"I heard, sweet. Congratulations. Emma, I'd love to talk to you about all that, but first, tell me, do you know of a Lykae named Bowen?"
"Sure," Emma said, then asked, "Why do you want to know?"
"You're not following the Hie online?" Yes, they were honeymooners, but still...
Show Kaderin some love.
Kaderin had her answer when she heard the sounds of teeth snapping and fabric being ripped. Emma cried, "Lachlain! Oh! I'm running out of clothes!"
"Buy - more," came a muffled growl.
Kaderin assured herself she was not jealous that Emma was seventy years old and already had found a gorgeous, mondo-rich king. Oh, and one who had proven he would die for her and was at this moment ripping off her clothes with his fangs. Emma was everything that was sweet and lovely, and after her trials - and near death - she deserved her new life as Lachlain's queen.
Still, Kaderin sighed, unable to help feeling very old and very alone. Then she recalled that she wouldn't be alone for long. She had a man coming over this very night... to do things to her. She shivered, then shook herself. "Emma, about Bowen... "
"Oh, Bowe. Sure, I know him. Know he's supercali hot." A male sound of displeasure had her covering the phone and saying, "Not as hot as you are!"
So Emma's new werewolf husband was the jealous type? Kaderin rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, Bowe's got that tortured, brooding thing going on. He lost his mate in the eighteen hundreds, and he's done nothing but search for a way to reunite with her ever since."
The breath left Kaderin's body, and she sank onto the bed.
"Kaderin, I-I kind of have to go. Can you call me later?"
"Sure, Emma. Have fun," she said absently, then hung up. At least now I know what I'm truly up against. In Bowen's mind, this win equaled the life of his mate. But how would he know to enter? Who was the friend he'd referred to who'd alerted him to the contest?
Her dismay rapidly turning to ire, Kaderin dialed the coven, calling for Nïx.
For once, Kaderin found it fortunate when Regin answered. She wasted no time on pleasantries. "Any reason you didn't tell me Myst married a general in the Forbearer army, more specifically a vampire?"
"Lookit, I didn't want to distract you from your job," Regin said. "This Hie is your Big Thing. And I know when I first found out, I was seriously, f**king, shrieking distracted. I mean, I knew you would never get freaked out - well, at least, you wouldn't used to - but I thought it would be prudent to just hold off a few days. It was my idea, not Myst's."
"This connection might have been nice to know in certain situations, Regin. For instance, that vampire in Antarctica that you almost killed is now our brother-in-law!"
"No way! Nikolai Wroth's brother?" A pause. "But does that matter? Can't we still kill him? I wouldn't have told anyone if you wouldn't have. What happens in the South Pole, stays in the - "
"Regin, if you keep something like this from me again, I will annihilate you. You know I'm stronger than you are."
"Ah, but I'm wily."
Kaderin exhaled. "How can Myst be certain he won't turn?"
"I'm not exactly speaking to her."
"Then just let me talk to Nïx."
A second later, Nïx said in a jovial tone, "Kiddy-Kad!"
"Nïx, why is it that Bowen MacRieve - a Lykae who lost his mate - would know to enter this competition to retrieve her? Let me add that I know Bowen attended Emma's wedding, as did you - a soothsayer."
"Um, I dunno. Dumb luck?" Nïx said. Kaderin could just see Nïx twirling her silky black hair, trying to appear innocent. Which reminded Kaderin... sometimes tasks repeated.
"Cut off all your hair," she said, her tone seething. "Then shear it every day thereafter until I tell you to stop."
"Go from Katie to Sinead? Well, I am sassy enough to pull it off - "
"Just do it!"
"Angry, Kaderin? How unlike you."
"I'm livid, as you well know. Nïx, why would you do this to me? Why tell Bowen about this? You had to know he will fight to the death to bring back that mate."
"Oh, yes, especially since she died fleeing him! It's been killing him slowly, making him crazed. He hardly eats or sleeps and hasn't glanced at another female since then."
Kaderin put her forehead between her thumb and forefinger. "He'll be unstoppable. They live for nothing else."
"More unstoppable than a guilt-ridden two-thousand-year-old Valkyrie who, incidentally, keeps winning these things? I was thinking it'd be a wash."
She exhaled, striving for calm. "Since you gave him information, now help me. Why am I feeling now?"
"Because it's time for you to."
"Oh, since you explained it that way." Kaderin rolled her eyes. "Will I win the Hie?"
"Lemme check." She hummed, and Kaderin could almost see her peering at the ceiling in concentration -
The phone dropped.
A chill crept up Kaderin's spine just before Nïx's screams erupted.
"Nïx!" Kaderin snapped. "Nïx, what's going on?"
A minute later, Regin had the phone. "What the hell did you say to her?" In the background, thunder boomed in a deafening succession like cannon blasts. Nïx sobbed hysterically.
"I just asked her if I'll win the Hie! Why? What's happening?"
"I don't know - I've never seen her like this! She's white as a ghost and mumbling incoherently." To Nïx, Regin said, "Calm down, sweet. What's upset you?"
Kaderin heard Nïx's voice, heard her desperate ramblings, but couldn't make out the actual words. "What is she saying?" Kaderin demanded.
"Oh, Kad," Regin whispered, all her temper gone. "She said... " Regin swallowed audibly. "She said that... in the competition, before the next full moon... you're going to... die."
Die? Kaderin frowned in confusion, wringing her hands around the phone. How should one respond to that? I can't imagine. Her inane reply: "Oh."
Regin, fired up once more, said, "Get out of the competition now!"
"You know that won't help," Kaderin murmured. "When your number's up, it's up."
"Yeah, but you can still freaking duck."
"Regin, how can you say something like that?" Kaderin demanded, even knowing she herself had once said much the same. The memory of Furie lashing out at her was as clear as if it happened yesterday. For her own heedless words, Kaderin had had her arm broken and her skull and sternum fractured.