CHAPTER 11
Ferro was sound asleep when he heard a commotion. The front door slammed shut, echoing in the foyer. Loud footsteps plodded across the marble floor. Dragon footsteps. It was probably Onyx. He took no chances, Catalyzing and stalking down the wide hallways he’d designed so he could manage them in Dragon form.
“Ferro!” She limped toward him, wincing.
Like the time she’d come to him so many years ago, injured and in need of him. She was the first being who had touched his heart. The only one. Funny, in his whole long life he’d always suspected others of getting close to him because they wanted something from him. Onyx had wanted something, too—his protection. For some reason he had accommodated her, and they’d grown very close these past years. He wasn’t sure if he loved her. Wasn’t sure what love was. But the thought of her dying struck fear in his soul.
He held her upright. “What happened?”
He saw at least part of the problem, a line seared across the top of her head, as though a blowtorch had been used in an attempt to cut her in half. He eased her gently to the floor. “A Dragon didn’t do this.” It was too sharply defined for a Dragon’s breath. “Let me Breathe into you.”
Dragons could heal faster and better when in their beast form, but Onyx needed some help. He sent his healing Breath into her, as he’d done that day she’d come to him. It bothered him on another level, her getting hurt like this. She had amassed so much power. Too much, but she would be handing much of it off soon.
Her shallow panting breaths calmed. He was dying of curiosity, yet he waited patiently for her to heal.
After a while, she struggled to sit up. “I had Paul Slade right where I wanted him,” she said in a weak voice. “I think I killed him but I didn’t get to Breathe him. Violet Castanega ambushed me.” She spewed the name as though she were spitting out poison. “And one of your Vegas. A Deuce.”
Violet. He knew she’d be trouble. She shouldn’t even be alive. If Kade had only— The rest of what she’d said hit him. “A Vega? Are you sure?”
“I saw the V on his arm. And he was skilled, tried to taser me.”
His chest felt heavy. “They were fighting…together?”
“Yes, definitely. I couldn’t believe it. First, that she was there and seemed to know I would be there. They were ready for me.”
He thought back to when the chit had been in his office, looking at the map. Had she deduced what the pins meant? She’d figured out there was something going on beyond restless Fringers. And Kade, he’d been questioning the order to kill her right from the beginning. Putting Ferro off, making excuses. Still, he hoped. “Describe him.”
“Six-two, very fit, dark blond hair. Square chin with a cleft in it.”
“Kade Kavanaugh.” The name grated off his tongue.
“Wasn’t he the one whose father tried to break out a prisoner twenty years ago?”
“Yes. Can reckless infatuation be inherited?”
Stewart Kavanaugh had been anything but reckless though. Other than defending his son’s rash actions and pushing his opinions in general, Stewart was the epitome of a stellar member of the Crescent government. Ferro didn’t know much about the situation, only that the prisoner made serious allegations against a member of the Concilium. Shortly after, she succumbed to the mental illness from which she clearly suffered. Ferro suspected there was more to it, but it wasn’t his concern.
“Rest, dear. I’ve got to go into Headquarters. I’ll be back.”
“I want to kill her.” Venom saturated her voice. “I deserve to kill her.”
“You need to recuperate. You’re too invested in her death. That’s probably what threw you off.”
“Being ambushed is what threw me off.”
“That may have been my fault. I didn’t think anyone would bother with the map. I should have kept it here or hidden. I will remedy that tonight. And you will rest.”
People obeyed his commands, even if they didn’t want to. He’d worked long and hard to gain that kind of authority. So why hadn’t Kade obeyed him? Ferro should have given this assignment to another Vega the moment Kade questioned the order. Questioned him, by damn. Kade was good, and it was his history with the Castanegas that should have ensured his quick and lethal follow-through. How had Violet Castanega weakened him? She was attractive, but surely that wouldn’t sway a Vega like Kade. Any Vega, really.
Kade would have to die, too. But Ferro had one resource to try first.
Mia headed into the Guard’s headquarters two hours before her shift. Her mouth felt like cotton, her heart like a tight little ball in her chest. Ferro had summoned her with nary an explanation, other than it had something to do with Kade. She was terrified at what he was going to tell her.
If Kade were injured, Ferro would have directed her to the Mundane hospital or the unit housed in Headquarters where magick could be used freely. She’d nixed that possibility. Which left…
He’s not dead. No, don’t even think it.
She walked through the main room, as busy as always. Crescents were more active—and troublesome—at night, when they thought they could get away with it. Those who were assigned to the night shift were more seasoned Arguses. They were the ones waiting for a Vega to retire…or die.
No, don’t think that.
Ferro’s door was closed as usual. The guy gave her the creeps. She wanted to think it wasn’t because he was Dragon. Though they all had an inborn prejudice, you couldn’t afford to indulge it when your life depended on a partner who might be a different type of Crescent than you.
“Come in,” he said in a flat voice when she knocked on the door.
She took in his face, desperately searching for an expression of pity. “Is Kade all right?” she blurted out because she saw nothing and couldn’t wait another second.
“That’s what I want you to find out.” He gestured for her to sit. “Do you know what happened to your father?”
She blinked at the totally unexpected question. “I know a woman escaped the psych ward and killed him.” Even during her stint working there, none of the old-timers would talk about what happened.
Ferro picked up a silver pen, regarding her thoughtfully. “It didn’t happen quite like that. I probably shouldn’t be the one to enlighten you.”
“No, tell me. I always knew there was more to the story.” Kade had never elaborated, and Mia had to admit that she was afraid to ask. It had to be something horrible and bloody and gory, and her dear brother was protecting her from it. But she was an Argus now, grown up and tough. Well, mostly tough.
He nodded, flipping the pen with the fingers of one hand. “A woman came in making all kinds of crazy accusations against one of the Concilium members. She was clearly delusional, perhaps schizophrenic. We locked her in the psych ward for her own safety. Of course, we investigated her allegations, as we are obligated to do, but they were unfounded. We realized she was a danger to herself, possibly others, and restrained her with the hopes of helping her. Unfortunately, she got worse.
“Your father went to see her. We don’t know why, as we could find no prior connection between them. He visited her several times, and then he tried to break her out. The woman didn’t kill him; one of our Vegas did when your father wouldn’t halt.” He flipped the pen over and over, pinning her with his cold stare.
She buried her shock and disbelief. Her throat was so dry she could barely push out the words. “Are you saying he fell so terribly in love with this woman that he threw away his career, his marriage—and ultimately his life—for her?”
“We don’t know what he was thinking, only the end result. They say love can blind us, can make us crazy. Perhaps this was the case. I’m sorry that I had to be the one to tell you.”
Her father, in love with a crazy woman? It didn’t make sense. She only had vague memories of her parents, stoic and serious people. Kade had told her how highly regarded her father was, how he’d risen from Argus to Vega to commander and then on to the Concilium. One of them was lying to her.
It hit her then that Ferro was telling her this awful story for a reason. One that was connected to Kade. She swallowed the knot in her throat. “Why are you telling me?”
“I think your brother has fallen into the same situation. He was sent to dispatch a woman named Violet Castanega.”
“The one who came here yesterday reporting her brother’s death?”
“Exactly the one. She, too, seems to be suffering from schizophrenia and is causing trouble beyond what I can discuss with you. I sent your brother on a mission, the type he has completed successfully many times.”
Her brother was a killer. She knew that, but he never talked about his work as a Vega, and she never asked. “I saw him leaving.”
“Not only has he been vague about why he hasn’t completed the assignment, but apparently he has also taken up with his target. Before I send someone out to remedy the situation, I am giving you a chance to get hold of him and find out what is going on. He’ll be more frank with you, I hope. And you will be frank with me.”
This time denial did rush out. “No, Kade would never take up with a Castanega. He hates them, all of them.” But she remembered the way he’d held Violet’s shoulders and leaned close, real close, and the way the fog in his eyes swirled like she’d never seen before. “Being a Vega means everything to him.”
“I thought so. He worked very hard to regain his status.” He flipped the pen again. “He didn’t tell you that either, I suppose, how I had to demote him because of allegations that he had been promoted due to nepotism. Kade was a different man then. Reckless, thinking he didn’t have to abide by the rules. A good Vega, yes, but a wild card. He worked hard, under a cloud of humility, to become Vega again, and his behavior has been exemplary. Until now.”
She was sad, shocked, and furious all at once. She surged to her feet, unable to sit for another second. “I’ll find out what’s going on.”
If Ferro sent someone else, would Kade be killed like her father was? She willed the panic from her face. “Don’t send someone else.” Realizing she was giving a commander orders, she added, “Please.”
As pissed as she was at Kade, she didn’t want him dead.