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Either way, I’m positive I’m not going to like the answer.
Chapter Five
RHYS
We reach the entrance of what is, in fact, a game room, and the conversation grinds to an immediate halt. One, lone, billiard ball, plunking into its rightful pocket is the last sound to be heard. As I hit the bottom stair behind the girls, I feel the frisson of a threat in the room, the hair on my arms standing on end.
Aurelia might have her visions, but I have a fully developed sense of when shit is about to hit the fan. Before she can move, I drop the duffel and step in front of her. With my body, I block whatever attack may come, my arm reaching back to clutch her to me. If we need to escape, she’s coming with me—I don’t care if I have to throw her over my shoulder like a fucking caveman.
I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again.
I manage to refrain from drawing a weapon—not that it would do any good—but it is a near thing. In the presence of a king, drawing a weapon would be a one-way ticket to a death I wouldn’t be able to regenerate from.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the runaway oracle and her boy toy,” a deep voice rumbles, rough as gravel but with a spark of humor.
The man attached to it isn’t tall nor is he short. John Black’s features are nondescript: medium-brown hair threaded through with silver, medium-brown eyes, slim straight nose, thick straight eyebrows.
Even his name is unremarkable.
To the eye, he’s nothing special. But looks can be deceiving.
His daughter and her guardian have been my friends for many, many years, but I have yet to meet John. And while the king still owes me a boon, meeting him hasn’t been high up on my to-do list. It may have something to do with the battles I fought against the wraiths when I was still a member of my Legion, still under the thumb of our Primary, Iva. Or it could be that my family—my brother in particular—was tasked with killing John’s wife.
Dealer’s choice.
My brother failed in his endeavor, and I made sure Olivia Black survived the attack on her home. I sold out my own brother to the enemy because I didn’t like the sanctioned murder of an innocent woman. Killing is not a phoenix’s purpose. So, I put a stop to it.
Delivering my brother to the wraiths seemed like my only option at the time. Phoenixes are supposed to be good. We’re supposed to send souls on to be reborn.
Not change the future.
Not kill the innocent.
Nothing but helping souls move on.
Iva’s been changing the game for centuries, twisting it, and us as a species, into something ugly. I threw a wrench in the spokes of her evil wheel by letting Olivia Black live, and in turn, Evan was born.
“John.” I offer him an abbreviated nod in deference instead of the full bow expected of me, my arm still clutching Aurelia to my back, keeping her out of the way.
No way in hell am I taking my eyes off him, or the seven men scattered throughout the room like land mines, no matter what Evan said about proper protocol. Each man has the appearance of leisure, lounging on couches, leaning against the pool table, sitting on bar stools with beer bottles in their hands, but I know differently. One, or maybe none of these men are my friends.
Safe house my ass.
Just as I think the dam of tension will break and kill us all, John calmly rises from his stool. Striding over to me, he takes my hand in his firm grip and slaps my shoulder in greeting. His mouth—that had been set in a hard line—turns up into a smile, and each of the seven men in the room relaxes their posture to one of true leisure.
But what’s more disconcerting is the gusting breath of relief that wheezes from West’s lips. When I was counting threats—like an idiot—I hadn’t counted him. While he’s been my friend for the better part of a century, I’m not altogether sure which way West would lean if it came to blows between the king and me.
“I’m glad you got out safely,” he says with a warm smile, nodding to Aurelia. “Though, I’m not sure it was a question you would with both of you there.”
She moves from my grasp, cautiously positioning herself a step behind me. I look back at Aurelia and see her face is carefully blank, her wide full lips slightly parted on an indrawn breath. Her shoulders are relaxed and loose, but after years of observing her, I can tell it’s more in preparation to strike rather than a gesture of good will. Her eyes flick from John’s to mine, and in the nearly mint-green gaze is a hint of unease.
I know I’m right to be wary right now. Keeping my body relaxed, my mind tenses, my spine burns, and my wings ache to break free.
“All it takes is one lucky shot,” she says. “Even I know that.”
I think she’s referring more to her win over John than Thad’s quick demise, deferring to the king.
“Well, either way, it’s good you got out of there. From what Evan and West told me, soon after you left, the place was swarming with soldiers. After you’ve cleaned up, I think we need to have a discussion about how safe you guys are here. Please, make yourselves comfortable and we’ll meet back down here when you are ready.”
