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“Leaving you alone was what caused you to fall into Raziq hands.” His breath tickled the back of my neck, ragged and warm. “That should not have happened, and I apologize.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” I lifted my face and met his gaze. And while I ached to brush my lips against his, any move in that direction had to come from him. He knew what I wanted. He’d always known.
“If I had been here—”
“You would have been dead.” Even saying the words had my stomach tightening. “I know you believe otherwise, but there were six of them, Azriel, and one of them was immensely powerful. She said her name was Malin.”
He closed his eyes for a moment and said something in his own language. And though I didn’t understand one word, I didn’t really need to, given the anger in his voice.
“Malin is the leader,” he said eventually. “She is the one your father betrayed when he stole the keys.”
“Then what she did to me was as much about revenge as the keys.” I hesitated, and suddenly realized I couldn’t actually remember what they’d done. “Damn it, are you able to un-erase my memory?”
“No. And it is better that you do not know.”
Which suggested he did. Frustration ran through me, but it was quickly forgotten when he brushed a fingertip down my cheek and rested it all too briefly on my lips. “But you are right about the revenge factor. Your father and Malin were lovers. Malin has commanded the Raziq for a very long time, and she is nearing the end of her life. She wanted to reproduce. Your father refused.”
“But I thought that when the Aedh were at the end of their life cycles, breeding wasn’t a matter of choice, but rather an imperative they couldn’t ignore.”
“That is true.”
“Then why did my father turn to my mother when he had the option of a full-blood Aedh to breed with?”
He shrugged. “Your father is an uncommonly powerful Aedh, and one who has long planned domination. It would not surprise me if he foresaw the current problems and created you as a means of working around the Raziq and finding the keys.”
“But if he’d known the keys would be lost, why the hell wouldn’t he just ensure that they weren’t?”
“Because there were other players involved, and Hieu could not control them all. And perhaps you were nothing more than just a backup plan.”
Well, that’s something every child wanted to hear—although when it came to my father, nothing should really surprise me. “How come you know so much about Hieu and Malin?”
“When one is a hunter, it helps to understand the prey.”
“But I can’t see either of them giving those sorts of details to their own kind, let alone a reaper.”
“They didn’t. But the Raziq are nearly a hundred strong. It was simply a matter of capturing one of the unwary, lesser beings, and questioning him.”
Whatever it takes. Whatever needs to be done. The words rolled around the outer reaches of my mind, and though I didn’t know if they were mine or his, I shivered. Because those words were like a death knell ringing in my future.
“Why would the lower-ranked Raziq be privy to information like that, though?”
“Aedh can read the minds of any who are in close proximity, and though Malin and Hieu are powerful enough to conceal information, they would have considered their relationship neither valuable nor important.”
Because they didn’t do emotions—although they did seem to have the whole revenge thing down pat.
I sighed wearily. “This is all becoming a nightmare.”
Azriel raised an eyebrow, amusement briefly teasing his lips. “Becoming?”
I smiled. “Yeah, I guess that train left the station long ago.”
“Definitely.” He hesitated, his gaze sweeping my body before coming to rest briefly on my lips. Desire spun around me, but its sweet heat disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. “You need to rest.”
I couldn’t disagree with that. But I also didn’t want to get into that bed alone.
“Azriel—”
“No,” he said softly. “I want what you want, Risa, but it is better that we fight this. Assimilation is a very real threat.”
