Cast Into Darkness (29 page)

Kate’s rescuer, Dylan Pearce, stood against the wall, halfway between the door and window. He was wearing khakis and a button-down. Kristof had seen the arsenal of talismans that lined Pearce’s jacket earlier—and he remembered the way Kate had clutched it tightly around her. If Kristof had had access to that kind of firepower, he wouldn’t have given it away to save a girl’s modesty. Not even Kate’s.

That arsenal sat secure in lockup now. Hopefully Pearce didn’t have any backups.

Kristof came to the table and sat opposite Grayson.

Grayson raised an eyebrow. “So you’re speaking for the Makris family. You have some nerve. You already broke your word once by keeping Kate.”

“I did what the operation required.”

“In my day, that was called being a faithless bastard.”

He felt heat rise to his face. “I didn’t—”

Stephano stepped up to the table. “Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Makris, are you ready to begin?”

Kristof nodded, redness fading from his face. A small smile played on Grayson’s lips a moment before his answering nod.

“Before we consider any of your demands—” Kristof had reviewed the long list Grayson had sent in advance of this meeting “—you have to take the orders of execution on me and Dmitri off the table. You have no proof that we violated any of the Rules.”

“Do you want to see the recording from the forensic reconstruction again?” Grayson said. “Dmitri’s guilty of attempted rape, attempted murder, and kidnapping a Null—”

“Kate’s no longer a Null, so let’s cut the crap.” Kristof pulled Kate’s silver earrings out, his hand brushing her pearl buttons as his fingers left his pocket, and placed them on the table. “And since she isn’t, then the attempted murder charge is void also. Casters are fair game.” He swallowed. “As to the rape charge—”

“Dmitri tells me the girl led him on,” his father broke in. Kristof’s jaw clenched. Dmitri’s smirk broadened.

Grayson didn’t so much as twitch. “No. He assaulted her. She fought back. Regardless of whether she’s a Null or a caster, rape is against the Rules. Since you won’t—or can’t—control your people, Nico, we have no choice but to retaliate.” He glanced at Kristof. “Against Dmitri and Kristof. Running an operation on a noncombatant—Null or not—is illegal, as well. Not only the operation you just ran but the one you’ve been running for months. Isn’t that right, Kristof? Or do you prefer Kris Stevens?”

Kristof fought to keep his expression cold and serious. It wasn’t hard to figure out how the Hamiltons had ID’d him as Kris Stevens. The conch-shell key fob Dmitri had carelessly left at the scene had given him away. At least he had the satisfaction of seeing Victor’s grimace at his failure to catch Kristof’s deception for so long.

Grayson continued, “As you won’t respond to our request to discipline your operatives, we use the only sanction we have available. Orders of execution. Two of them.”

Kristof’s father leaned forward. “Do you think holding your threats over my head is going to ensure I treat your little girl with respect? Ha! If you send your casters after my boys I will treat her like we treat our lambs: pull her insides out, roast them in the coals of my fire pit, and serve them with a nice bottle of tsikoudia.”

“You son of a—” Grayson began.

Kate’s father stirred from his seat and turned his focus on Kristof’s father. “Don’t. Touch. Her.” His quiet words echoed in the marble hall.

“You got our demands. You know how to ensure her safety,” Kristof said. His father had better not mistreat Kate. He might not be afraid of Kristof’s retaliation, but surely he would be concerned by Cooper Hamilton’s implied threat.

“We aren’t willing to discuss a cease-fire until you return Kate,” Grayson said.

“Then we’re deadlocked. And so early,” Kristof said.

“Do you want a war?”

“No more than you do. But Kate stays with us, as does the stone.”

“You have a poor track record of holding onto your artifacts.”

His father shifted in his chair.

“Perhaps the tide is turning,” Kristof said. “The Hamiltons lost the stone. Not the Makrises. Maybe you should cut your losses.”

“No. Some things are nonnegotiable. Return Kate to us. Unless you do, the attacks will keep coming. You know we’ll find a way through your defenses sooner or later.”

“Then I’m afraid Kate will have to remain our guest.”

Grayson’s lips narrowed into a tight line. He gripped the table hard, knuckles whitening.

DiOrsini broke in. “Perhaps now would be a good time for a break. There is wine on the sideboard, and antipasto.”

All around the table the participants rose, eying each other rather than the food and drink. Before Kristof could take Grayson aside for a little one-on-one negotiation, his father pulled him into a corner.

“You need to press them. Force them to concede. Why aren’t you—”

“It’s barely started, Papa. They aren’t going to give up anything until they’ve fought for a bit. That’s what you taught me.”
And with the restrictions you placed on me, I have almost nothing to negotiate with.
He’d love to give them Dmitri but his father wouldn’t let him. Giving up himself wasn’t an option, and Melina wouldn’t let him give them Kate. The only thing they had all agreed on was keeping the stone. Melina needed time to figure it out.

“Bah.” His father threw up his hands. “I’ll do it my way.”

Why did his father want him to run this negotiation only to take it over himself? Grayson spoke to DiOrsini over a glass of wine. His father walked past Kate’s uncle, cornering Cooper Hamilton instead, and whispered furiously in his ear. Kristof stalked to the table and speared a piece of cheese. So much for his role as lead negotiator. He just had to hope his father wasn’t giving away his life as a trade for the stone.

“So how’d you do it?” Victor was behind him, more than a little anger in his voice. Kristof didn’t have to ask what he meant. Victor had been in charge of Kate’s security—security Kristof had breached. He turned around.

“Why should I tell you?” He touched the ring he still wore on his right hand.

“You like to crow about it, don’t you? How you pulled one over on me? This isn’t the end of it.”

“Maybe it is. Maybe Hamilton fires you for incompetence, and you end up a rogue again.”

“Maybe I shove those words down your throat. Right after my people leave this useless excuse for a wine-and-cheese party, wipe that island of yours off the map, and bring Kate and the stone home.”

“If you could have cracked our security grid, you wouldn’t be here.”

A hint of a smile flashed across Victor’s face, so quickly that Kristof thought he might have imagined it. “What makes you think our operatives aren’t getting Kate and the stone right now?”

Shit. He couldn’t be telling the…
No. None of the monitor spells he had set on the security grid had been tripped. Melina hadn’t contacted him. Victor was yanking his chain.

“That look on your face was worth the price of standing here and listening to your crap, Kristof. Better check in with your people. Just to make sure.”

“No need. I know when you’re bluffing.”

“What if I’m not?”

Then I’m screwed. But at least Kate is safe. And with the way this negotiation is going, that’s better than what’s likely to come out of this meeting.

“Gentlemen, if I can have your attention, the Makrises and the Hamiltons have come to an agreement,” DiOrsini said.

Neat trick, considering the negotiator didn’t know about it. Victor resumed his place behind Kate’s father as Kristof took his seat at the table. The only two not in their places were Dylan and Dmitri, facing off by the door, the tension between them almost combustible.

Dylan lit the fuse by shoving Dmitri hard. “You aren’t going to walk away from what you did to Kate.”

“Keep your hands off me,
koproskilo
.” Dmitri stepped toward Dylan. Dylan didn’t flinch at the insult, but maybe he didn’t know Dmitri had just called him dog shit.

“That’s enough.” Kate’s father’s voice cut through the tension. Dylan’s head snapped to him, and his shoulders dropped.

Kristof’s father stayed silent, his eyes on Kristof, not Dmitri.

Great. He expects
me
to rein Dmitri in. Another stupid test.

Kristof squared his shoulders. How had Kate’s father gotten Dylan to stand down? “Dmitri. Let it be.”

Dmitri paused, waited long enough to let Kristof think he’d disobey here, in front of the Hamiltons, where disobedience would reflect worse on Kristof than Dmitri. Then he sauntered back to the far wall, and Kristof read the word
later
on his lips as he passed by Dylan.

DiOrsini cleared his throat. “These are the terms of an interim agreement worked out between Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Makris. This agreement does not cover the issue of the return of Katherine Hamilton to her family or ownership of the stone.

“First agreement: a cease-fire of three days during which neither the Hamiltons nor the Makrises will engage in any hostile activities toward the other family. This includes…”

DiOrsini went into the usual list of family operations, and Kristof tuned him out. Instead, he watched his father—and Kate’s. Their eyes were on each other, judging, Kristof guessed, their seriousness about keeping the cease-fire. He didn’t know how either of them could tell. As DiOrsini recited the Makris concessions, Kate’s father shifted his gaze to Kristof.

“…the Makrises will enforce the following sanctions against Dmitri Makris within the next twenty-four hours: five hours in the Makris torture Sanctum known as the Pit, two weeks of personal service, completely at their discretion, to the female Nulls of the Makris family.”

“Are you kidding?” Dmitri voiced his protest loudly. “What kind of a stupid—”

One sharp look from Kristof’s father silenced Dmitri’s whining. Kristof had no idea why Dmitri bothered to complain. Kristof himself had done worse to Dmitri in the courtyard yesterday. And when he had the opportunity, he’d do more. Of course, being at the beck and call of the family’s Nulls was a nice touch. Except for Dmitri’s inevitable retaliation against women who could do nothing to stop him. Had Hamilton thought of that? But still, the punishment hardly fit the crime. Why had the Hamiltons agreed to—

“The Makrises will enforce the following sanctions against Kristof Makris within the next twenty-four hours: twelve hours in the torture Sanctum known as the Pit.”

Kristof sat still against the back of his chair. So that explained his father’s eagerness to broker a side deal. Kristof would never agree to let Dmitri off so easily and take the harsher punishment for himself.

The Hamilton delegation rose to leave. Kristof looked up at Kate’s father.

“Why? Dmitri tried to
rape
her. I only—”

“Because, as horrific as your cousin’s actions were, Kate will get over his assault. We’ll bring her home, take care of her, make sure she understands nothing he did was her fault.” His gray eyes were hard as iron. “You are a different story. We knew she had a boyfriend. Victor checked Kris Stevens out, but your real identity slipped past him. I know you meant something to her—that’s why she tried to keep your relationship private. Your betrayal isn’t something she’ll get over with some counseling. Think about that while you’re hanging upside down in the Pit.”

Hamilton turned and stalked out, his delegation following.

Oh, he would think about it. He glanced over at his father. In between thinking about how soon Melina could complete her investigation of the stone so he could use it to kill the heartless bastard sitting next to him.

“You sacrificed me to the enemy for a tactical advantage?” His throat felt so tight he could hardly speak. He didn’t understand the shock, the hurt. What had he expected?

His father slapped him on the back. “It’s only twelve hours, Kristof. Be a man. At your age, your grandfather had me in there for days at a time. A small price to pay to give your sister the peace she needs to work on the stone.”

Easy for him to say. He wasn’t scheduled to be hanging in the Pit.
More’s the pity.

His father went off to talk to DiOrsini about monitoring the terms of the agreement—both sides would want to know the other kept their end. Normally talking to DiOrsini would be his job, but, well… He pushed his chair back.

Something else about the deal stank like week-old fish. The Hamiltons had made a fuss about not agreeing to a cease-fire until they got Kate back, then caved when they got him and Dmitri punished for breaking the Rules. That made no sense.

That wasn’t it, not exactly.

I’m monitoring our security. They gave my father what he wanted in order to get me out of the way for twelve hours.

That must be why. Though something else nagged at the back of his mind. The Hamiltons shouldn’t have negotiated at all. Kristof’s family held all the cards except one—they wanted the Hamiltons to end their attacks. All the Hamiltons needed to do was refuse to cooperate, and eventually his father would have had to make concessions. Coming to the bargaining table now was preemptive. So why had they done it?

And what else happened here that I missed?

Kate struggled to
her knees at the foot of the bed. She studied the woman in front of her.

“Melina Makris?”

Melina nodded. She offered Kate a hand up.

“What happened to me?” Kate asked. “What did you do?”

A smile quivered at Melina’s lips. “Isn’t that obvious? I saved you from being eaten alive.”

Kate stiffened. Melina tapped out a spell, chanting low guttural words in a language different from the one Kate’s family used. But the chant seemed to work fine as they vanished from the bedroom and reappeared a second later on the patio of a windswept cottage set high on a cliff. Old stone tiles felt warm and solid under Kate’s bare feet. The breeze brought in the smell of the sea, and for a moment, Kate remembered home. She blinked back tears—couldn’t show weakness. Not to a Makris.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“You don’t get to ask the questions here. I do.”