“I don’t have much time,” Cole said, kicking off the conversation. “What can you tell us?”
“Ivashov was a plant.” Miller shoveled in his eggs faster than he’d hoovered the donuts. “He let me take him from the hospital without a fight, and he endured the —” he focused on his meal to avoid eye contact with me “— interrogation for several hours. There wasn’t much left of the host when he snapped. That’s when all hell broke loose.”
Cole leaned forward, planting his elbows on his thighs. “Thanases?”
“No.” Miller crunched on his bacon. “War’s mate was nowhere in sight.”
“Well,” Santiago drawled. “Don’t keep us in suspense.”
“Sariah.” Miller let his announcement sink in. “She must have worn a tracker of some kind. There was no indication we had been followed, but she hit a certain point, and the weak act dried up in a hurry. She bared her teeth, ripped out of her host, and attacked. I could have taken her, but three of her siblings answered whatever distress call she was throwing out.”
“War is trying to take us out one by one,” Santiago decided, “weaken the coterie.”
“Starting with Miller was ambitious,” Cole countered then checked with the man in question. “Did she give you anything?”
“Nothing.” He closed the lid on his empty container. “She didn’t crack.” He sipped his juice. “She’s worse now than the last time our paths crossed. Whatever happened to her during the last century, it’s totally unhinged her.”
“Three of her siblings?” I swore I smelled smoke as my brain kicked into high gear. “Drosera siblings? As in born from a Drosera pair?” There was only one I could name: War and Thanases. “This Sariah is War’s daughter?” That’s what they meant. What they hadn’t said was that made her my niece. Conquest’s niece. “And you’ve known her how long?”
“Sariah is the only surviving child from War’s first clutch with Thanases,” Thom informed me. “She hatched first, and she ate her siblings as they emerged. None of War’s other children have survived as long. Sariah won’t allow it, and her parents approve of her ruthlessness. Sariah is War’s third, second only to her father. Her appearance portends nothing good.”
“Where has she been?” Santiago asked. “That’s what I want to know. That’s what we need to find out.”
“War exposed herself publicly,” Thom explained when it became obvious to him I was lost as to why her arrival was such a big deal. “Sariah ought to have been there, but she wasn’t. Thanases was the only senior coterie member we encountered. The others were young, inexperienced, easy to kill.”
That was easy? Dad almost died, Maggie lost her life as she knew it, and Cole had been held hostage at knifepoint.
“Cannon fodder,” Cole agreed.
“I’ll start digging,” Santiago volunteered. “Sariah wouldn’t have gone with Miller without a reason. We’re missing something.”
“You do that.” Cole rose, and the recliner sagged with relief. “Report back on what you find.” His gaze touched on me. “I need to get back to the bunkhouse. Portia is still weak from her transition. If Sariah is singling us out, she’ll start with the weakest link.”
Santiago scratched his jaw. “Portia would eviscerate you if she heard you say that.”
“Notice I said it where there’s no risk of that happening.” Cole scrubbed his palm over his bristly scalp. “She’s a top-notch fighter and a major asset to this coterie, but facts are facts. She needs more time to regain full strength. She’s a liability until then. We’re going to have to close rank and make sure she gets what she needs to recover.”
Having nothing to add to this portion of the conversation, I stood and started cleaning up the trash. I was dumping the containers in a trash bag in the kitchen when a tingling awareness swept over me, and I turned to find Cole camped out near the fridge, the point farthest away from me.
“Santiago told me there was trouble this morning.”
“I overslept and missed work.” I tossed an empty cup with more force than necessary. “Rixton drove out to check on me and bumped up against Santiago. It wasn’t pretty, but I’ve smoothed it over for now.”
When I didn’t elaborate, he prompted me. “What did you tell him?”
“More lies,” I huffed out on a tired laugh. “What else? He thinks I hired you to find Maggie’s remains. That seems harmless enough, so I let him believe he was right.”
“You had to explain us away somehow. We had no reason to still be in town unless we’d picked up additional work in the area.”
“Maggie used to pick on me because I sucked at lying. She could always tell.” I shuffled to the table and sank onto a chair. “Now I’m an old pro.” At this rate, I would have to start making notes to keep up with all the yarns I was spinning. “Every time I open my mouth, I betray someone. All those little white lies sure add up fast.”
“Things will be easier when you’re working for the NSB. Everyone will be on the same page there.”
So I kept telling myself, but I was starting to wonder if it got easier or if you simply got used to it.
“The things that make me human, that make me me, are the very things I’m leaving behind.” I voiced one of my greatest fears. “What if severing those ties gives Conquest a stronger hold on me?”
Cole kicked up his chin. “I’ll bring you home if you start backsliding.”
The promise held an edge. “The NSB isn’t going to let me leave every time I get homesick.”
“You’re an asset to them.” He stated the fact. “They’re going to do whatever it takes to hold you together. You’re the best weapon they’ve got in the coming war, and it does no one any good if you go off prematurely.”
Thunking my elbows on the table, I dropped my face into my hands. “I wish someone would pull the pin already.”
Footsteps pounded out a furious cadence across the room, and I gasped when my chair wrenched away from the table. Cole spun me around, got down on his haunches so I didn’t have to break my neck looking up at him, and shoved his hard face in front of mine.
“You’ve asked me to accept you’re more than a vessel for Conquest. You’ve asked me to trust that you will resist her control, fight against your own nature. You’ve asked me to have faith, when I lost mine so long ago I doubted ever finding it again.” He placed his palms on my knees, engulfing them in his warmth. “You say you’re Luce Boudreau.” His thumbs stroked the insides of my thighs. “Make me believe it.”
The subtle caresses short-circuited my brain. “What if I can’t?”
I hadn’t exactly had much luck so far.
“Conquest always gets what she wants at any cost.” Fluttering muscles chased the skin across his jaw. “One of those things has always been… me.”
“Oh, Cole.” I covered his hands with mine. “You don’t have to tell me.”
“Everything about her from the way she walked, the way she laughed, the way she smiled, reminded me of all I lost, all she took from me. I couldn’t stand the sight of her, but she couldn’t bear to be parted from me.” He extended his bare wrist, the scars a stark reminder of how bad I was for him, and offered himself up for my inspection. “She cuffed me with these and strung chains from them that she wore wrapped around her hips as a belt so that I was forced to follow wherever she led.”
Unable to glance away, I stared at the glimmering rose gold, hating we shared such brutal history.
“Her touch dirtied me. Her voice poisoned me. Her taste…” He flexed his fingers. “I tried to kill her. Many times. She grew to anticipate our battles.” His breath sawed from his lungs. “I sold her my soul, gave her dominion over me, and I had no recourse. She owned me, and she never let me forget.”
I rolled my lips in to stop from begging not to hear when I had to learn our history in order to understand our relationship.