Death's Mistress

“Thank you,” I told him as icy water dribbled down my neck.

“I’m sorry,” Claire said, coming in with Aiden on her hip and a blond at her back. Her hair was extra bouncy today. I guess because of the curlers. “But he insisted. He seems to believe it’s some sort of magic cure-all.”

I surreptitiously passed the dripping offering to Radu, who put it on the nightstand. “I seem to be doing okay without it, although I’m not sure why.”

“I am,” the gorgeous blond man behind her said. He had a chair in each hand, both of which he put down in order to give me a kiss. “Hello, Dory.”

“Caedmon. When did you get here?”

“Last night, as soon as our time streams caught up with one another,” the fey king said.

“Heidar’s here, too,” Claire told me, “along with about fifty guards. It’s a madhouse downstairs.”

“It could be worse. Heidar wanted to bring half the army,” Caedmon said drily.

“We could have used them,” I told him. “How the hell didsubrand get loose? Claire said he was secure.”

“It was clever,” Caedmon admitted. “My sister wrote to me, begging to be allowed to see her son. Foolishly, as it turns out, I agreed.”

“Why foolishly?”

“Efridís is adept at glamourie—good enough to fool even our own people. She paidsubrand a visit, they spoke for a time, and she left. At least that was what my guards believed.”

“You’re saying she took his place?” He nodded. “But how? If you knewsubrand had her ability—”

“On the contrary. Glamourie has always been difficult for him; he takes after his father in that regard. But my sister was veiled when she arrived, and through the gauze, the roughness in his assumed features was not obvious. And due to her rank, the guards did not check her too closely. Meanwhile, their prisoner’s appearance was flawless.”

“Then you have your sister in jail?”

“At present, yes. She resumed her old form once her son was safely away. It is an untenable situation, however. I ca

“So she’s sitting around your hunting lodge, playing cards or whatever, while that son of a bitch tries to kill Aiden?”

“But from what Claire tells me,subrand was not trying to kill Aiden during the attacks. In fact, he never so much as looked for him. Both times he went directly after you. He even waited to attack the second time until he knew you had returned home.”

“He wanted me to tell him where Aiden was.”

“Did he say so directly?”

I tried to think back. It wasn’t easy. My brain felt fuzzy and my tongue was as dry as sandpaper. I sipped some of the water Radu had poured. “Not in so many words, no. But that was the idea.”

“But do you not think it is significant that he did not focus his attention on Claire? She was a double threat. Her null abilities allowed her to destroy the wards that made the constructs possible, and her Dark Fey heritage made her a formidable opponent, particularly when protecting her child.”

“Maybe he knew she’d never give up her son’s location and believed I’d be an easier target.”

“Perhaps. But he had fought you before and had not managed to break you. In his situation, I would have concentrated on killing Claire, then you, and then searched at my leisure for the child.”

Claire stared at him, horrified. “You would what?”

“I am merely telling you proper military procedure,” he told her patiently. “Andsubrand was trained as I was, to be logical in the choice of adversaries. Yet his actions here were not—if Aiden was his target.”

“You don’t think the Svarestri want him dead?” I demanded.

“Oh, they wish that, certainly. But I do not think they feel a sense of urgency. It will be decades, probably centuries, before he is powerful enough to pose a real threat.”

“They tried to kill him before,” Claire said angrily.

“Yes, but as a postscript, if you will, to an attempt to kill me. He became a priority only once they believed I was dead. Then he was the only thing standing betweensubrand and the throne. As long as I live, that is not the case.”

“Then you think the attack at the castle had nothing to do withsubrand?” Claire asked skeptically.

“Yes and no. I do not think he ordered it, but the main conspirator was the father of Ölvir, one of the traitors I was forced to execute after his recent coup attempt. The man committed suicide before we could lay our hands on him, but he left a letter. He said that as I had deprived him of a son, he would deprive me of a grandson.”

Claire shivered.

“subrand has been preoccupied with the search for Naudiz, in any case. Having an invincible commander could sway many to his cause, and it is a powerful symbol. It is only given to the heir to the throne.”

“But you just said he was after me,” I pointed out.

“Yes.”

It took me a second, but it finally clicked. “I don’t have it, Caedmon!”

“Not anymore,” he agreed, holding something up. It was a crudely cut stone, off-white in color and about the size of my thumb. A few scratches on one side formed a crude glyph.

I pounced on it. “Where did you get this?”

“That vampire found it.”

“Louis-Cesare?”

“Yes. I knew it was some ridiculous hyphenated name.”

“It was discovered under your body when he pulled you out of the wreckage,” Radu said, shooting Caedmon a less than friendly look.

“What was it doing there?” I asked, bewildered.

Caedmon shrugged. “It fell off your skin after its energy was expended, deflecting the blast.”

“Off my skin?”

“Naudiz is meant to be worn into battle. When cast, it melts into the skin so that it ca

“Like a tattoo?”

“No. The magical tattoos your mages wear are visible on the body. One of the advantages of Naudiz is that it is not. An enemy can therefore never be certain when the wearer is protected, and must assume that any attack made upon him will be very risky.”

“That is why everyone wanted it for the challenges,” Radu said. “Most magical aids would be detected. But Naudiz was specifically designed not to be.”

I stared down at the small thing on my palm, my head reeling. “I had it? The whole time I was ru

“And fortunately so. Had it not been, you would most certainly be dead.”

“But… how did it get there?”

“We got a theory about that,” a familiar voice said. It took me a second to recognize the guy who stood in the doorway. Because, for once, all his parts were where they were supposed to be.

“Ray. They put you back together already?”

“Good as new.” He walked over and bent down to show me his scar. “Better, really,” he said in a low voice. “The Senate’s got some good bokors on their payroll. When they finished with my neck, I had them look at… other stuff.”

“So no more Mr. Lumpy?”

“Naw. I’m a stallion, baby!”

“I’ll take your word for it,” I told him as he settled off to the side, well out of the sun.

I looked at Caedmon. “How did I end up with Naudiz? I wasn’t at the auction and I never met Jókell.”

“But I did,” Ray said.

“What difference does that make?”

Ray leaned back against the wall, getting comfortable. “We think it went down something like this. Jókell’s in the office, waiting on the luduan to authenticate the stone so he can get his money. The door opens, but he doesn’t sense anything dangerous, just some human looking for the john or something.”

“Because Christine’s power signature was deceptive,” I said. “She was one of those rare vampires able to hide her true strength.”

“Right. So he’s not worried. No human is go

“That’s not speculation,” I said. “I talked to the luduan yesterday, and that’s what happened.”

“Yeah, we talked to him, too, this morning. He said Jókell had the rune in his hand and was about to hand it to him to verify when Christine showed up.”