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And then there was Lucian, the joker in the mix.
My gaze dropped to the box Azriel still held. “Should we use it, then?”
“Yes.” He handed it to me. “I can patrol the perimeter and cut any off who attempt to breach the wards.”
“What about my father?”
“Your father can’t gain flesh form, so even if he has created a back door in the ward’s magic, he still needs you to actually find and retrieve the key.”
“He needs me to find it,” I said darkly. “But he has Razan to retrieve it.”
“And if any do get past me, the Aedh will be beside you to stop them.”
I gave him a surprised look. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
“I would rather Tao be in there beside you, but it is an inescapable truth that the Aedh wants the keys for himself. He will fight anyone who gets in his way.” He regarded me steadily. “Do not turn your back on him.”
Definitely not. The bastard was just as likely to fuck me as kill me. I glanced down at the box in my hand, then took a deep breath and, with slightly shaking fingers, opened it. Inside were four small stones in varying shades of gray and a note. I tucked the box under my arm and opened the note.
Place these wards on each corner of the building, it said. Activate them in sequence, light to dark, with a drop of your blood.
Losing more blood, even if it was only a couple of drops, wasn’t exactly what I needed right now. Especially to activate damn wards. Still, if it kept the hordes out, then I guessed it was worth it.
I rolled the stones out onto my hand. They felt extraordinarily light and yet oddly warm. I couldn’t sense any magic in them, but my skin still crawled at their touch. I forced my fingers closed around them, then glanced up at the building again. Placing stones on three sides of the building would be easy enough, but the last side was right on the intersection corner, with only a small strip of pavement between it and the roundabout. Placing a stone there, however close to the building, was risking it either being kicked away or picked up by some curious kid. Not that there were actually kids in the street at the moment, but knowing my luck, they’d flood the place the minute I started activating the wards.
>“I’m gathering it’s not key related, given your determination not to involve any of us in that search.” Her voice was wry. “Which, by the way, is neither warranted nor necessary. We have faced far worse in our lifetimes than rogue Aedh.”
“Which is precisely why I don’t want you involved.” And she knew that. “But this is related. Sort of.”
“Go on.”
She crossed her arms and regarded me steadily. A rock I could always depend on, no matter what, I thought with a half smile.
“Lucian has kidnapped Ilianna and is holding her hostage against my good behavior at a warehouse in Link Court, Brooklyn. According to the Brindle witches, she’s protected by magic that will allow neither Aedh nor reaper entry.”
“Then I’m surprised Lucian is still alive. In a similar situation, I would have killed the bastard.”
“A sentiment I totally agree with,” Azriel said.
I gave him a look over my shoulder, but he merely raised an eyebrow at me.
“Then why isn’t he dead?” Riley said. “It would solve the problem of being forced to do what you do not wish to.”
“If he doesn’t report in every hour, the men holding her have orders to kill her.”
“Ah.”
“Also, I do not think those men are human.”
She shrugged. “Non-human I can deal with.”
“Yeah, but these are non-human and Razan.”
“Meaning the fight will be infinitely more exciting.” She grinned and cracked her knuckles. “I haven’t had a good fight in quite a while.”
“That is because you’re supposed to be settling down to a quiet life.” Uncle Quinn’s gently lilting tones seemed to come out of the air itself. “And you were intending to call me in on this, weren’t you?”
He re-formed next to Riley, his expression a mix of love and amusement. Like me, he was half Aedh, and was, in fact, the man who had taught me all of my skills.
