“Have you tried it?”
“Not yet. But I’ve imagined doing it many times.”
The enemy of my enemy is not my friend. Not even a little bit. “What do you want?”
“Hugh had his shot. He failed. It’s my turn. I’ve been authorized to offer you this.”
He held up a photograph. On it, Christopher and Robert sat next to each other at a table. Robert’s smart eyes were blank. Wet tracks marked Christopher’s face, and his eyes were red. He had wept. He was back in the hands of the man who’d broken his mind. I would walk on crushed glass barefoot to get him out and my father knew it. Now, he was using it against me.
“They are unhurt,” Landon said. “His offer is as follows: if you can walk into Jester Park, take them by the hand, and walk them out, all three of you will be granted safe passage out of his territory. You must come alone. Whether you succeed or fail, the people who are waiting for you by the fire will be permitted to return to Atlanta unmolested.”
“And if I refuse?”
Landon turned to the vampires. “He wants to see you. If you choose to ignore his invitation, the two men will die and I will unleash what you see here on your camp. He has no doubt that you will survive the massacre. Perhaps the werelion may survive as well. The rest won’t be so lucky. The choice is yours.”
The werelion would not survive. We both knew it.
Robert’s words came back to me. But now they know you have a weakness and they will use it against you. They will take someone you love and threaten to kill them, because they know you won’t pass up that bait. I know it, they know it, and now you must understand it. You have to prepare to sacrifice your friends.
I couldn’t do it. It wasn’t in me. I couldn’t sacrifice the people who had risked everything to keep me breathing. I couldn’t let Curran or anyone else by that fire die here in this nameless field.
I looked at the Golden Legion waiting below. It was only a small fraction of what Roland could bring out, and I knew my father wouldn’t stop. He would keep culling my friends one by one, until I stood alone. Everyone I cared about had become a target. I’d known it would happen. Voron had warned me about this. He had taught me that friends made you vulnerable. I ignored his warning. I started it all with my eyes open and chose to let people into my life, knowing I would have to one day face the consequences. Now it was my responsibility to keep them safe.
It had to end. I had to end it now. I had to face my father.
If I did this on Roland’s terms, Curran and I would be over. I had promised Curran that when the time came, we would face Roland together. He loved me, but if I told him that he had to sit on his hands while I went to my death, he would leave me. He would forgive me almost anything else, but not that. But if we went there together, it would be double suicide.
“How did Hugh and my people survive?” I asked.
“Your father was watching. He held the undead and my people went down to retrieve the two men and the preceptor.”
If he wasn’t lying, it meant my father stopped that entire undead mob with a single effort of his will. The scope of that power was staggering. Curran and I wouldn’t get out alive.
“Tell me why I should trust you.”
“A fair question.” Landon tilted his head. “If your father simply wanted to capture or kill you, he could’ve done it a number of times. That is one of the reasons d’Ambray is out of favor. Teleportation is too unpredictable for anything but escape from certain death. He took an unnecessary risk with his life and with yours. The relevant question is why d’Ambray did it. Why imprison you inside Mishmar when he could’ve simply teleported you to Jester Park or dragged you there in handcuffs? The instruction given to d’Ambray was exactly the same as the one given to me.”
“And that is?”
“Persuade you to come to Jester Park of your own free will.”
“Why?”
“Your father has his reasons. He chose not to share them with me. But you should know that when he gives his word, he doesn’t lie.”
I laughed under my breath. Walk into my parlor, said the spider to the fly.
“Yes or no?” Landon asked quietly.
If I went, Curran would try to come with me and we both would probably die. If I told Curran no, we would be over and I would probably die. If I told Landon no, everybody would die. No good choices.
It was my turn to make sure the person I loved made it out of Mishmar alive. I could just sneak out in the middle of the night. Or lock Curran in a blood ward as soon as the magic wave came. Even if he broke through the ward, it would take the wind out of his sails and he couldn’t follow me.
Except I loved him. After our last fight, he promised me he would always be honest with me. I had promised him the same thing, and now I had to play by the rules.
“I’ll tell you in the morning.”
“I need an answer,” Landon said.
I stared at him. He didn’t look fazed.
It took me a full ten seconds to realize he couldn’t see my psycho stare through the vampire’s eyes. Nice going there, champ. “You’ll get your answer in the morning. If you did your homework, you know that I think logic and restraint are overrated. If you push me, I’ll get my people and see how many of this famed Golden Legion I can kill.”
“You’ll lose,” Landon said.
“Yes, but I’ll have a great time and take a hell of a lot of you with me. In the past few days, I’ve been threatened, teleported, drowned, starved, and locked in a cage while being forced to watch as people I care about died. I have so much rage in me, I’m having trouble keeping it inside. If you push me, you have my word that I’ll make it my personal mission to find you in the melee and slice your head from your body. I’d enjoy it. It would be fun for me. If you somehow manage to survive, you’ll have to go back to my father and explain how you had me in your grasp, but you were too clumsy and you failed, just like Hugh, and now a lot of vampires and I are dead. Somehow I doubt he would accept my head as a consolation prize. You’ll have my answer in the morning.”
I let go of the vampire’s mind, got up, and moved over to the fire. Curran still lay on his back.
“I know you’re awake.” I lay down next to him.
He opened his gray eyes and looked at me. I loved him so much, it hurt. I loved everything about him. The way his eyes lightened when he laughed. The way they shone with little gold sparks when he wanted me. The way his thick eyebrows came together when he was pissed off. I loved his nose that never healed right. I loved the stubble on his cheeks and the hard line of his jaw. I loved that he called me on my bullshit. I laughed at his jokes and I loved that he laughed at mine. I loved that no matter where I was he would come for me. That he would always be there, helping me cut my way through the mess that was life.
I leaned over to him and kissed him. I kissed him, trying to tell him all of the things I couldn’t put into words. I tried to tell him that I loved him, that he meant everything to me, and that I would fight for him. Nobody would take him away from me, because if they tried, I would carve a path right through them. He kissed me back, and tasting him was heaven. He was right here, alive, warm, and mine—but only until tomorrow. I held on to him. I’d just gotten him back. I couldn’t lose him. Not now.