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“Xander.”
Gasping, she ceased with walking. “I’ve heard of this Xander.”
“You have?”
“You. . .you freed my father.” She held her hand to her chest. “The Ground Mover. The Quiet King trapped my father during his travels to mage territory. The king caught him by surprise with hundreds of men, killed my aunt who’d come with him, chained my father in sage chains—ones that stung his skin—and imprisoned him in the dungeon.”
There had been so many men and women that I had helped. I couldn’t figure out who her father was.
“Why did the Quiet King want with your father?” Ian released her arm and got in front of her. “Did your father tell you why or what happened to him while he was imprisoned?”
“No.”
She shook her head. “Father does not talk about those years. Perhaps, he’ll talk to you tonight. He’s in his hut resting. I’ll take you there.”
“What does your father look like?” I still couldn’t picture the man that Tru had said I’d freed.
“He’s short with skin as dark brown as mine, but he has green eyes.” Tru smiled as she described him. Her eyes gleamed in the moonlight. “Father talks of you constantly and honors you every sun festival. He says that he wished he’d had his riches to give you at the time, but instead he formed rock into enchanted keys that would allow you to open any door that’s not locked by magic.”
“Oh. The Sorcerer.” I’d never learned his name and simply labeled him that. “Dear Ambi.”
Ian watched us with a curious look.
My expression brightened. “Well, your father owes me nothing now. Those keys have served me well in freeing others and getting into places I needed access to.”
After leaving the Sorcerer, I’d given one key to Leeta. At the time she was the one woman I trusted in life, the one woman who I’d dedicated my life to.
How things have changed.
Leeta was no longer that significant to me, and now I had a new woman to dedicate my life to.
Camille.
I’d even used the key for Camille.
I took her to her hometown Zumaya in the middle of the night when all the humans there were asleep. The enchanted key slipped into the keyhole and unlocked the door with ease.
I had also used the key to free the Phinova Dominas from the dungeon.
Wait a minute. The Phinova Dominas.
“Your father never told me that he was a mage,” I said.
“No. One doesn’t tell vampires who we are.” Tru shrugged. “It is our way.”
I gestured to the many wagons that the Phinova Dominas stepped from. “Then maybe some of these women I recently freed from the king’s castle are mages, too.”
She twisted around. Her beads clanked against each other. “I thought I smelled kin among you, but thought that smell mainly came from your. . .queen. She has great power running through those veins. Her parents must have been great mages.”
“Tote!” I yelled.
The human arrived next to me in seconds.
Where in Ambi’s name did he come from?
I turned to him. “Gather all of the Phinova Dominas and inform them that we’re on mage land now and that they are free to safely go wherever they desire. No Quiet King travels this land.”
Tru’s smile widened until I spotted her perfect teeth shining back at me. “It seems like the Horned King is not what we assumed. Spenrik!”
“Yes, Tru.” Spenrik strolled our way with Camille.
“There will be a change of plans. I’ve learned many things in just a few minutes.” Tru raised her hands in the air. “No vampire blood will be shed tonight.”
“Are you sure?” Spenrik quirked his eyebrows.
“Yes. The Horned King is the great Pathfinder that my father slaughters wolves for.”
Silence filled the space for a few seconds as Spenrik looked me over. “Are you sure, my love?”
Tru nodded. “I am.”
“Fascinating.” Spenrik slowly bowed to me.
I tensed, unsure of how to respond.
Ian gently tapped my back and so I bowed back to Spenrik.
“Good.” Spenrik rose and crossed his hands in front of him. “Now for an uncomfortable conversation.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Uncomfortable?”
Spenrik spoke, “We were not sure if we could trust you, so we had other plans when you entered.”
I tensed. “What other plans?”
“Don’t be startled.” Tru clapped her hands. “You’re surrounded by our best. We’d planned to kill you all, but that was a slight mistake. Now we truly welcome you as friends.”
Ian and I exchanged looks.
What? NOW, we are friends. What is this?
Tru clucked.
Spenrik whistled.
The ground quaked.
I stumbled back.
Cracks formed all around us and discharged a stifling heat.
What is this?
I drove out my fangs, readying myself to attack. Green steam shrilled out of the ground at a high-pitched tone. Dirt and rocks exploded into the air, yet none hit us. Hundreds of short brown men and women draped in green beads rushed out of the soil and dropped around us.
