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Peri resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Visions were always vague and open to a dozen different interpretations.
“If you’re so sure I’m involved, why would you come to New Jersey then leave without even speaking to me?”
Tia pressed her lips together. “It was obvious that Maya was going to be a bitch about my presence. And the dream had the feel of the future. It wasn’t worth a confrontation when my dreams would reveal when I needed your presence.”
Peri didn’t have to be a mind reader to know the woman was lying. Or at least, she wasn’t being entirely truthful. Not that it mattered. She hadn’t traveled to this estate to talk about dreams. She was there to discover if this woman had any connection to the miasma.
“Why were you at the Jackalope Station?”
Tia’s brows arched at the abrupt shift in conversation. “And I should explain my movements to you because…?”
“One of your goons tried to kill me last night.”
Something flared in the dark eyes. “An unfortunate misunderstanding,” she said, a sudden tension humming around her.
“An even more unfortunate misunderstanding was that he put a bullet into Valen, the Cabal leader of New York,” Peri mused, not surprised that the woman was genuinely aggravated by her trigger-happy guard. Whether Tia killed a vampire in the past or not, she wouldn’t want to be connected with wounding the powerful leech. “And between you and me, he’s not happy. It would be a shame if Valen discovered who was responsible.”
Tia regarded her with a searching gaze. “You haven’t told him?”
“Not yet. I’m willing to keep my lips sealed if you tell me why you were at the bar last night.”
“Blackmail?”
“A barter,” Peri smoothly corrected, not bothering to tell the woman that Valen would easily discover where Peri had been regardless of whether she shared the information.
There was a long pause as Tia considered the various pros and cons of confessing her purpose in traveling to Wyoming. At last a slow smile curved her lips. The sort of smile that sent a chill down Peri’s spine.
“I suppose there’s no harm,” she murmured. “I had another dream. This one just a few nights ago. You were in it again, but this time I wasn’t seated on a throne. I was standing in the middle of a prairie surrounded by rabbits. I had no idea how to interpret the vision. Not until I happened to see a news story about the shooting at the Jackalope Station. I knew immediately what happened there was important to my future.”
Peri shivered, wishing the woman would stop including her in her dreams. It was weird.
“Why go there in the middle of the night?” she asked.
“I was hoping to avoid interruptions.”
Peri accepted the explanation. When she’d caught sight of the woman through the window it had appeared she was preparing some sort of spell. It was always easier to do magic without the annoyance of distractions.
“Did you discover anything?”
Tia narrowed her gaze. “That’s what you’re going to tell me.”
Peri frowned in genuine confusion. “How would I know what you found?”
“How did you discover the miasma?” Tia demanded. “The mages who trapped the magic were ordered to destroy the vessels. I’d heard through the grapevine that some of them survived and were hidden away, but I never believed the rumors. Not until last night.”
Peri’s heart missed a beat. They’d suspected it was the evil magic that had caused the deaths at the bar, but they couldn’t be certain.
“How do you know it was the miasma?”
Tia blinked, as if it was a stupid question. “I could feel the vibrations of its passing. Nothing else could have left behind such an intense residue of power. It’s…” Words seemed to fail her. Then she squared her shoulders, her features hardening with a sudden determination. “Honestly, I could barely believe what I was sensing. It’s been gone from the world for so long I never dared to hope it might return. Where did you find it?”
“What makes you think I found it?” Peri hedged, not certain how much she wanted to reveal.
“You will answer my questions,” Tia insisted, allowing a thread of magic to shimmer around her in an unmistakable warning. “One way or another.”
Peri grimaced. She wanted to dig in her heels, just to prove she wasn’t scared of the older woman, but logically she knew it wasn’t worth the pain. Unless Tia was the world’s best actress, it was obvious that she hadn’t known about the miasma until she’dsensed it at the bar. It was also obvious she knew more about the ancient magic than Peri. She needed to learn as much as possible about the nasty stuff.
“I didn’t release it,” she told the woman. “My mother did.”
