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Erik’s piercing gaze was almost enough to make me squirm in my seat. I knew he couldn’t read me, but sometimes I thought his intuition was as good a strength as any dragon power. And somehow, after Calista’s foresight about my destiny, it felt as if Erik found me lacking in some way, though he was too polite to say it.
“I must leave,” Calista announced suddenly. She drank the rest of her whiskey and then threw the glass against the stone of the fireplace, shattering it into shards of glittering dust. “I really hate this house,” she said, repeating her earlier sentiment. I wondered if it extended to the people who lived here.
Erik and I kept our seats on the couch, undisturbed by her theatrics, and watched as she exited the room with a swish of silk. I didn’t hear the front door close behind her, but I knew she was gone for good. Again.
“What are you going to do?” Erik asked.
Nervous energy pulsed under my skin like small electrical shocks, and I got up to pace around the room while I thought about his question. I wished I knew the answer.
“I’m going to get your blood off my hands, and then I’m going to go to dinner with a man I can’t read. A man, I might add, who has somehow managed to keep a file on me without my knowledge.”
“And you let him live?” Erik asked.
“For now. He intrigues me.”
Erik raised his brow in interest, but he didn’t say anything. He’d always been good at passing judgment without having to utter a word. I could tell he didn’t approve. Erik was fiercely loyal to our society, and in his opinion any threat must be eliminated immediately.
“I’ll deal with him how I see fit,” I said in answer to his silent question. “He could be of use to us.”
Erik stood so we were face-to-face. The look in his eyes made it easy to see why so many Romans had cowered in his presence.
“You need to stay focused as Enforcer,” he said. “Don’t let a mere human distract you from your duty to your people. Whoever is Master over these killers is outsmarting you.”
I stood straighter and moved in closer. “Since when have I ever done anything other than my duty to the clan? I said this human might be able to help me. My word is final on this matter. And since when have you ever shown any interest in my job as Enforcer?”
“Since your attempts at capturing these Drakán have proved unsuccessful.”
“I’ve always done what I’ve had to do. I didn’t wish for Calista to leave me to this job by myself. But I’m stuck with it, and I don’t care if you or anyone else approves of my decisions. I’m only one Drakán.”
I just didn’t care anymore. I’d stopped trying to gain anyone’s approval the night I had to fight Alasdair in a duel. He’d submitted my name under false pretenses as wanting to challenge him for Archos just so he could hurt me. I didn’t have any choice but to fight, even though I knew he’d arranged the match, and what he’d done to me earlier in the study was nothing compared to the horrors I’d faced at the gathering. The only thing that kept me sane through the ordeal was the reminder that he couldn’t kill me because I was an Enforcer. Lucky me. But the thick ridge of scars across my back was a daily reminder of what I was and where I came from.
“You’re right,” Erik said apologetically. “Yours is not a responsibility to be taken lightly. I just wish you’d take more care. You don’t know who this man might be, and it sounds as if he knows too much about you.”
“I’ll be as careful as I can be under the circumstances.”
“What are you going to do about The Destroyer?”
“My job. I’m going to have to travel to Julian’s territory and speak to him. I have no other choice if I’m to decide if he really is The Destroyer.”
“He’ll try to kill you if you cross into his boundaries. Not even the law protects you if you go into enemy territory uninvited.”
“No, but law says he has to wait until my investigation is completed and a verdict is passed before he challenges me. And only then if the verdict is not guilty.”
“Do you think someone like The Destroyer is concerned with Council law? Julian of the BelgaeisCouncil law. Even Alasdair fears him. He’s always feared him.”
“I have no choice, Erik. The entire Drakán race is in jeopardy.”
“You must do your job. Just remember that it is better to die with honor than to live with shame.” He gave me a shallow bow and exited the room.
I guessed by Erik’s advice that he thought I would come out on the losing end of a battle with Julian. I had to admit, I was pretty worried about that too.
* * *
I’d talked myself out of meeting with Noah Ford more than a dozen times. But as the day grew longer, and the time for a decision grew closer, I found myself indulging in the female rituals of the mating game. I selected my clothing with care, something sleek and short and sexy, and I spent extra time on my hair and makeup, wanting the right combination of innocence and siren. Human men seemed to want both when they searched for mates. I’d never understood why.
If I was being completely honest with myself, there were two reasons for keeping my date with Noah. The first was he could potentially have enough information to help me catch The Destroyer and the army he’d created. The second reason was purely personal. I had to know why I couldn’t breach his shields, and I wanted to know what I’d have to do to make his walls crumble.
I was pacing in the front entryway by six o’clock on the dot, stepping around the rubble of the marble floors. My stomach wasn’t quite as settled as a woman’s of my experience should have been. It had been a long time since anyone besides my family had made me uncomfortable, but there was something about Noah that was an unsettling mix of comfort and pure terror.
