“Am I not the better option for humanity? At least the portals would still remain viable.”
Until he decided it was better for him that they weren’t. Whatever else my father might be, I very much doubted that he’d be a benevolent dictator.
But that was not an argument I was going to get into. “Malin did something to me, but I can’t tell you what. She erased the memory.”
“She more than likely sharpened the frequency of the device so that its call would be more instantaneous. That’s what I would have done in her place.”
“Maybe.” Maybe not. I wasn’t trusting an Aedh to do the expected, my father included.
“Nor should you.” He paused. “I see that you have had a parting of the way with the Aedh. That is unfortunate.”
It was, but why the hell would my father think that? Had I been right in my earlier suspicions? And did I really want to know just how much Lucian had played me for a fool?
No, I thought. But I asked all the same. “What Aedh are we talking about now?”
“You are not stupid, Risa. Please do not act like it.”
“Lucian.” God, I thought, had every single moment with him been filled with nothing more than lies and schemes?
“As you have partially guessed, he and I are adversaries.” There was cool amusement in his voice, and I wasn’t sure why. “But what you do not know is that once we were allies. In fact, he was my chrání—what you would call either a student or protégé.”
Shock coursed through me. “You and Lucian? Allies? Then why in the hell does he hate you so much?”
“Because I never intended to share domination. Once the keys were safely in the possession of my Razan, I betrayed him to make my own escape.”
He was the reason Lucian had been stripped of his powers. Fuck, the hate I’d seen had been aimed at me as much as the Raziq—not only because I was Hieu’s offspring, but because I’d also betrayed him by not using his sorceress’s ward.
“Then how did you get caught? Or was that another lie to get me to do your bidding?”
“The chrání knew more than I thought, hence I was captured. I was stripped of my flesh form during Malin’s attempts to gain the location of the keys, but I could not give what I did not have.”
“Why did they keep you alive? After all, I was born by that time. They didn’t need you to get to me.”
“Yes, but I was the only one who knew the clues. Malin, for all her power, could not take that information from me.”
And then he’d somehow escaped his prison. But thanks to his capture, he’d missed his meeting with his Razan—who had, as he’d ordered, killed themselves to protect the earthly location of the keys. “Why was Lucian left alive?”
“As I said, he was my chrání. I have no doubt that Malin thought I might attempt to contact him again.”
“Well, that’s a stupid thought given how much he appears to hate Raziq.”
“She would not understand such emotion. Few of us do.”
Because they didn’t do emotions. And yet Lucian did. Was it simply a result of being made less than he was, or were there deeper reasons?
My father was obviously following my thoughts, because he said, “For an Aedh, being less than you were is a far worse fate than being dead.”
Which explained the fierceness that drove my father. He wanted domination—particularly over those who had made him less than he was.
“Even as I am, I am far more than Malin and her rabble will ever be.” There was no conceit in my father’s voice, no hint of boasting in his words. He merely stated a fact as he saw it. From the little I’d seen of the two parties, he did seem the stronger. And he was certainly more cunning.
“Why didn’t you warn me that Lucian was an adversary? He’s linked sexually to my thoughts, and no doubt tracking your intentions through me.”
“As I was tracking his movements and thoughts—and therefore the movements of the dark sorceress he plays with—through you.”
I frowned. “Why would you be tracking her movements? She’s not the one who took the keys.”
“You are sure of this? Because I am not.”
“Her energy wasn’t the same.” It was almost stubbornly said. I knew what I’d felt, and Lauren’s energy wasn’t what I’d sensed when the key went missing.
So why did she seem familiar to me? I didn’t know, and that niggled.
“I still would not erase the possibility that she is involved, especially considering the chrání’s liaison with her. Everything he does, he does with intent.”
“Like master, like student,” I muttered.
“Indeed,” my father agreed. “I taught him well.”
Too fucking well. And the worst thing was, he was yet another person who was going to create trouble for me in the weeks ahead.
I rubbed my forehead wearily. “Look, you called me here for a reason. What is it?”
“What else would it be? You need to find the next key.”
“You still want me to find it after the shitty mess I made of the last attempt?” It was a stupid question, but I couldn’t help asking it all the same. I mean, miracles did occasionally occur, and there was always the faint hope that my father would decide I was useless and try to find someone else.
And by tomorrow, pigs will have flown.
“You are my only child, and therefore my only option.”
Meaning if he’d had another option he probably would have taken it. And as much as I’d always longed for a sibling, I was suddenly glad that I was an only child. It was bad enough risking the lives of my friends; I couldn’t imagine doing it to a brother or sister.
“Okay, so hit me with the clues.”
“As I said in the book you destroyed, the second key bears the semblance of a dagger. It was sent to the northwest, where the alluvial fields run deep and the soil is stained by rebellion.”
He stopped, and I waited. He didn’t go on. “That’s it? That’s all you’ve got?”
“That’s all I dared give my Razan. I could not be more specific in case I was captured—which I was.”
I thrust a hand through my hair. “It doesn’t give me a lot to go on.”
“That was the whole point. But you found the first one; you will find the others.”
I was glad someone had confidence in me. Although I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted my father’s confidence.
“What am I supposed to do when I get it?” Especially now that I knew I couldn’t destroy the keys—if my father was telling the truth, that is. He had told me previously that they could be destroyed, and Azriel seemed of the same opinion as well.
“Use this stone to contact me. I will give you further directions.”
“What about Azriel?” He wanted the keys destroyed—or at least in Mijai hands, and I had no doubt he’d take it the minute we found it. Especially given what had happened with the first key.
“Do not let the reaper gain possession of the keys. Whatever it takes, whatever you have to do, do it. Otherwise, your friends will not live to see another dawn.”
Fury, fear, and frustration swirled through me, and I clenched my fists. Uselessly, because there was nothing and no one here to hit. “Damn it, how the hell am I supposed to stop a reaper? I’m only human—”
“You were never human. You are a creation of my flesh, and that well runs deeper than you realize.” He paused, and the energy in the cylinder became so electric the hairs on my arms stood on end. “Do what I say, Risa, or face the consequences.”
And with that, the white light died and I found myself blinking furiously against tears as I stared at Azriel.
“What happened?” he asked, concern in his voice.
I brushed away the solitary droplet that trickled down my cheek. “You weren’t following events through the chi connection?”
“No, the ward severed the connection.”
I guess that was no surprise—my father was more than aware of Azriel’s presence in my life. “He gave me the clues to find the second key, and then gave me a fucking horrible choice.”
Azriel studied me for a moment, his expression giving little away, then placed Valdis on the floor and rose in one smooth movement. He disappeared into the kitchen, but was back within minutes, a large glass of bourbon and Coke in one hand. “Drink this, then tell me.”
I half smiled. “With the amount of booze I can smell in this glass, I’d normally think you were trying to get me drunk.”
“You’re a werewolf—is that not impossible?”
“Oh, I can get drunk. It just takes a hell of a lot of time and booze, and it usually doesn’t last long enough to make the effort worthwhile.” I took several large gulps and felt the burn of the bourbon all the way down to my belly.
“What happened?” Azriel said softly.
I briefly closed my eyes. “How sure are you that the keys can be destroyed?”
“As sure as we can be. The keys are not part of all creation, as the portals are, so therefore we should be able to destroy them without overwhelming effects to our worlds.”
“My father says otherwise.”
“It would be in your father’s best interest to have you believe so.” But a frown marred his usually calm expression.
“He says the keys were created in blood, and that blood now links them to the fabric of the gates. If we destroy the keys, we risk destroying the gates.”
“I do not think that is possible.”
“But you don’t know for sure?”
“No, but there are those who will.” He hesitated, his gaze capturing mine. “That is not all, is it?”
He knew it wasn’t. I gulped down more alcohol, and swallowed the subsequent burp. “If I let you take the remaining keys, he will kill Ilianna and Tao.”