The Staff and the Blade: Irin Chronicles Book Four (52 page)

“What?” Katalin shoved away from the table. “Where? How did—?”

“How many?” Damien asked quietly. “And how did they approach?”

The pale messenger said, “Two. They’re coming on horseback down the main road. One has the warden held at knifepoint in front of him.”

“Two?” Sari asked, glancing at Damien. “Coming down the main road?”

Katalin said, “Once the archers have them in sight, they’ll be taken care of. Calm, Edmund. Your father will be fine.”

“Tell the archers to hold,” Damien said. “If this man meant us harm, he’d obviously not be using the main road and coming in clear view.”

Katalin spun on him. “You do not have the right to call off my archers.” She turned back to Edmund. “The archers will fire.”

“They will not.” Damien strode from the room. He headed toward the front door, his mother on his heels.

“Damien! Grigori do not enter this valley. I don’t care who this man thinks he is, but—”

“He will enter this valley if he is an ally, Katalin. He’ll enter this house if it’s who I think it is.”

“You are not in command!”

“Are you so foolish?” He didn’t stop walking. He had to get to the main guardhouse. And get the roster and contact number for all the guardians who stood on duty regularly. “Our relationship with the free Grigori is tenuous at best. I’ll not have you putting an arrow through this one’s brain. Not when he’s one of the few sane ones in the lot of them.”

“Damien!”

He didn’t stop. Damien pushed the doors open and jogged across the courtyard. Within minutes, he was in the main guardhouse.

“Weapons down,” he said a moment before Katalin came barreling behind him.

“Do not lower your weapons!” she shouted. “Keep them in sight.”

The two archers on the wall didn’t turn. Their bows were raised and ready, but neither had drawn. Both were wearing top-of-the-line night vision goggles. Damien noted their relaxed stance and mentally added them to the sniper-training list.

“Kevin,” one said softly. “Please deal with this.”

Kevin stepped between Damien and Katalin. “
Praetora
, the intruders are sighted, though both remain waiting just outside range. Scouts have not reported any other incursions, though they continue to call in. The perimeter is being double-checked.”

“He is an ally,” Damien said. “Call them off and lower the gate.”

“Grigori do not enter this castle,” Katalin said. “Unless their head is mounted on the point of my ax.”

“Katalin, this man is coming here to help.”

“We do not need help from any Grigori.”

“I suspect the second rider is his sister,” Damien continued. “She is one of the
kareshta
. Rarely among humans or Irin. Sari specifically asked for Kyra’s help, and Kostas would never allow her to travel alone.”

“He has Fritz at knifepoint!”

“Because you are already trying to kill him,” Damien shouted. “Do you think he didn’t anticipate your welcome, Mother? Kevin, tell the men to lower their weapons. I will ride out to meet him myself.”

Katalin glared at him. “Kevin, ignore my son.”

The guardian sounded acutely uncomfortable. “
Praetora
…”

“Kevin,” Damien said, “I’m going to ride out to meet this man and his sister. I trust that the captain of the Rěkaves guard will not allow me to be skewered.”

“Kevin, bar the gate. No one leaves the castle.”

His temper spiked. His mother thought to hold him captive?
In his own castle?

Damien stepped closer, his eyes never leaving Katalin’s. “Kevin, lower the gate and saddle a horse for me.”

“Bar the gate,” Katalin said, her voice sure. “And tell the archers to fire when the Grigori is in their sight.”

Kevin said nothing, but Damien noticed the man hadn’t moved. He stood at calm attention, eyes darting between Damian and Katalin.

“They do not answer to you,” Katalin whispered. “I am their
praetora
.”

“And I am their
praetor
!”

Katalin smiled, and Damien could hear the clanging of the gate as it swung closed behind him.

The lock clicked.

Praetor
.

“And so you are,” Katalin said softly. Raising her voice, she said, “Kevin, saddle the
praetor’s
horse. Ready the castle guard to receive these… Grigori. They are under the
praetor’s
protection until such a time as they become a threat.”

“Did you orchestrate this?” he asked quietly, hating her in that moment more than he ever had before.

“Did I orchestrate your Grigori friend showing up unannounced, taking my warden captive, and holding him at knifepoint?” Katalin asked. “No. But neither am I one to let a strategic opportunity pass. I am your mother, Damien, and I didn’t read you fairy tales in your cradle. I read you
The Art of War
.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

“K
YRA
.” Sari embraced the nervous woman who was led into the library. “I’m so sorry about the… welcome. Damien’s mother is very, very old-fashioned.”

“Please, don’t worry about it.” Kyra gave her a soft smile. “I told Kostas we should have called. He’s in the main hall talking to Damien and your mother-in-law.”

Kyra was just as tall, thin, and ethereally beautiful as Sari remembered her. She was the daughter of Barak, an angelic ally of Jaron’s who’d been slain in the Battle of Vienna. Sari had always thought that Kyra, with her luminous skin and gold eyes, looked like a fairy princess.

Sari said, “I hope your journey was uneventful otherwise.”

“It was fine.” Kyra waved a hand. “I don’t live very far from here in fact. But please don’t ask me specifics, or Kostas’s head might fly off.”

Sari laughed. Kyra didn’t look any different, but two years of peace from the soul voices that had tormented her early life had given the woman a peace and assurance she’d lacked when Sari and Ava had met her. She was still soft-spoken but didn’t seem as shy, though her eyes were darting over Sari’s shoulder nervously.

“Kyra,” Sari said, turning to the others in the library. “I don’t know if you remember—”

“Leo,” Kyra said, faint color rising in her cheeks. “And Mala. It’s good to see you again. Both of you.”

“Yes.” Leo looked like he’d swallowed his tongue. “You look… well. Not that you looked ill before.”

“I’m not. Ill, that is. I mean, I’m well. I’m… better.”

“That’s good.”

“Yes.”

Leo and Kyra stood across from each other, nervous as sheep. Mala’s eyebrows rose, and she shot Sari a barely contained smile.

They’re adorable.

Sari signed back,
They’re clueless.

Doesn’t mean they’re not adorable.

Before Sari could fling Kyra into Leo’s arms, the door burst open and Damien came striding in, Katalin at his side and Kostas at his back. Two of Katalin’s guards trailed the dark Grigori, but he paid them no attention.

“Sari, thank you for waiting. We had to come to an agreement about protocol while Kostas and Kyra are here.”

Kostas went to stand next to his sister, subtly drawing her away from the others in the room. Sari wondered if he was aware of his actions or whether the overprotectiveness was so automatic that it acted like instinct.

“Damien has assured me that Kyra will have the freedom of the castle.” He offered Sari a grim smile. “I, of course, have guards.”

“I do agree with Katalin on this matter,” Damien said. “The guards are more for your protection than ours.”

“Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.” Kostas looked around, surveying the room until his eyes fell on Mala. “I remember you.”

Mala made no attempt to greet Kostas. Though Sari knew that Mala believed in the new order and respected the free Grigori, the reality of confronting the specter of those who’d not only taken her mate but robbed her of her magic was another thing entirely. Mala met Kostas’s eyes with cool regard.

“Hard to forget that face,” Kostas murmured under his breath before he turned to Sari. “Ava tells me you hunt Aurel?”

“We do.”

“He owes some fealty to Svarog,” Kostas said. “Are you certain you want to attract that angel’s attention?”

Damien turned to the men standing at the door. “Leave us. Close the doors and wait outside. I’ll call if you’re needed.”

“Yes,
praetor
,” both answered at once.

Sari noticed that the exasperated grimace on her mate’s face that usually accompanied the title had disappeared. Damien didn’t correct them. He turned away and waited for them to close the door, his face set in a stony mask.

She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Damien said, “Sari, Mala, Leo, and I were going over the plan before you decided to take Fritz captive.”

“There’s not a scratch on the man.” Kostas walked over to the photos and plans spread on the library table. “You’ve done your homework. Do you have anyone on the inside?”

“No. We have no idea if we can trust any of them.”

“You can’t. Not yet anyway.” Kostas cocked his head and tapped on a photo. It was taken in the early morning, a small child in what looked like purple pajamas curled in the arms of a guard who walked her up and down the dock. “But judging from these pictures… I’m guessing there are some of Aurel’s men who have loyalty to the children. This is a girl.”

Damien looked up. “Is that significant?”

“She looks to be around three years old. She’s alive and being cared for. Yes, it’s significant.”

Kyra said, “Angels who don’t kill their female children rarely care for them. They leave them at hospitals or orphanages. The girls don’t cause harm to the humans, so leaving them doesn’t attract attention.”

Kostas said, “And
kareshta
rarely make good soldiers. Still, this indicates…” He tapped the photo again.

“Affection?” Sari asked. “Is an angel capable of that?”

“No,” Kostas said. “I’d say it indicates possession. He likes to control his offspring whether he has use for them or not. And added to that is a guard…” He paged through more of the pictures. “More than one.
Guards
who are also caring for the children. They could be allies, but they’re probably not.”

“Why not?” Sari asked. “If we’re trying to free them from Aurel—”

“Remember,” Kyra said. “You are the bogeyman to those children. You are the ones who would steal them away. Kill their protectors. In those little ones’ eyes,
you are the bad guys
.”

Sari heard Katalin curse long and low, but she didn’t have time to think about Damien’s mother or the leaden feeling in the pit of her stomach when she’d heard the word “
praetor
.” There were human women and vulnerable children who were more important than her personal dramas.

“What do you suggest?” Sari asked.

“Women only to get the children,” Kostas said. “You have female warriors obviously.” His eyes went to Mala. “Use them to get the children. They will be expecting scary men with tattooed arms. They won’t be expecting women.”

Damien crossed his arms. “And?”

“Whatever educated guesses you’ve made regarding security for the little ones, toss them out. Removing the children safely could be harder than killing this angel.”

※

Sari hadn’t finished undressing for bed when Damien entered the room. Before he said anything, he came and put his arms around her from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder.

“How angry are you?” he asked.

“You’ve accepted the
praetor
ship.”

“Yes.” He didn’t move.

Sari let out a long breath. “I’m not angry yet. I’m processing.”

“I could make excuses about how she backed me into a corner, but I’m not going to. I’ve been thinking about it for days.”

She’d known. Of course she’d known. When he’d drilled the men with Katalin’s weapons master. When he’d walked the castle walls with Natalya.

“Sari, talk to me.”

She groaned and let her head fall back into his shoulder. “Damien.”

“Malachi is ready to take over in Istanbul. We both know it. If you can’t stand the idea of living here, we can live in Vienna and I can travel here when I’m needed.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t revamp the training regimen without being here.”

“
Milá
—”

“And I won’t live separately from you. That is not an option.”

His arms tightened around her waist, and Sari knit her fingers with his.

Damien said, “You’re making me feel very selfish right now. I should have consulted with you sooner, and I should not have let Katalin outmaneuver me.”

“I can agree with that. She played you expertly. You’re getting rusty, old man.” She turned in his arms. “But Damien, there is not a selfish bone in your body. You’ve avoided this for one hundred and twenty years because you know how difficult it will be.”

“It will be difficult.”