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It was beautiful, and I felt like shit.
Tears stung my eyes. I spun away and fast-walked to the house. The headaches encouraged the lords to forget the thoughts that triggered them. Maybe this one would also erase that I was a cruel bitch.
But even if Rhyzkahl didn’t remember what I’d done, I would.
Chapter 15
I slumped to sit at the kitchen table. Fillion mewed fiercely, then climbed up a chair and onto the table, trotted over to me and jammed his head into my chin.
“You just want a treat,” I said but accepted the nuzzle. And of course gave him a treat. Cats were pretty cool for cheering a body up.
Ooh! I pushed up from the table and ran to my bedroom where Squig was curled into a tight ball of fur on my pillow. I carefully scooped her up then hurried out back as quickly as I could without jostling her fully awake.
Rhyzkahl still lay huddled at the base of the tree, eyes squeezed shut and face etched in pain. As gently as possible, I settled Squig into the crook of his neck. Neither kitten nor lord opened their eyes, but Rhyzkahl shifted one hand to cup the kitten closer and murmured a word that didn’t sound like demon and definitely wasn’t English. Squig yawned mightily then revved up a loud purr. The lines of pain in Rhyzkahl’s face eased a bit.
Exhaling in relief, I slipped away and returned inside, then snuck a peek out the window. Rhyzkahl was stroking the kitten with gentle fingers. Good. We both felt better now.
My phone buzzed with a message from Idris.
I texted back confirmation then headed to the war room with its video conferencing setup. At precisely five minutes after his text, his call came in, and the wall screen lit up with his image. He sat at a table in a mobile camp, camouflage net overhead and DIRT personnel bustling in the background. Sweat-streaked soot and grime covered his face, and one sleeve of his maroon fatigues hung in tatters. A heavy bandage was visible on his forearm.
“Looking good out there, Idris,” I said. “How bad is the arm?”
He shrugged. “Only fifteen stitches. I’d just sling-shotted a reyza when a savik decided that getting its claws on me was more important than anchoring the rift.”
“Ouch. Glad you’re still in one piece,” I said. “Would you mind writing up how you do those arcane shield busters?”
“Sure can. I’m in touch with a guy who wants to design a gun for arcane specialists—combination mini-grenade launcher, super-Taser, and rifle. He says he can build it where it’ll fire a disruptor sphere that can be followed with bullets.”
“Dude, my squad would pee themselves if I handed them a weapon like that,” I said. “If you think your guy is legit, tell him to work up a prototype. I’ll make sure it’s seen by the right people.”
“Awesome. From your message, it sounds like I have a lot to catch up on.”
“Uh-huh, and there’s more since I called.” I proceeded to brief him on the pre-anomaly tangle and the situation with the rakkuhr and the mutations. I gave him a moment to curse his demonic lord-father’s part in it before I moved on to Giovanni’s arrival. After that, I texted copies of the Jontari memoir, and we spent a good five minutes hashing over possible reasons for why we’d been kept in the dark, and by whom. Even though we didn’t come up with definitive answers, it felt good to talk it out with another summoner who shared the same confusion and outrage.
I went on to describe my discovery of the AWOL four in the Beaulac area. “It was odd. Like they’re here but not.”
“You could check out places that’ve had arcane activity in the past to narrow down where they might be holed up.”
“Good idea. I’ll do that.” I scrawled a note to myself. “Now for the other big news. Fixing the pre-anomaly powered up the Spires, and Pellini and I kind of finished switching them on. Turns out they’re a gate that’s been dormant for thousands of years. Kadir’s Earthgate. It’s working.”
His face lit up, then he let out a whoop and leaped up to punch the air. “A gate! That’s incredible!” He dropped back into the chair, grinning. I found myself grinning as well. I hadn’t seen him enthused since before the Mraztur captured him.
“That must mean the ways are open,” he continued. “Summonings might be possible again.”
“Right, though I wonder how having a gate will affect the need to summon.” I tugged a hand through my hair. “I don’t know if the demons can use it. Lords can come through. Kadir is on Earth . . . somewhere. And Mzatal is working rifts with Helori for transport. You’ve probably seen him mentioned in DIRT reports from China, Nigeria, and Australia.”
I might as well have thrown a wet blanket over his joy-fire. “I thought you’d found a way to bring him through,” he said then slammed his fist against the table. “So, just like that, the qaztahl have access to Earth with Kadir as the gatekeeper. After all we went through.”
“At least it has a gatekeeper. I don’t know what the hell Kadir is up to, but we need Mzatal’s help, and he’s dominating the other lords right now.”
Idris blew out a breath. “You’re right. It’s just one more level of complexity to keep up with. It’d be nice to have a chance to come up for air once in a while.” He looked down and fiddled with his bandage. “I don’t think it’s in the cards for me, though. I saw her today. At least I think I did.”
I took in his demeanor and tone. “Tessa?! Where? What happened?”
“She was on the roof of a building overlooking the rift. As soon as I spotted her, she ducked down. By the time the incursion was settled enough for us to check it out, there was no trace of her and no clue of what she was up to.”
A pang of sympathy went through me. Idris was Tessa’s son, but he’d never had a chance to know her—or know what she felt toward him, if anything. Hell, we weren’t even sure if she had any clue she was his mother. I had no doubt that, where she was concerned, his emotions were a messy soup of longing, confusion, and anger, along with an aching need to know the true story.
