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Chapter 15
I didn’t bother asking whether she was sure. She was his twin, and their connection was as strong as anything Azriel and I shared. I swore and rubbed my eyes wearily. I should have warned him. Should have called him the minute I’d thought about it. But I’d given other things priority, and now he was in Hunter’s hands.
“Is he . . . ?” I couldn’t get the rest of the sentence out. Couldn’t ask if he was still alive.
Although if he was dead, Riley wouldn’t be standing here spitting fire. She’d be tracking Hunter down, determined to kill her.
I had to stop that. Had to.
“He’s okay,” Riley and Azriel said together. Riley flashed him a narrowed look. “Can you tell me where he is? I have a general idea of location, but pinning it down is somewhat fuzzy. It’s as if there’s some sort of field around him that’s redirecting our connection.”
“Given we believe Hunter is capable of magic, that is more than possible.” My voice sounded hoarse, and I still wasn’t entirely sure my stomach was going to stay where it was supposed to. This was my fault. If anything happened to Rhoan . . .
“This is not your fault,” Quinn said softly. “You undoubtedly made the risks as clear to him as you did us. He chose to remain.”
“Yeah, but—”
“No buts, no guilt,” Riley said. “Just action. You need to contact Hunter.”
It was the next logical step. I spun on my heel, walked back to Rhoan’s room, and once again hit the Speaker button before dialing Hunter’s number.
She didn’t take all that long to answer. “Hunter,” she said, voice cool and ultrapolite. “How may I help you?”
“You can fucking tell me what you’ve done with Rhoan,” I replied, unable to help either the language or the edge of anger in my voice.
“Risa,” she murmured, voice deceptively mild. “I was just about to contact you.”
I wasn’t using a vid-phone and I couldn’t actually see her, but it didn’t matter. It was almost as if she’d reached down the phone lines, wrapped her fingers around my neck, and squeezed tight. It was all I could do to remain on the line, to not run.
“Forget the fake niceties,” I somehow managed to spit, “and just answer the damn question.”
“The damn question,” she said, tone still as polite as before despite the menace that continued to wash over me, “will be answered in my own good time. Meanwhile, you might want to explain your attempt at murdering my Cazador.”
“If I’d wanted her dead, she would be,” I said. “Where’s Rhoan?”
“He’s tucked away somewhere nice and safe. Consider him a bond against your good behavior.”
“Such a bond will only work if he’s alive,” I said. “What guarantee do I have that he is? Or, if he is, that he’ll remain that way?”
“You have my word—”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not inclined to trust the word of a woman who would murder her own brother.”
I felt Riley start and glanced at her. Her face had lost much of its color. Jack’s dead? she mouthed.
“We believe so,” Azriel murmured. “I cannot find the resonance of his soul, and death is the most logical reason for that.”
“Oh dear god,” she whispered.
I knew she was thinking—as I’d been thinking—that someone who would kill her only living relative wouldn’t blink twice when it came to killing one of the best guardians the Directorate had ever produced. Rhoan would be just one more bloody blot on her road to ultimate control.
“Jack,” Hunter said, voice even quieter and all the more frightening because of it, “was foolish enough to go up against me—”
“No,” I cut in. “He merely intended to warn you against using the Directorate in your mad scheme to rule the world.”
“You were not there, so do not tell me what was said and done between us.” There was something in her voice that went beyond mere viciousness, something that was almost otherworldly, and it had me wondering uneasily if her connection with her god had just come online. “He was warned, long ago, never to go up against me because it would go ill against him. He ignored that warning.”
“Because he cared about the organization you started and he helped run.”
