The Staff and the Blade: Irin Chronicles Book Four (22 page)

“The humans, are they looking to blame someone?” Panic closed her throat. Visions of Irina burning. Cries of “witch” rising over a crowd.

“
Milá
, no.” Damien grasped her shoulders. “Think, Sari. Who would they blame?”

She took a deep breath and relaxed. There were no Irina in the city. They could not be targeted. No Irina had been in French society for one hundred years, at least. Her sisters were safe, even if the humans were not.

“Of course. I am sorry, Damien. The human deaths are awful enough.” She frowned. “But why—”

“I need your touch, mate.” He looked stricken for even asking. “But it is up to you. I go into battle and you cannot come. I have forbidden Gabriel from touching Tala as she is so ill, but the rest…”

Sari finally looked at who was in the company with him. She’d been so focused on Damien the other riders hadn’t even caught her attention. They were all there. Every mated Irin in the Paris house. Even the warriors of the village were readying mounts, kissing their mates and children good-bye.

“Then this is truly war,” she whispered. Mated Irin only asked for their singers to loan them power when they were going into battle. A simple patrol or strike was not deemed important or dangerous enough to weaken a mate.

“Sari, if you’re not feeling strong enough—”

“I am.” She took his hand and led him to their cottage. “Come, Damien. We must get all of you back to the city.”

“I am taking Farrin with me.”

She halted. “No.”

“Sari, I must. He is my weapons master. I need his arm.”

Something roared in her head. Some inner voice screamed alarm, but she tried to be rational. “But that will leave every warrior absent. Damien, I don’t think—”

“Sari, I don’t have time to argue with you. I need them in the city. Especially Farrin.”

“And we need someone here. The only able scribes will be the older men and apprentices.”

“What of the other townsmen? What of you and Abra? Sari, you’re making this worse than it is. The Grigori are not
here
, they’re in Paris. That is where we need our forces.”

“The men here have plows, not swords. The women…” She almost cried from frustration. “They know nothing of defense.” The other Irin mates retreated to their homes, but she and Damien stood on the path to their cottage, still arguing. “These men will not follow my direction like they will Farrin. If Farrin tells them to fight, they will without question. If I tell them, they will argue with me.”

“I will instruct them not to.”

Sari snorted. “Of course! I’m sure that’s all that is needed.”

“I am their watcher.”

“And you will be hundreds of miles away should something happen.”

“A hundred, if that. Don’t exaggerate,
milá
.”

It felt like hundreds. Felt like thousands some days. Thousands of miles away from her hardheaded, stubborn mate.

“Do you think I would leave you unprotected if I thought a threat existed here?” he continued. “The Grigori are in the city. Attacking there. Not here.”

She dragged him to their cottage and closed the door, pushing him toward a chair as she stripped off the top of her shift so that her mating marks were exposed. They already glowed gold, roused by anger, hunger, and her mate’s addictive scent. Damien removed his shirt and sat, holding his arms out for her.

“Sari, please.”

She went to him in silence.

“I don’t want to fight,” he said.

“I don’t agree with your taking the strongest scribes here.”

He held both her wrists. “We have kept the Grigori away from the village. They don’t even know this place exists. We have watched for any sign of them for years,
milá.
”

“They are evil, not soft in the head.”

He kissed her. “Then I will depend on my fierce mate to protect her sisters.”

There was no arguing with him. He’d made up his mind, and Sari could not change it. He was most likely right, she just hated to feel vulnerable, especially when she was far from her fighting best.

“Leave your sword.”

He nodded. “If you wish it.”

He had others in the city, but Sari knew if Damien was hunting, he would use his black, heaven-forged blade. He had no need of the short, silver-tipped sword that Sari used for training.

He put one hand on her belly. “This won’t hurt the child, will it?”

“Of course not, Damien.” She softened toward him. “Loaning you power could never hurt him. I can hear his little voice already. The baby is fine.”

“Her voice.” The ache was in his eyes. “I don’t want to leave you here.”

“But you must.” And he was taking all his warriors with him. For a moment, Sari felt relief. She wanted her mate surrounded by his fiercest in battle. If she couldn’t be with him, Farrin would have to do.

Damien pulled her forward until their skin pressed together. “Sing to me,
reshon
. Strengthen me that I may return to you whole and unbruised.”

Sari lifted her voice and poured her power into her song.

It wasn’t until hours later, after she’d slept away the worst of the exhaustion, that she realized Tala could not be found.

C
HAPTER
S
IX

D
AMIEN
approached the small rider trailing behind the company when they stopped to water the horses an hour outside the city. He didn’t recognize the stride of the young man, but was not surprised that one of the youngsters had joined them. He’d been eager for battle himself when he was that age. If the young scribe proved skilled, he’d put him with Farrin and let him feel his first battle blood. If he was useless, Damien could always leave him at the house.

“Brother.” The cloaked figure tried to dart away, but Damien caught his arm. “Hold, son. I’m not sending you back, I just need to…” His voice died when he saw who he was holding. “Tala?”

Her face was even paler than it had been at the beginning of the week. She was wearing men’s clothes and her hair was tied back. Dark circles were under her eyes. Carrying a child had not been easy on her. He hadn’t truly commanded Gabriel not to ask for his mate’s power. The scribe had insisted he would
not
, even on pain of discipline. Damien had not argued because the man was right. Tala was not hearty enough to loan her power.

But she was hearty enough to sneak onto a horse and ride with them.

“Gabriel’s
bloody
fist, Tala. What are you doing here?”

“I’ve already had this argument with Abra. I am a good rider.” She turned back to her horse. “It will not harm the baby. Not for months.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about!” He strode after her.

“I need to go with you. If you send me back with a brother, you will be one warrior less and I will sneak away again.” Her voice was quiet but firm.

“Tala—”

“I have seen more, Damien. I know where the house is.”

Damien paused. That cursed house. The vision had plagued her for over two years, but Damien had never been certain. Tala was convinced the place was real and not symbolic. Was it coincidence that this new vision came just as the Grigori of Paris started to move? Could it be the heart of the conspiracy?

“How? You and Sari looked for it everywhere.”

“I had another vision last night. Almost the same, but with more detail. There is a linden tree I recognize. It leans at an odd angle, and I’ve seen it at the end of a lane we walk regularly. I did not think any houses were built there. Perhaps it has just been completed or renovated. It could be—”

“It could be many things, but humans are dying right now. The Grigori offensive is already underway. Whatever they have been planning, they are attacking now, Tala. I cannot investigate this.”

“You can if it means finding out what their plan is,” she said firmly. “Think, Damien. There is no sign of a Fallen in the city, your knife is not needed, therefore others can fight as effectively as you. This is more important. I’m certain of it. If we can find their base, perhaps interrogate whichever Grigori is in charge, we could warn other cities. We need the intelligence, Damien. It is not only Paris at stake.”

He debated silently. Sari would be furious. Gabriel would be enraged. But Tala was superior to both of them. As seer, he could not ignore her. This vision had been tormenting her for two years, and the location of the house had only now been revealed. There must be a purpose in it, though Leoc himself might be the only one who knew what it was.

“I will go with you,” he said. “Keep hidden. If Gabriel sees you, he won’t be able to think of anything else. Stay behind at the house when I send the teams out. I will keep a small company back and then we will search.”

“We don’t have to look. I know where it is. The neighborhood is only a few miles from our own house.”

※

Gabriel met them at the door.

“Is Tala safe? The retreat?”

Damien avoided the first question. “I left my sword with Sari, along with instructions for the village. There was no sign of Grigori anywhere on the road. All the movement seems to be in the city. What news since last night?”

They had ridden to the village and back in three days. Damien was exhausted and the horses were spent. But night was falling and his men, flush with borrowed power, needed to be set to hunt.

Gabriel didn’t notice the slight figure lingering in the hallway, her eyes huge and aching and fixed on her mate. Damien pulled Gabriel into the library and toward the spread map of Paris on the table, giving Tala time to hide.

“We already identified five of their safe houses,” Gabriel said, his fingers pointing toward five chess pieces he’d used to mark the targets. “I’ve sent scouts out and all appear to be empty.”

“So they’re hunting.”

“They’re doing something.” Gabriel scratched his jaw, rough from days and nights spent poring over missives from his many informants. “The Grigori we’d identified who were previously so popular in the society pages seem to have disappeared, but the deaths continue. They are hunting in stealth now.”

A silent, awful part of Damien screamed,
Finally
! It had been torturous to watch their enemies grow and build in numbers without a single obstacle. The mandate of the council was sacrosanct. No Grigori could be killed unless he was attacking a human. Which meant, though Damien knew they had to be feeding somehow, they had not been killing, and he had not been able to attack them in their lairs.

“How many?”

“Sixty so far. One a cousin of the general himself. She was healthy two days ago. Napoleon’s people are in a quiet panic and the physicians have no answers. There are beginning to be rumors of poison and murder. I’ve sent men around to the priests, but we know not all have been reported.”

The poorest, the indigent, and the prostitutes usually made up the bulk of Grigori prey. Those deaths would always be overlooked.

“They’re moving in force,” Damien said. “It’s enough to justify our actions. Have you divided the men into teams?”

Gabriel nodded. “I haven’t made any changes to the plan you laid out. Every scribe is able and ready.”

“And those just back from the retreat are eager for combat. Make sure at least one is on every team.”

“Yes, Watcher.”

“I will stay behind for now.”

Gabriel looked up sharply, as Damien knew he would. It was unlike Damien to avoid a hunt.

“I have some intelligence I must act on,” he said quietly. “I cannot tell you more.”

Gabriel paused. “Is it related to her vision?”

“Yes.” That much Damien could confirm.

Gabriel nodded but didn’t press. “Very well. Farrin and I will take the lead in the field for now. If you are here, you can coordinate runners as they come in.”

“I’ll need a small team of men. Five or six should do. Men who know what it means to be quiet.”

“I’ll choose the most suited and shift the teams accordingly.”

“Good hunting, brother.”

Gabriel grasped his shoulder and squeezed. “And to you as well.”

※

Damien opened the door to his and Sari’s chamber. “I do not like lying to your mate.”

“I doubt you lied to him,” Tala said. “If you had, he would have known.”

“Avoiding the truth, then.”

She blinked hard. “Every night. I hear his voice crying out every night, Damien. He cannot come. If he does, I fear it will be his end.”

“You do this to protect him, but he would not want it.”

Her eyes glinted. “We protect the ones we love, even if it means holding back the truth. Would you ask Sari for permission?”

“No. But I would be willing to brave her wrath when she learned of it.”

“As I am willing to face Gabriel’s. But he cannot come. I know it in my heart.”

He took a deep breath and nodded. “I have sent the teams out. When they are away and the men Gabriel chose are left, we will depart.”

“Thank you for trusting me.”

“You can repay me by staying safe and listening to my orders.”