Authors: M.J. Scott
Shadow Kin (14 page)
“Not mine. Everyone’s,” Guy said. “You have a choice in the matter? Other than dying?”
“Not really. And your God wouldn’t want anything to do with me.”
He smiled and suddenly the resemblance to Simon was very strong. There was warmth and light and peace in that smile.
“My God believes in redemption. What matters is what people do when they are given a chance to change for the better. What they do with their choices. You’re being given a choice here.”
“If I stay here, there’ll be consequences. People might die. That’s not a good choice.”
“No one ever said redemption was easy. People will die if you return to Lucius, won’t they?”
But maybe not me
. And that was exactly the kind of thought that made me a less than perfect candidate for redemption of any kind.
. And that was exactly the kind of thought that made me a less than perfect candidate for redemption of any kind.
Guy started rubbing the sword with the cloth, long, easy strokes, watching what he was doing carefully as if giving me some privacy to think. I remembered what he’d said about having to earn permanent mercy. If I said I was going back to Lucius, then I knew the next time Lucius set me on a human that it was likely that the Templars would come after me.
Didn’t mean that they’d catch me, but it would make life difficult.
Just as having Lucius after me if I stayed here would make life difficult.
So, which should I choose? The known or the unknown? The sunmage and his unfounded faith in me? Or the familiar and unstable Blood Lord?
There was something about Simon that pulled at me, I could admit that much. Lucius’ blood might be complicating and amplifying matters now, but I’d been drawn to Simon the night we’d met and I couldn’t blame the need for that; I’d still had it controlled at that point. Simon had made it clear that he wanted me to stay.
But he didn’t know me. He was acting on whatever pretty fantasy he’d spun in his head about me. The damsel in distress and the valiant knight who saves her. What would he think if he knew the truth about me? Knew what I’d done? Knew about the blood? Both that which I’d spilled and that which kept me bound to Lucius.
Humans weren’t kind to the blood-locked. There was no cure for the addiction, and most who walked that path were given up as dead by their families. Which was a reasonable response. Better to sever the ties, to grieve and move on, than know your son or daughter or sister or brother was destined to be cattle. An easy source of food. The Blood preferred to create more Blood from humans who weren’t addicted, which is why they fed from the Trusted but did not feed them in return until it came time to turn them. Less chance of creating something insane.
There had never been love between the Blood and the humans, and the losses the humans suffered from the Blood’s seduction of the Nightseekers and the blood-locked only fed the enmity. There had been wars between the species in the past. The peace of the last fifty years or so was largely maintained by the convoluted rules set out by the treaties.
The Blood obeyed most of the time. The humans tried to make their people conform through social pressures, but the numbers of Nightseekers remained fairly constant. There would always be those willing to risk—or abandon—their daylight human lives for the lure of the Night World. Some, a much smaller number, even chose the enchantments of the Veiled World. Humans were at the biggest disadvantage of the races. If not for their numbers and their mages, they would’ve been subjugated long before. But they had survived.
So, where did I belong?
“Did he feed you?”
I jumped at the voice. Was I so distracted that someone could sneak up on me? Careless. Very careless. Such a slip could be fatal. I turned.
Apparently the sunlight had worked its magic. Simon lounged against the doorframe looking bright and golden once more in neat gray trousers and a comfortably worn blue jacket over his white shirt. No stinking leathers for him.
I wished I could simply soak up some sun and have everything feel better. “We were . . . talking,” I said.
I heard a soft click behind me as though Guy had put down his sword. Then wood creaked. My spine prickled. Was he easing back in his chair or standing? Armed Templar at my rear. Not a thought conducive to comfort, but I stayed facing Simon. Surely he wouldn’t let Guy do anything ? Simon smiled at me, positively radiating energy.
“She won’t want to stay if you starve her and wave your sword at her.” Simon frowned over my head at his brother.
Guy snorted. “I don’t think she scares easily.”
He sounded amused. I relaxed a little.
“Maybe. But I’ll bet she eats.” Simon focused back on me, frown deepening. “You do, don’t you?”
“Yes. I eat.” I could go for longer than a human without doing so thanks to my Fae blood. A trait that had stood me in good stead from time to time on long hunts, but eventually I needed food.
But it was a long time since my lone bowl of stew, and healing took sustenance. I was starving. I sat down in the chair with a nod. “Yes,” I repeated. “I definitely eat.”
“Excellent.” He smiled. “How do you feel about eggs?”
Promising breakfast might have been too hasty, I thought, surveying the contents of Guy’s pantry. Three brown eggs sat next to half a loaf of bread that had seen better days. No herbs, no jam. Plenty of tea and the vile chicory coffee Guy favored. Maybe there would be milk, butter, and cheese in the cool box.
I stared at the bare shelves, not yet ready to turn around. Not until I was sure the relief I’d felt on seeing Shadow sitting there at Guy’s table wasn’t written all over my face.
I’d thought she might well run. Yet she was still here. Of course, she didn’t yet know what we wanted from her.
I hadn’t yet determined how best to tell her that particular piece of information. Guy had agreed to give me a few days to convince her, but that hardly seemed long enough.
But she was still here. Every minute she was still here was a chance to convince her to stay for the minute after that.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to be a bountiful breakfast doing the convincing.
Still, I didn’t care if I was being recklessly optimistic. Regardless of whether she helped us, taking Shadow—gods and suns, I needed to find out her damned name—had been the right thing to do. I turned to shake my head at Guy. “Remind me to talk to Mother about hiring you a servant. One who might provide food occasionally—”
Pounding on the door interrupted me.
Shadow was out of the chair, hand on her dagger, before I could blink. Guy wasn’t much slower. Sword in one hand, pistol in the other, every inch the warrior, even though he wore nothing more than a loose shirt and ancient trousers.
Beside him, Shadow looked small, though no less ready. Or deadly.
My own pistol was under the sofa I’d slept on. Out of reach. Suns. At least I still had the dagger from last night.
Shadow looked at Guy. “Are you expecting someone?”
“No.” Guy glanced at her, then nodded once and tossed me the gun. “Take her out through the garden.”
The pounding started again. “Guy, we know you’re in there. Open up.”
Guy’s shoulders relaxed a fraction. “Templars,” he said softly, and Shadow turned pale, looking poised to flee.
Thank God she couldn’t use her powers right now or she’d be gone and I’d lose my chance.
But pale as she was, she stood her ground as she focused toward the door. “I smell Beast Kind.” Her voice was even softer than Guy’s.
“Templars don’t work with the Beasts,” Guy said.
“Then maybe those aren’t your Templars. Or the Beast might be glamoured and unseen.”
I tightened my grip on the gun. Guy’s apartment was well warded, but that only helped prevent anything from entering, not from surrounding them. “Why would a Beast be here?”
Both Shadow and Guy looked at me as if I were lacking my wits. I shook my head at them. “Yes, obviously they’re after her, but what I meant was, how would they know where we were?”
“Guy isn’t exactly inconspicuous. Someone must have seen you at Halcyon. They could be here for him just as easily as me,” Shadow said.
“Then why wait until now to make a move? If they waited for daylight, it would seem more likely it’s you they’re after.”
She shrugged. “It may have taken them some time to find out where Guy lived.”
“Or those are just Templars out there,” Guy said, looking skeptical.
Shadow hitched one shoulder. “Maybe. But I smell Beast.”
“Do the Templars know about her?” I ground the words through gritted teeth. I’d hoped Guy would keep his mouth shut about Shadow, but I’d known he would follow his own code of honor. He had given his oath not to hurt her, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t report our plan to the Abbott General. And he’d left the apartment for a time earlier.
A shrug. Then Guy’s eyes moved to Shadow. “Time to choose. If those are Templars out there, then I can talk them round if you’re staying. If it’s a Beast, I can buy you some time. Are you in or out?”
“What are you talking about?” I snarled. “Either way, we’re not handing her over.”
Guy lifted his eyebrows at this, but Shadow shook her head at both of us. “I’m in.”
Guy gave a curt nod. “Right. So get going, little brother. Just remember what we talked about. Take her somewhere safe.”
Easier said than done. If Shadow was right and Lucius already knew where she was and was willing to come up against a Templar to get her back, then not many places in the city would meet that definition.
Still, I could worry about that once we were safely gone from here. I grabbed her arm and ran.
Chapter Six
Simon dragged me helter-skelter through the apartment, out a back door—I should’ve known a Templar wouldn’t have a home with only one exit—and down several flights of stairs to another heavy wooden door.
“Wait,” I said as he reached for the handle.
“What?”
“Let me check first.” I gestured for him to move back.
He stood his ground. “How? You can’t do your disappearing act in daylight.”
I ducked around him. “No, but my ears and nose are a lot more sensitive than yours.” I moved closer to the door, sniffed the faint drift of air traveling from outside. It smelled clean. Like sun-warmed brick and grass and flowers. None of the musky earth smell of a Beast. Maybe they didn’t know about the back entrance.
Or maybe Lucius had sent Trusted with the Beasts. Not that I could detect any fresh human scents either. Just Simon behind me, a smell I did my best to ignore before the need could latch on to it.
It didn’t really matter what waited for us. We were safer on the run than trapped in a stairway. Still, I wished I had more weapons than just my dagger and the stilettos. I hoped Simon knew how to do more than twirl a pistol. Templar training should mean he was competent, and he’d fought well at Halcyon, but still . . . the thought of going out into the daylight with only my daggers and Simon’s gun made my skin crawl. Unpleasant choices seemed to be my fate right now.
I unsheathed my dagger. “All right. Let’s go.”
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