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The rest of the sentence died in my throat, because it suddenly felt like someone had a hand around my heart and was threatening to squeeze the life out of me.
And hot on the heels of that came the awareness of an approaching presence. Only it wasn’t body heat I sensed, wasn’t humanity, but rather the heat of a being that was all energy, all power.
An Aedh.
My father, to be precise.
Chapter 3
As the awareness of my father’s presence grew, so did the ache in my heart, until all I felt was pain, inside and out.
I doubled over, unable to do anything more than gasp. But it wasn’t a heart attack. It was something far more deadly—the transmitter the Raziq had placed in my heart, reacting to my father’s presence.
Calling the Raziq, telling them he was coming.
And I could barely even breathe, let alone give him any sort of warning.
An instant later, I was flung up against the lockers, my feet off the ground and a band of iron against my neck.
“What have you done?” The voice was a deeper, angrier version of mine, and it seemed to shake the foundations of the room around us. “What have you agreed to?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but no words came out because no air was getting in. Panic surged, and for a moment I wondered if he intended to kill me in sheer and utter rage.
Blue-edged steel appeared in my line of vision, the sword’s sharp point aimed at the heart of the fierce energy holding me captive.
“Tell us where we can find the keys,” Azriel said flatly. “Or die now.”
Deep inside me anger flared. For fuck’s sake, Azriel, I’m choking and in serious pain here, in case you didn’t notice!
He either didn’t hear me or didn’t care. Neither, apparently, did my father. The iron band of energy continued to squeeze my neck, and it felt like my lungs were about to burst. Tiny spots began to dance in front of my eyes.
“If you kill me, reaper, you will fail in your quest to capture the keys.”
There was no hurry in my father’s voice, no urgency. As the shadows of unconsciousness began to crowd close, I wondered where the hell the Raziq were. At least their arrival would break this uncaring tableau.
“As will everyone else who seeks them,” Azriel replied. “That is an outcome I could live with.”
It was an outcome I could live with, too. If I got to live, that was.
“You and I both know such an outcome would be unacceptable to those who sent you here, reaper.” Amusement ran through my father’s deep tones. “It would appear we have reached an impasse.”
Azriel!
The mental shout was filled with desperation, and his gaze flickered briefly toward me. Frustration and anger burned in his eyes. “Release her. Or I will kill you.”
And hurry. The spots were getting larger, my heart felt like it was about to shatter, and the need for air was so fierce my lungs were on fire.
“You won’t kill me, reaper.” The trace of amusement was gone from his voice. “As I’ve already stated, you need the information I carry too much.”
“And we both need her alive. Release her—now!” Valdis’s flames skittered across the fierce energy that was my father’s presence, enveloping him in a fiery cage.
Whether it was the threat of the flames or simply the realization that he did need me alive, the steely band of energy bruising my neck suddenly disappeared and I collapsed to the ground. There I remained, on hands and knees, dragging in shuddering gasps of air and grateful that I could still do so.
“You bear the device of the Raziq in your body,” my father said. Though the force of his anger no longer held me captive, it vibrated through the undernotes of his voice. “Why?”
Because I had no fucking choice, I thought, but the words remained locked in my throat as I continued to suck air into my still burning lungs.
God, where the hell were the Raziq? My father might have released his death grip on me, but the Raziq’s transmitter had not. The pain of the device was all-encompassing, and spots still danced madly across my vision.
