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Chapter 14
My mind went dead.
For several seconds I couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything. I just stood there, horror filling every part of me, as the man who had fooled me in more ways than I’d ever imagined stepped over the broken remnants of the body and turned around. He didn’t see me, didn’t even look in my direction. He just raised the knife and ran at the darkly shadowed person still stuffing weapons into the rucksack.
The thief swore; the voice was male, not female. Not Lauren, then, some distant, still-aware part of me registered. Then magic surged and the cloaked stranger disappeared. Lucian screamed his fury, and it was that sound, more than anything, that unfroze my lips and got my mind working again. Suddenly, I became aware of the footsteps behind me and Amaya’s screams. I swung, lashing out as hard and as fast as I could, slicing across the chest of the nearest shifter. As blood flew, I twisted and lashed out with a booted foot, knocking the second into the first and sending them both back down the stairs. Then I turned and ran straight at Lucian.
He saw me. He was always going to see me, given the noise Amaya was making. He made a mocking half bow, then threw something to the floor. Power surged, and he began to disappear. No fucking way, I thought, and threw myself at him. I hit him at the precise moment the energy reached its peak, and the power tore through us both, disintegrating flesh and body and bone in a manner very similar to the Aedh shift. It swept us into a void that lasted for several seconds; then the power surged again, and suddenly we were skin, rather than energy, and tumbling to the ground in a tangled mess.
Ground, not floor, not concrete. Wherever the hell we were, it wasn’t back at his apartment, as I’d half expected.
He threw me off, then scrambled to his feet. “What the fuck are you playing—”
I didn’t give him a chance to finish. I just attacked. Amaya was little more than a blur of my hands, and her steel spat flames that sprayed all around us. Lucian swore and parried every blow with his long knife, retreating slowly but surely, his expression intent but not unduly worried.
When energy surged around me, I realized why. By reacting without thinking, I’d very neatly stepped into his trap.
He lowered his weapon and shook his head, his expression somewhat bemused. “This cage was not meant for you, but I’m damn glad I set it up, all the same.”
I slammed Amaya against the wall of power that surrounded me. Spidery veins of red spread for several inches from the impact point, then faded away, and Amaya hissed in fury.
Break can, she said. Time needed.
“That cage was designed to hold a sorcerer,” Lucian said, amusement in his voice. “Neither you nor your sword have the power to break it.”
“Why did you do it, Lucian?” I growled, hitting the wall again. This time, I left Amaya against it. She hissed and spat, her steel throbbing as she sucked at the power of the cage. “Just tell me that.”
He frowned and held his hands wide, as if pleading his innocence. For the first time it actually registered that we were underground. Both the walls and ceiling that soared high above us were stone, and the air was thick with the scents of moisture and damp earth.
“I didn’t steal the key, Risa. Indeed, I was hoping to trap the thief in the cage that now surrounds you.”
“I’m not talking about the fucking key, Lucian, and you know it.”
His frown deepened. For half a second I honestly believed he had no idea what I was talking about; then I remembered what a consummate actor he was. What a liar he was.
“Trust me—”
Never again. “I’m talking about my mother. You killed her.”
“Ah.” His voice was soft. “That.”
Rage exploded, and I leapt at him without thinking. The cage bowed under the force of my impact but it didn’t break, and I was flung backward, landing in an inelegant heap on the floor.
“That,” I hissed. “That’s all you’ve got to say about my mother’s murder.”
He shrugged. “She died well, with great grace, if that is of any consequence.”
“But you killed her.”
Amusement touched his lips. “Yes, I believe we’ve already established that fact.”
“But why?” The word was torn from me. “What the hell did my mother ever do to you?”
“Nothing, of course. But without her presence, without her advice, you were infinitely more alone and vulnerable.”
So he’d killed her merely to make me more accepting of his advances?
“You bastard.” Bastard, bastard, soon-to-be-dead fucking bastard.
