Left for Undead (16 page)

“None taken.”

She hated this and could tell Hunter did, too. Seeing
both Amy and Shogun behind bars in separate cells wore on every fiber of
Sasha’s being. But to the Fae’s credit, they’d transformed each cell into a
modified bedchamber, replete with a privacy screen. At least Shogun wasn’t in
agony anymore—at least not from the wound in his shoulder, which had been
patched up and was beginning to heal. But there was no measuring the personal
agony he was experiencing as he sat, freshly bathed, over a nearly raw steak
and sullenly ate so that his body could regenerate. He and Amy couldn’t even
touch fingers through the bars because the bars were silver coated and they
were Weres.

Clean clothes and a bath hadn’t made Sasha feel clean
or much better. The entire business of separating Amy and Shogun sucked.

“We’ll be back,” Sasha said as gently as possible.
“The moment Silver Hawk comes and Doc gives us word, this confinement will be
over.”

Shogun nodded but didn’t look up as she went to Amy’s
cell and clasped the bars.

“It’s all so unfair,” Amy said in a fragile voice, and
then wiped at two big tears that rolled down her freshly soaped cheeks. “Why
can’t we Weres touch silver? Why can’t I come to the bars and clasp them like
you.   or go in and out of the shadows so that I can be with my
fiancé? Why does the moon make us lose all self-control, but you are a wolf,
too, like my Shogun, and are able to keep your human much closer? I don’t
understand what they think will happen! Why are we caged? The Fae shot him and
he was no threat. Why would they do that?”

“Because they were aiming for you, and I would take a
hundred arrows that one should never mark you.”

Amy bit her lip and pressed her hands against the wall
that separated them and for a few moments Shogun just closed his eyes and breathed
in her scent.

“You bathed in lavender,” he murmured.

“Yes.   they said it was calming.” Amy’s
voice became a soft purr. “But knowing you will be all right is what helped.”

“In a few hours it will be midnight.   and
the pull you feel now is only a fraction of the power within that gets released
at the apex of the eve. If we are infected, there will be no control.” Shogun
looked up from his plate and stared at Hunter. “I will answer your other
questions for you, sweet Amy. Visit with me in voice, since we cannot touch. It
will give us something to focus on, something to keep us close to our human
side while we endure this torture. My brother and his mate cannot even fathom
how we feel..   They are Shadow Wolves; we are Werewolves. There is a
difference.”

Shogun left Hunter’s gaze and began to slowly cut his
steak. It was the most dignified dismissal Sasha had ever witnessed. The alpha
clan leader of the Southeast Asian Werewolf Federation had spoken. Sasha pulled
away from the bars feeling the sting of Shogun’s words. She could tell by
Hunter’s lowered gaze that he did, too. But what else was there to do?

They turned and left the dungeons, escorted back to
the main castle’s war room by three burly palace guards. Nine more hung back,
keeping their gazes lowered. Guilt stained their faces as they moved to lock
the outer dungeon doors and then take up their watch posts.

But the question that haunted Sasha was how could they
find out who called the Erinyes? Was that what was stalking the wolf
leadership? The bizarre thing was, however, something had cruised them and
simply spied on them without harming them. That wasn’t like any demon attack
she’d ever heard of. Most times when a demon happened upon you it was going in
for the possession or the kill. Whatever this was seemed like it was just
curious or gathering data. No matter what its purpose, the whole thing was
unnerving.

With no immediate leads at their disposal, the only
person to cross-examine would be the queen. Sasha released a soft sigh as she
and Hunter entered the war room. The last thing she felt like dealing with was
another pissed-off lover.

“How is he?” Sir Rodney said, pouring a stein of ale
all around. He stood as Sasha approached the table, and took a seat with Hunter
after she did. “This is all such a nasty business.”

“My brother is probably going to be all right
physically,” Hunter said, and then rubbed the nape of his neck. “If he is not
infected and the girl is not infected, he will be a happy man. If not, I might
as well go down there and put a silver bullet between his eyes. He will never
be the same again if Amy Chen has to be put down.”

“I don’t understand this thing that has happened,”
Queen Cerridwen said quickly. “Lady Jung Suk was a demon—she made a pact with
that traitor from my court, Kiagehul, to become invisible and to be able to
possess that poor girl. Therefore, when she was summarily executed, everything
of her should have gone away.” Queen Cerridwen stood and paced and then set her
cold blue gaze on Garth. “If you cannot redress that butchered spell, then I
will have my top advisors leave the safety of their haven to come help our
strong allies.”

“Now milady is usurping your advisors with her own?”
Garth said, narrowing his gaze. “ ’Tis a dangerous thing indeed, milord.”

“ ’Tis a dangerous thing to speak so rashly before my
queen, Garth. Do not forget your place.” Sir Rodney took a slow sip of his ale
and stared at Garth over the lip of his stein.

Garth simply nodded and stood back from the table. But
the brief volley of angry words gave Sasha the in to the conversation she’d
dreaded.

“If there was a breach in loyalty.  
treason, then could it be possible that someone in your court who has not been
routed out yet might be interested in your demise?” Sasha leaned forward,
studying the queen’s intense composure. “No blame against you, but they did
plot an overthrow before. The last time it was Sir Rodney’s. Could it be that
someone from the Unseelie Court is trying to implicate you in Vampire attacks
to cause a costly war.   then they could double back and strike their
own deal with the Vampires—selling you and Sir Rodney out, now that you’re
allies?”

“Completely Machiavellian and completely possible,
were it not for the fact that Rodney and I have swept our courts with the most
insidious round of spells we could muster. Truth spells and oath sealers that
would wither a liar right before our very eyes. All of our most trusted
advisors were subjected to this. Our inner circles are squeaky clean.” Queen
Cerridwen lifted her porcelain chin and drew up her fragile features. “That is
the first thing I thought, too. I like how you think.”

Sasha released a quiet breath of relief. The last
thing she wanted to do at the moment was offend Sir Rodney’s latest lady love.
This day and night had already been eventful enough.

“Even Kiagehul’s kith and kin have been interrogated
and bewitched,” Sir Rodney said, lifting his stein. “The Fae are ruthless when
betrayed, as well ye know. This time we left no stone unturned.”

“No offense, but the Vampires are equally ruthless
when violated,” Hunter said evenly. “I hope that you have barricaded your
establishments for the onslaught due tomorrow night.”

A sly half smile appeared on Sir Rodney’s face and he
shared a glance with Queen Cerridwen. “On the morrow, my wolf friend, the
Vampires will wish they had never beheaded a single Fae. Our establishments are
bespelled, readied for the attacks. We have imported the best magick slingers
from the old country—London, the Bonnie Isles, Wales, and my beloved Scotland.
They have sent their executioners from Romania and Transylvania and the old
Czech Republic, and so forth. They tipped their hand with the gargoyle
onslaught. Our advisors have scryed into the cauldron pools to learn of this,
using the skin of one of their captured beasts. They will rue the day they have
come to tangle with the House of Shannon of Inverness!”

“Okay.  ” Sasha said carefully. “But there’s
also a human population in the center of New Orleans where the French Quarter
is—where a lot of your establishments are and where the Vampire blood clubs are
located.”

“We are aware of this problem, but sometimes in war
there are sacrifices,” Queen Cerridwen said. “We have done our best to use
methods that will minimize human casualties..   Our forces are poised
to strike and then draw the fight into the bayou, but we cannot guarantee that
there will be no loss of human life.”

Sasha rubbed her palms down her face and leaned on the
round table on her elbows. “I understand, and given the circumstances, if it were
the wolf federations under attack, we would have to employ the same methods.
But this thing with the Erinyes is sticking in my craw.”

“And mine,” Hunter said, suddenly standing and
beginning to pace. “What was it that came to spy on me, Sasha, Shogun, and Amy,
but didn’t attack?” He turned suddenly, searching all the faces in the room.
“The Erinyes are demons, yes? They are Furies; rage is what propels them. So
why would they just come as invisible beings and stare at us?”

“That’s what we can’t figure out,” Sasha added. “It’s
as though whoever raised these things said, ‘Go check on the wolves in the
area, but don’t attack yet.’ We’re being monitored in a very weird way.”

“Erinyes redress the fury of the dead. If you are not
being attacked, then whoever raised those entities must not have seen the
wolves as culpable of whatever crime or offense they feel had been committed.”
Garth looked at Sir Rodney. “Which would certainly rule out the theory we’d
been working on that Kiagehul somehow left a backdoor spell that would avenge
him upon his death, so that those that had wronged him would be beset by
Erinyes. The wolves were the ones that hunted him down and dragged him to court.
The wolves helped us collect the implements to break his nasty spells on the
House of Shannon.”

“Right. That’s why none of this makes sense.” Sasha
sat back in her chair and took a sip of her ale. “We’ve been wracking our
brains on this, trying to figure it out from every possible angle. The Vampires
have any number of groups that could be pissed off at them. But there’s only a
few that can actually raise demons, have a human soul, and deal with the
element of cold like the Fae..   I mean, no dark coven is a match for
your Fae sweeps, and I doubt one would try to go against them, no matter what
the Vampires promised.”

Hunter looked up at the moon. “My grandfather should
be near by now, and Doc should have an answer.” He glanced back at Sasha.
“Perhaps once he has communed with my brother, we can go into the shadow lands
with him and walk near the demon doors for answers?”

Both Shogun and Amy looked up in unison as the dungeon
doors opened. This time no guards came in with Hunter and Sasha, only Silver
Hawk wearing his ceremonial garb.

“What is the meaning of this?” Shogun said in a quiet,
lethal tone, standing slowly, his eyes filled with rage. “You have come to
murder us in our cells with a shaman as witness! Will that make you both sleep
better at night?”

“You promised!” Amy shouted, and then rushed the bars,
forgetting about the silver and burning her hands. “At least open the cells and
let us die together!”

“No one will die,” Hunter said, presenting the keys.
“We came to beg your pardon and ask your forgiveness that precautions had to be
met. My grandfather came in ceremonial robes to marry you here and now if you
want, so that, Shogun, your one request—to not dishonor Amy—could be met. We
owed you that.   and if you would still like, we will also stand with
you at your more formal ceremony.”

Amy held out her hands, trembling as Silver Hawk first
opened her door and then placed a balm from his medicine bag on her palms.

“Child,” he said in his ancient, wise voice. “A
beautiful bride in a gossamer gown must be able to touch the face of her
beloved without pain. Trust me and allow me to heal you.”

Hunter opened Shogun’s door and was met with a warm
hug.

“Thank you, Brother..   Forgive my harsh
words.”

“No apology required. If I thought you were going to
kill my mate, my reaction would have been no less.”

“You know the Fae,” Sasha said with a warm smile.
“They have wronged you with an errant arrow and have rolled out the red carpet
to try to make things right. There’s a suite for you upstairs filled with the best
of everything. Be happy.”

Shogun left Hunter’s side and went to Sasha but looked
over his shoulder. “May I?”

Hunter nodded. “Yes.   because you are
settled.”

“I am settled,” Shogun said, and then drew Sasha into
an embrace. “Thank you, sister.”

She nodded and released him, glad that the butterflies
had gone, glad that there was no twinge of what-if in his eyes or her gut, even
under the full moon. Their eyes met and he gave her a brief nod that contained
a wistful sadness merged with understanding as he left her side and found Amy
in her cell. Patiently waiting until Silver Hawk had removed his hands from
Amy’s injured palms Shogun went to her and then drew her into his arms.

Their kiss was slow and questioning, building in ardor
as Shogun’s fingers threaded through Amy’s silken river of onyx hair. Silver
Hawk lowered his gaze and stepped away. Two Fae guards opened the dungeon door
as Hunter, Sasha, and his grandfather moved toward it, blocking the eager
guards from entering.