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“The fan…it took hold of me and I became the hurricane. And then I used the obsidian blade to slaughter one of the Shadow Hunters. Myst and her other two guardians ran. She was scared of me.” My words came out in a rush as I realized what I was saying. But it was true. I’d seen her face, felt the shock in her. Myst had retreated.
Wrath pressed his lips together. He let out a long breath and then wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Come, we need to get home. Lainule must have her heartstone and you must be the one to present it to her. I cannot touch it. We will speak of these other things later.” But under the steady tones of his voice, I could hear the thunder in the distance.
We were a mere ten minutes from the road, though the distance was some nine or ten miles from where we’d begun our journey two days back. I called Peyton and gave her my father’s coordinates and as we trudged through the snow, none of us said much. At least Kaylin had made it back. And it was daylight, so I wouldn’t have to deal with Lannan—whatever his state—until tonight.
We broke through the undergrowth, out onto the road without any interference and there was Peyton, waiting. She looked grim, as we climbed into the car, but gave me a weary smile.
“I’m so glad you’re back. Lannan’s been pissed out of his mind and he’s been raging around the mansion.”
“Why did you go there instead of stay in the realm of Summer?” I glanced at her, then Wrath. Both of them looked uncomfortable.
Peyton bit her lip. “The energy within Summer’s realm is like alcohol to my father. He was giddy on it, and one of the guards tried to goad him into drinking wine. Rex is a recovering alcoholic. He felt cornered, and when a werepuma feels cornered, the resulting tiff isn’t pretty.”
Wrath sighed. “Rex turned into his puma self and went after the guard. He didn’t hurt him—” He held up his hand when I shot up, worried that Peyton’s father might have been hurt. “Neither man was harmed. But it wasn’t an auspicious start and it seemed better to have them join Lannan in his mansion. Luna and Zoey went with them. I checked on them yesterday and they were fine, and Lannan—for all his foibles—kept them safe. The realm of Summer is an uneasy place for any but those of Fae blood, either half or full.”
I grumbled, leaning back, but kept my mouth shut. I had the feeling the guard had been deliberately baiting Rex, but there was no way to prove it, and really, what good would it do except to cause even more animosity? So I decided to leave it alone. We had enough problems as it was.
“Is Lannan angry at me for not showing up for two nights?” Better to hear what I was in for now, rather than be surprised when we got back to the mansion.
“Lannan is…shall we say…livid. He swore that if you didn’t come back in one piece, he’d go after Wrath and Lainule himself.” Peyton cleared her throat, glancing at Wrath in the rearview mirror. But he just shrugged.
“The vampire would stand no chance. We have more powers than he can imagine.” He glanced at me. “And some of us are letting our powers run wild.”
I shivered under his watchful eye. I knew Wrath was pissed at me for disobeying him about the knife. And Lainule wouldn’t be all that pleased by how casually I’d been using the fan, but too fucking bad. We didn’t have a choice. And I’d proven one thing: We could scare Myst.
Peyton wound through the streets. It was unnaturally quiet in New Forest, hardly anybody on the sidewalks, even though it was now morning.
“Did something happen?” I glanced around sharply. There was a feeling in the air of foreboding. I could practically smell the fear.
She cleared her throat again. “There was another massacre last night. A theater. The Vampiric Fae got in and barred the other exits. It was…bad.”
“How bad?” I didn’t want to hear, but I had no choice. I had to know.
“Thirteen dead, before they could get the exits open. Another five killed in the streets. Four of them children. People are asking what happened to Geoffrey. Lannan’s scheduled to give a speech tonight. He’d do it by television, but his image wouldn’t show up on it, so he’s going to give it via radio. A notice has gone out in the paper about it, and a news team will broadcast the audio simultaneously on television.”
“Eighteen dead?”
“Yeah. There would have been more, but Lannan’s guards busted up the scene. They took down seven Shadow Hunters. Lannan said he’s not going to pussyfoot around with the public. He’s going to warn them about Myst and tell people to get the hell out if they can.”
I stared at my nails, pretending to examine them. There he went again, doing something I was forced to give him credit for. I didn’t want to give him kudos. I wanted to fault him for everything I possibly could, but the fact was that Geoffrey had tiptoed around this matter until people died. Lannan was taking direct action.
“That’s going to be dangerous. You can bet Myst will try to stop him.” The thought of Myst getting hold of Lannan set my stomach on edge. As much as I’d threatened to stake him, at the core Lannan wasn’t the enemy.
“That’s why Lainule must rise today. She can marshal the Summer Guardians. They take their orders from her. They would obey me, but they look to her for morale and inspiration and there is very little of that in the realm lately. If Lainule returns to health…they will willingly fight.” Wrath leaned forward. “Can you drive any faster?”
Peyton nodded and stepped on the gas. The car roared and lurched forward. I leaned back in the seat, closing my eyes. I wanted to ask what Luna’s sister had found but not in front of Grieve—there were too many risks for me to get his hopes up yet.
“Another thing,” Peyton said as she rounded a curve, hugging the road with the car. She was an excellent driver.
“What now?”
“I called Ysandra at the Consortium. I told her that we need help tonight—that when Lannan gives the order to get out of town, we know Myst is going to try to stop him. She said she’d send one of their elite squads. I have no clue what she meant by that, but it sounds like the cavalry is coming.” She sounded very pleased with herself and I gave a little cheer.
“Good going. We need all the help we can get.” We were squashed into the car like bugs, but I didn’t care. The promise of a hot shower and clean, warm clothes loomed large in my mind.
But first…first we would visit Lainule, and I would take her the heartstone, and she would survive. For the rest of the drive we were silent, all deep in our thoughts. I leaned my head on Grieve’s shoulder and he slipped his arm around my shoulders. At this point, any comfort was better than none.
Wrath hurried us into the mansion, under the watchful eyes of Lannan’s day-runners. He surprised me by instructing me to take a quick shower. “You need to revive yourself, to be at your best. And by now I know you enough to know that a shower will help. Your cousin must also come with us. And Chatter and Grieve. The rest—stay here.”
