The tone of Brianna’s voice, the absolute hatred and dread, had apparently given Aern an idea of what, precisely was wrong with the picture. “So,” he said, “we will assume he wasn’t helping you to save the Seven Lines, the dragons his forefather created.”
“No,” Brianna repeated, unable to voice the truth while looking at anyone but her sister. “He thinks he is the chosen one, the heir to the dragon’s name.”
It took longer than it should have, for her audience to make the connection, but she felt more than heard their final comprehension. Logan was a statue behind her, only the memory of his hands, the heat of his body assuring her he was still there.
“He wants to create a bond,” Emily said, “with you.”
Chapter Twenty-five
Shadows
“Brianna burned through their connections,” Callan said. “None of them are left.” He said the words with all the confidence he could manage, even though a lie told to these shadows could cost him more than simply his life. He wasn’t used to having to resort to deceit, but he knew better than to attempt his gift on them. Not without the bond in place. Not without Brianna.
“And the other girl, the prophet?” the shadow asked. “What of her power?”
“She is under my control. There is no need to remove her until we have the chosen in place.”
It was more than a simple untruth. He’d been working for months, since before she’d been found. It was no small thing to convince an army of shadows to go after the wrong girl. But the prophecy had been working with him, and the girl’s own mother had practically laid the path in place by marking her sister as a decoy. They only wanted the power Emily held, intended to destroy the prophet. Brianna had assumed they’d wanted the wrong sister, and they had, but only because he’d misled them. To keep her safe.
“You assume too much, weak-blood. We will decide when the prophet is removed.” The shadow stood, the light of the hearth fire flickering behind him when the air shifted. When his power swelled around them. “The only thing keeping her alive is the secret. And if you don’t find it soon—”
His words didn’t so much trail off as end. Both Callan and the shadow knew what the outcome would be if he failed.
“Sir,” Callan said, inclining his head to go.
“We are watching you, son of Acacius,” the shadow said in a low, even voice. Callan looked up from beneath his brow, his gaze connecting with the liquid heat in the other man’s eyes. It was more than a warning when an ancient spoke his disgraced father’s name, and there was no mistaking the menace in his tone. “Do not disappoint us again.”
Again. The word ran through Callan’s mind as he backed from the room, lost at the implication. Had he let go of Brianna’s power too long, had some part of the shadow’s prophecy came to their seers? Or was there something else, some other misstep he’d not realized? The shadows who had attacked Council would have lived to tell, but he had wiped their memories after Emily’s work was done. Even if they found their way back, they’d be no danger to him. There was no way they would reveal his plan.
The heavy wooden doors closed behind him, and he held his head high, glancing absently at the empty hall. There were no guards waiting—these shadows didn’t need protection. But they’d given him a new team, a set of men he was to prepare for the next assault. They would certainly try for Emily, thinking she was the prophet, but it would only take them a moment to realize the truth and change course, as the other shadows had, to understand they had been deceived, that Brianna was their true prize.
He walked toward the main hall to gather his new charges, the ones he would lead straight to Brianna, and wondered how he was going to save her this time.
Chapter Twenty-six
Brianna
“It doesn’t work that way,” Emily said again. The last few minutes had been tense, once the initial shock of Brianna’s announcement wore thin and they’d sent a messenger to find Wesley. Emily pointed at Aern. “He doesn’t take anything from me. He has never drained or hurt me.” She leaned closer to her sister, who sat heavily on one of the padded chairs, eyes averted from Logan’s. “This guy is bad, Brianna. He isn’t trying to save you.”
“You think I don’t know he’s bad?” Brianna shot back, running a hand over her arm as if her skin was crawling even now. “But he’s the only thing stopping them, Emily. He was the one who warned us they were coming.”
Aern stepped forward, wincing at jumping into their quarrel, and said, “You aren’t disagreeing on that. No one thinks this guy is harmless.”
Emily’s glare shot to Aern, daring him to argue that they shouldn’t find and destroy the shadow who was drawing from Brianna. Now.