Balt

 

If I didn’t know any better, I’d have sworn Piper was up to something.

And with Kai, no less.

But Piper didn’t keep me out of the loop, I kept telling myself. Nor would she entrust Kai with anything since she wouldn’t want to put him in the awkward spot of keeping secrets from Isla.

The few days had passed too quickly. Tonight, the rendezvous with Frost was supposed to take place, but Piper seemed unconcerned. She’d made no mention of going and I didn’t ask her out of fear for the answer. It would make things simpler if she wasn’t there.

I already had my plans laid out, although I was avoiding thinking about any of that. It could wait till later. Especially since it had been keeping me up at night.

I’d gotten up early and penned a letter to Piper, hiding it deep within her luggage. I hoped she would understand I had no other choice.

Then, I’d wandered the empty streets, my heart aching. I’d thought, at least we had a little time together. And at least I got to show a little bit of Greece to Isla.

In a few hours, I would break the bonds and laws of the Shifters of Anubis to enact the revenge of the Kazans. Tonight, I was going to kill Lilian Frost and anyone she brought with her. After, I would either go on the run or take refuge on the Kazan estate.

My letter to Piper, I hoped, would take care of keeping her from tracking me down.

Plunging my hands into my pockets, I shivered a little in spite of the heat. After that last meeting with Kyría, it was like time had shattered.

Before was my life with the Weslarks and Shifters of Anubis. Being with Piper. Having hope for the future. Hell, having a future.

Now was the after. The smoking ruins as I accepted my fate as a Kazan.

Looking down at the mark on my arm, I wondered when it would start to change and ensnare my life, throttling it until there was nothing left.

I only wished I could have saved more Kazan lives. But at least with this task, I’d be assured there would be no more deaths by the Capitis Leonis. Kyría promised to smash it to pieces. And, eventually, the pollution of our bloodline would fade.

As would we.

Now that it was sunset, I’d made my excuses and gone to meet Gregor, who I’d enlisted to help me several days ago. Turning the corner, I saw him and jogged forward to meet him. His posture was shiftier than usual and he wrung his hands as I approached.

“Did you get everything I asked for?” I demanded.

“Yes, but–” Gregor hesitated. “She wants you back at the Estate.”

“Why?” I all but snarled, punching a fist into the wall. “I can’t leave Athens now. Frost will be here tonight only. She knows this.”

“Something has changed. She says that Frost will not be here – she’s fled. Kyría wants to consult with you about what to do next.” Gregor looked pained. “Frost must be stopped.”

I wasn’t sure what Gregor knew about Lilian Frost, beyond that she had a hand in murdering Filian. As I digested this information, I asked, “When?”

“Now,” Gregor said. “There’s a car around the corner.”

My heart sank, cold and hard, into my gut. I hadn't said goodbye to Isla or Kai. I'd given Piper an absent-minded kiss as I left.

This couldn’t be happening now – I had to have more time.

“Sir, please – she says it’s now or never,” Gregor said.

It was, wasn’t it?

Gripping the fesootai, I silenced the link between Piper and me, then stepped forward into the waiting SUV. Glancing out the window as we drove along, I looked up the street I’d just walked. Then, as we left Athens, I spent the rest of the drive picturing Piper leaning on the balcony railing, her hair caught in the breeze and a smile on her lips.

 

The last stray beams of sunlight were fading out of the sky as the car pulled up the Kazan drive. As it had been the first time I’d seen it – the house was lit as though for a grand party.

Lifting my head, it was then I heard a piano being played, the fingers quick like blades on the keys, a few notes sadly out of tune, making the instrument eerie on the lower tones.

It was Beethoven, I realized, walking inside and my skin began to prickle. The Moonlight Sonata, a piece that spoke of secrets and shadows.

No one was on hand to greet me – I’d at least expected Altair coming to gloat.

With no other choice, I followed the music, winding up in a room filled with shadows and tall trees between the pillars. The acoustics were amazing and as I glanced around, I knew it had been built for that purpose. Perhaps this had been a kind of ballroom once upon a time.

As I came closer to the piano, I realized who was playing and a choked noise escaped me. On the couch, under lights blooming like flowers, were three figures.

Closest was Lilian Frost, reclining with her legs crossed and one foot tapping to the music. She was wearing a red dress, with an arm around the little girl with braids next to her. Electra. And diagonal from her was my grandmother.

As the picture came together, my vision swam and I suddenly realized what an idiot I’d been. Frost was gently, carelessly holding a gun to the back of Electra’s head and my grandmother was staring at the ground, her lips pressed into a thin line.

All the while, Ras played the piano, his eyes closed and swaying in time to the music. I went to step forward but Frost shook her head and pressed a finger to her lips.

Standing there, helpless and filled with rage, all I could think of was how glad I was that Piper, Isla, and Kai were far away right now.

Finally, Ras finished and stood up. He was dressed in a crisp shirt and a pair of slacks, smiling as he stood and lifted a glass of wine to his lips.

“To the Kazan family,” he said with a cruel smile. “The people you can always count on to sell out their own.”

“It’s quite a legacy, wouldn’t you say so, Yiayia?” I asked, my voice empty and cold.

She didn’t answer, just seemed to shrink further into her seat as her head bowed.

“Zena Kazan was a force to be reckoned with thirty years ago, but no more. Isn’t it terrible what time does to us, Baltsaros? How unfair it all is. Life. Death. Love. Curses.” Frost paused. “Shifters. Families. All these messy ties that bind us in an irrevocable dance of fate.”

“You want the Capitis Leonis, don’t you?” I spat. “And Kazans to experiment on?”

“Lord, that old bauble with its lion juice to force shifting onto embryos? No. The Frost family has come so much further than that, Baltsaros Kazan.” Her eyes slit. “Yet, somehow, for all my family did for yours – you decided to turn on us, drag us down.” She paused. “Even kill us.”

My eyes went to Electra, who was pale but composed. Her hands were folded in her lap and she gave me a sassy look as I gazed at her. It both broke my heart and filled me with an ache of hope.

“Please, let the little one go and I will do whatever the hell it is you dragged me here for,” I said.

“Electra is part of the demonstration,” Frost said, making my stomach lurch. “She wants to be here, don’t you?”

Electra was staring at me as she nodded and I had a feeling she was willing me to understand something in those brown eyes. But I had no idea what.

My hands knotted into fists as Hunter suddenly appeared out of the shadows carrying a silver box, which he handed to Frost, who gave me a small smile and then popped it open. Inside was a small syringe and my stomach churned.

"Frost, don't!" I started to say when Ras casually threw a blade and my grandmother let out a soft cry. I stared in shock and horror at her bleeding cheek.

“Just a reminder to stay in your place, lion,” Ras said. “Let the doctor work in peace.”

This was madness, I thought, as Frost lifted the syringe.

Hunter had taken the gun and was training it at the back of Electra’s head, but with a small downward curve to his mouth. He looked more haggard than I’d seen him before and I could almost find it in myself to care.

Lifting Electra’s arm with the Kazan mark, Frost sniffed. “So crude. So old-school. Now that I’ve perfected my sancrosanctum, I don’t have to risk the lives of the innocent.” I almost laughed at that, but Frost continued, waving the needle, “But then, this handiwork is also quite old and it does the trick.”

Before I could move or breathe or blink, Frost had plunged the needle into Electra’s arm, into the heart of the mark and the girl let out a soft cry.

“Electra,” I said, anger and pain cracking through me like bones breaking. “No.”

But then she gasped, sitting up straighter and Frost removed the syringe, patting her head. Electra was staring down at her arm in wonder and then she smiled. The brightest, most blinding smile and I heard my grandmother let out a strangled gasp.

The mark had turned gold.

“You cured me?” Electra asked Frost slowly, in halting English.

“What?” I breathed, staring at her arm.

“Yes,” Frost said. “Now run along, Electra. Thank you.”

Still staring down at her arm in wonder, Electra exited the room with Hunter behind her and I went to move forward when Frost laughed.

“Don’t bother, Balt. If you so much as make a move at me, I’ll start with your grandmother and work my way through your female relatives until every last child is an orphan.” Her eyes glinted strangely. “It would be fitting, wouldn’t it?”

I said nothing, biting down on my jaw hard as I ran through every option I had. “So the Frosts still had the cure all along, Kyría?” I asked quietly, glancing at her. “You lied to me. I don’t know why I’m so surprised.”

“Don’t blame dear old Yiayia. She honestly didn’t know.” Frost said idly, spinning the syringe before placing it back in the box. I couldn’t help but stare at it.

Right there, barely ten feet away was the end to being shackled by the Kazan family. My entire body was humming with anticipation at the thought.

I could be free. I could go back to my life.

Piper’s arch smile, tossed at me as she glanced back over her shoulder hit me so hard I thought I saw stars. I could have everything I’d ever wanted.

And Frost knew it. Her smile was wide and satisfied. She had us all pinned in place.

I had to play this game with her.

With a sigh, I asked, “What do you want, Frost?”

“To put things right,” she said in a hard, clear voice, the smile slipping off her face. There was a flatness to her eyes as she looked at me and through me. A crinkle danced over my shoulders. “To avenge my family. We’ve circled long enough – waiting for this moment. Decades.

“Now is the time to pounce.” Frost tilted her head. “You’re pinned as a mouse by an eagle, Baltsaros Kazan. All those God-given gifts are useless to you.” Her lip curled. “I can see it in your eyes, but tell me – how does it feel?”

I didn’t respond, only met her glare for glare.

Frost glanced over at Ras. “Bring the next one in.” Then she looked over at Kyría and smiled. “Do you want to know something ironic, Balt?” Her gaze went back to me. “When Igor Frost was approached by the mighty Kazan family, he was so flattered. He thought it was a turning point.

“See, back then he was but a humble scientist, toiling away under the purview of Shifters of Anubis, who couldn’t give less of a damn about his great work. He apparently had a soft heart, that ancestor of mine.” She shrugged. “Can’t say I take after him.”

“Igor?” I asked slowly, cautiously. “Who is that?”

Frost looked delighted. “Oh, you don’t know?” Her gaze shot to Kyría who cringed. “You twisted the history around to make yourself look better, didn’t you?” Shaking back her ice blonde hair, Frost winked at me. “Oh, Balt. Our families have been intertwined in this from the beginning. Let me tell you the whole, dirty tale. Igor was paid mere pennies to concoct a way to prevent the fortunes of the Kazan family from failing.”

I glanced from Frost to Kyría. Her eyes were on mine and there was an ageless grief starkly written in the lines of her face. “Let me guess,” I said slowly. “Not enough lion shifters were being born and my ancestors decided to tamper with those ancient rituals they were once entrusted with…” My face twisted as I spat out the last words. “For insurance.”

“With nary a thought to the consequence, yes. Igor was afraid for them, he was. He cared about your family as they didn’t even care for their own.” Frost was clenching her fists and she stood up, pacing back and forth. “He warned them. He told Nilos he had no idea what the consequences would be. In fact, there’s a journal entry where he debates telling them at all what he’d created. The elixir to bring forth the lion born...

“But Nilos was a powerful and brash man. After Igor gave in and gave Nilos the elixir for the ritual, your ancestor had the Captis Leonis created. He pricked the finger of his pregnant wife. Lo and behold, a Lion Shifter with a mark of gold was born to them.

“Now for the irony.” Frost stopped and stared at me. “Igor knew it was a risk. He saw that the first son of Nilos was born with the mark of gold. But the second son had the mark of death, just as you do, Baltsaros.” She paused. “So, what did that soft-hearted fool do? He created this.” She gestured at the box next to her. “A cure. Igor told Kyros that the black mark was a sign something had gone wrong, but Kyros wouldn’t listen. Not even when the mark began to spread and the son fell ill. Your family held its name over the value of life. Something that has never changed.”

At that moment, Hunter appeared with Athena, who was swearing under her breath in Greek. Her eyes went wide when she saw me. “Baltsaros! They have the children!”

Crooking a finger, Frost watched as Hunter thrust Athena forward. As I went to move forward, Ras lifted a blade and the light hit my eyes.

“Stay, lion,” he said in a bored voice.

“Where is Electra?” Athena asked in a ragged voice. “What have you done with my niece?”

“Only saved her life,” Frost answered airily and Athena stared at her. “Hold her still.”

Athena jerked as Frost stepped forward and Hunter gripped her shoulders hard. A flash of silver danced across her arm and Athena gasped as the needle hit her mark, which I saw with a start had started to spread. I hadn’t even noticed before.

And then it was gone.

As though someone had wiped it off, like mopping up a spill of ink. Hunter let Athena go as Frost stepped back and Athena ran her fingers across it. Her eyes flashed and she lunged forward but was knocked to the ground by Hunter.

“I-I can’t shift,” she said, staring up at them. “What did you do to me?”

"Why saved your life," Frost replied. "Sometimes the cure works a little too well." Athena got to her feet slowly, chest heaving and she glanced back at me. “You can stay, Athena. Go sit by your grandmother and remind her of all she has to lose.

“Don’t you see Balt?” Frost asked, brandishing the syringe. “Igor offered use of the cure and they decided to test it on two children who had the black mark. So, the story goes, one was healed. One became an inanis. You never know. It’s a coin flip.” She paused. “But, he wasn’t a betting man, Nilos Kazan. No. To him, a future where lion shifters were lost wasn’t appealing. So, he forbade Igor to speak of it. Broke his spirit, his heart and ruined his name.

“Igor died young, sick at what he’d done. And it wasn’t until your father and uncle approached my family, hundreds of years later – after the damage got to the point where the ends didn’t justify the means – that Igor’s cure was rediscovered by your family.

“Of course, not right away. No, your uncle and father suspected it, but it wasn’t until Kyros moved to America and wormed his way into my mother’s good graces that he realized what his family had done. By all accounts, it broke his heart as Igor’s had been.”

“He never spoke to me again,” Kyría suddenly interjected, her voice wavering. “And that’s when we stopped using it.” Athena stared at our grandmother as though seeing her for the first time. “But your mother was a demon, Lilian, like the one she was named for.”

“Don’t speak of my mother,” Frost said softly. “She trusted Kyros and Maria. Let them into our home and trusted them with the plans for the TLO. And all the while, they were Shifters of Anubis double-agents, intent on stealing our family’s secrets, ones we’d once offered freely.”

Piper was right, I thought dazedly. She’s always right.

Frost was staring at me as though she expected me to say something. “I’m sorry,” I heard myself say. “Our families’ fates were tied together, weren’t they? When the Kazans became disgraced, so did the Frosts.”

“Hmph. Disgraced. Your family never fell out of power and had to scrape along the edges in the shifter world.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter, Baltsaros. Save your breath.”

Her expression was darkening as she turned to Ras, who slipped a hand into his jacket and pulled out a long black box. Handing it over to her, I felt a thrill of dread.

“Your family has taken too much. Too much power, too much money and too many lives.” Frost opened the box and tossed it aside, then flicked her finger on the syringe she pulled it out. A sludgy black liquid sloshed inside. “We all became orphans that night, Baltsaros. You, me, and Isla.”

“Isla?” My grandmother spoke up, startled, as she looked at me again.

Looking over at Kyría, Frost nodded. “Ah, right, Altair didn’t tell you.” Her tone was careless and cruel. “Your Penelope is alive. Goes by Isla now. And she’s a lioness shifter.”

“My youngest granddaughter is alive?” Kyría gasped and Athena gripped her arm to keep her from rising. “Kyros and Maria – their daughter?” Her eyes shone and then darkened. “What did you mean by Altair? He knew?”

There was anger and heartbreak in her voice, which seemed to amuse Frost. "Oh, he's been double-crossing you for years. Working with me, with Filian and who knows who else. I happened to mention to him that Isla Deluca was in all likelihood Penelope Kazan and he demanded once the TLO was done with her to send her along to him. Offered quite a pretty penny.”

Altair was Isla’s buyer? I thought, enraged and horrified. “Why?” I snarled.

“An inanis Kazan had not been born in quite a long time. I saw an opportunity, as did he. I wanted to test her – see what could happen.” Frost held up the syringe. “But now she’s of no use to me, although I suspect Altair hoped to use her as leverage against you, Zena.”

Altair oozed out of the shadows, a smirk on his face and Athena started up, only to be pulled back down by Kyría. Our grandmother’s face was a mask. “You betrayed your family?”

My cousin sneered at them. “Call it what you want. I knew it was only a matter of time before you sold out and agreed with the Decem, Kyría. Especially after that brat got sick, I had to take matters into my own hands. To protect us. You’re an old woman lost in the past. I’m like our ancestors – looking to the future.” Altair shrugged dismissively. “I did what I had to do.”

Kyría sucked in a breath like she’d been slapped. “You do no credit to the Kazan name, boy.”

“More than you,” Altair responded angrily and petulantly. “I thought of everything.”

Athena was glaring at him, her face white. “That’s how they surprised – how they got in here so easily, isn’t it? You let them in?” Her eyes flicked around the room. “These monsters who hold the children of our family at gunpoint? You bastard, I will destroy you for this. You are no longer my brother, Altair, do you hear me?”

“Enough,” Frost interrupted and stepped towards me. “Kyría, for all intents and purposes, Altair has been head of this family for years. I do my business with him and those who support him. And Athena, tell your sister, mother, and Ritsa they had better listen to him. Otherwise, no cure for your children or any of you.”

“You can’t do this,” I snarled. “Holding their lives like bartering goods. Be better than the selfish bastards who corrupted our pasts.”

"I plan on it," Frost said. "I'm starting tonight."

“How?” I demanded, clenching my fists at my sides. “What do you want, Lilian?”

She looked surprised to see me use her name. “I want to repeat history of course. Your uncle took my mother. Now I take you.”

I swallowed hard and looked at the syringe in her hands. A hollow sensation carved itself into my chest even as I straightened my spine. “Revenge?” I asked quietly.

“So much more than that, Baltsaros. You’re an example. Not only will your death destroy Piper…” Frost lingered on her name and I wanted to scream in agony. “But how you die will keep your family in line forever.” She smiled widely and her eyes danced with a manic light. “And you’ll accept this, won’t you, Balt? Because otherwise, I will bring those precious little Kazan children in here who have the black mark and give them this.” She gestured the syringe. “Until you agree.”

I didn’t hesitate. Striding forward, I stuck out my arm. Frost laughed as she ran her cold fingers across my mark and I cringed internally.

“No! No, Balt, don’t do this!” Athena cried out.

“Baltsaros – no!” My grandmother said, standing up in my periphery. “Please, Frost – take me. Kill me, not him.”

“She will stop you, Frost,” I said through gritted teeth. “Make no mistake.”

“Mm, possibly. If you were alive and by her side, fawning over her. She does like to be adored, just like Kai, doesn’t she? Like all Weslarks, really.” Frost said idly, lifting the syringe. My pulse began to race even as I tried to hold still. Every instinct was screaming for me to fight back. “Piper, yes, could have stopped me. But think of it, Balt. Right now, she’s standing at the Erechtheion, looking around and realizing I’m not coming. That she failed you.”

I couldn’t help but picture it. She’d be in gear, her hair in a bun and her eyes serious. Full lips set and a crinkle between her brow. Suddenly, I was thankful Kai and Isla were here. My throat and eyes began to burn. Other images of Piper were flooding into my brain now, sporadic and bittersweet.

A snarl escaped me and I tried to lunge at her, but I instead fell heavily on my hands. Frost began to laugh. “Oh, I almost wish she were here to see it. Athena, you can tell her, can’t you?”

I could hear Kyría weeping and Athena saying something.

But a cold, numb sensation was creeping through my veins and my thoughts were becoming sluggish. The hold I had on the fesootai vanished and warmth blazed through it.

But it wasn’t enough to stop Frost’s poison. Dull pain followed every last beat of my heart.

Pressing the fesootai to my lips, I thought,

A spiral of images of our lives together seemed to hit me. Piper and me sitting at the Weslark kitchen table, sharing snacks as we did our homework. Running to the beach together. Surfing. Watching the stars and naming constellations. Training together. Lying on the sand side by side. The sparkle of raindrops on her hair in London. Her laughter. Her soft skin.

And the look in her eyes on the balcony in Greece.

I love you, I thought with every fiber of my being. I love you and I’m so sorry.

Darkness was falling slowly and the pain was falling away. My eyes fell shut.

But behind them was a sudden explosion of gold and the fesootai throbbed.

I know, I thought I heard Piper say with her typical feistiness. And you should be.