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There was another explosion, and the force of it shifted me sideways several inches. The flames and the Raziq were gone, leaving only blessed silence.
Amaya slid across the floor toward me, and almost of their own accord, my fingers wrapped around her again. She felt heavy in my hand. Sated.
Somehow I managed to sheathe her. We might have killed one Raziq, but there were plenty more where he’d come from. I didn’t want them forcing me to drop her again, and the fact that they hadn’t seen her either in my hand or in flight made me suspect that if she was sheathed or cloaked, they couldn’t.
I lay there waiting for the hammer to fall, my body on fire, every part of me aching and my clothes wet with blood and god knows what else. I stank of fear and sweat and blood and urine, and I knew it wasn’t over yet. Not by a long shot.
That oily, rainbow shimmer still crawled across the roof of my tomb, so the Raziq were still here even if I was no longer capable of sensing them. Not that I would have been able to call to the Aedh even if they hadn’t been present—I just didn’t have the strength or will.
“That,” a new voice said, “was unexpected.”
Which had to be the understatement of the century.
“But at least,” he continued, “the transfer was completed.”
“What—” I licked dry lips. It didn’t help much, because I had little in the way of saliva. “Transfer?”
“As you would not agree to use the device, we placed it within you.”
Well, it won’t be there for fucking long, I thought resolutely. I didn’t say anything, but then, I didn’t need to.
“If you remove it,” the Raziq said, voice still amazingly calm considering I’d just killed one of them. But he was Aedh—practical, unemotional, cold. As long as their objective had been achieved, I doubted they’d care how many of their number I killed. “You will die.”
Fear crawled inside me. “Why?”
“Because it cannot be removed. It will cease functioning if you die, but I suspect you would not wish that.”
He suspected right. But that didn’t actually mean I had to believe him. Aedh might be cold and unemotional, but I had no doubt they weren’t above lying if it suited their needs.
“Indeed,” the voice agreed. “But in this case, there is no need. The device was interwoven into the fabric of your heart when we re-formed you. To take it out, you must take out your heart.”
Oh, fuck. Two words that really didn’t seem adequate enough for the shit I was now in.
“Why would you do something like that?”
“You would not aid us. This way, we know your location at any moment, and we will know when your father nears you.”
Meaning they’d have me and my father. Fuck, fuck, fuck!
Then his words hit me. I might have fallen deeper into the shithole, but it might just have one silver lining…
“Does this mean you won’t be sending Ania and other assorted demons against me and my friends?”
“We will know where you are at any given moment. There is no need for us to do anything else.”
Which at least meant I could sleep in my own bed again. The relief that surged at that thought said a lot about the sorry state of my life at the moment.
The dark energy rose again and I cringed, hating the cowardice even as I did it. But it wasn’t his energy—it was Ania. They spun around me, blanketing me with their ethereal forms, whisking me into that place of black nothingness and uneasy movement.
Then, suddenly, I was back in the car.
But not for long. Arms gathered me and held me close, and the sensation of movement hit again. This time, instead of darkness there were silver buildings and insubstantial beings. Then they were gone and I was back in the hotel room, cradled against a body that was warm and strong.
I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t say anything. I just wrapped my arms around Azriel’s neck and held on tight. Not that he appeared to be in a hurry to release me.
His warm energy spread through me in gentle waves, chasing away the chills, healing the hurt, soothing the aches. After what felt like ages, I took a deep, shuddering breath, and said, “You have no idea how glad I am to see you.”>“We do not agree.”
I snorted. “Of course you wouldn’t. I mean, you’ve had such great success trying to track him down so far, haven’t you?”
