bite you."

  She tentatively reached for the utensil. When she grasped it, she lifted the utensil up and down a couple of times, then placed it on the plate.

  Fearful at first, she sat there staring at the fork as if trying to decide what had happened. Then she started grinning. "I'm not a freak?"

  What fool had told her that? "Of course, you're not. You belong to a very special group of beings."

  "Beings?" Now she was back to sounding wary.

  "Yes. Human beings," he corrected for her benefit.

  "Oh. Got it. So it's normal for me to have
premonitions?"

  "Absolutely. How do you think I was able to find you? I was given a vision of you in that location." Not really, but she loved hearing that additional confirmation.

  Cathbad's own ability with true foresight was unreliable, but until Veronika had messed with Ossian, Cathbad had been able to view through Ossian's eyes when he chose. Still, it took a great deal of power from him and the polymorph so he avoided it most of the time. He'd tried, though, after Ossian had dropped out of his reach. Cathbad had tried every way to locate him before turning to his backup plan and sending out the Scath Force.

  Phoedra was probably just gaining her ability to see into the future, which Kizira had been able to do according to what he'd heard about the deceased priestess. TAmr Medb occupants who had known Kizira claimed her visions were never wrong.

  Offering Phoedra a smile of camaraderie, Cathbad said, "Having visions or premonitions is more common in females."

  "Ugh." She lifted both hands as if a rat had run across the table in front of her, which hadn't been the case at all. She had a dramatic way with her hands.

  She said, "Please don't make this about being hormonal."

  Cathbad chuckled out loud. He couldn't recall the last time someone had given him a true reason to laugh. This one would be a delight to train.

  "No, I'm talking about genetics and lineage," he explained. "Clairvoyants tend to inherit that gift from their mothers."

  "You think my mom could do this?"

  "Yes." Cathbad snapped his fingers. Servants dressed in white tunics and pants trimmed in gold and black entered from a door at the end of the room and cleared the table, leaving their drinks.

  Once that was out of the way, Cathbad suggested, "Tell me what you've seen and I'll help you figure out what it means."

  She said, "I've had these, uh, weird images. In one, this big flying beast is attacking a woman."

  That could be a vision of what happened to her mother, but Cathbad did not want to influence Phoedra so he just let her talk.

  "I know that's too crazy to understand, so just forget about that one. The other dream or vision or whatever it is I keep having is about a red dragon fighting a bunch of people, but I can only see it with blurry edges. Some amped-up woman throws a laser or something bright at the dragon. They fight and he falls from the sky. Hits the ground like a ton of bricks."