PACING THE LENGTH OF KEIR’s living room, I waited for Waleron to get his ass to the Talde house. Xamien had told us what happened with Delara and then Traced to check some locations that Zurina may have taken her.
Zurina had Traced Delara from the Realm—those who sat on the Deaconry could Trace with a Scar to or from the Realm, but that was it.
Zurina had wanted Delara in the Realm. The threats in Toronto and Spain were to force Waleron to take Delara to the Realm.
Balen and Danni stood by the door with their hands interlinked while Ryker leaned against the archway into the kitchen, ankles crossed, knife in hand as he rhythmically ran his thumb back and forth over the sharp blade. Blood dripped down the edge of the knife from his thumb.
Keir said something to his brother, Hack, who nodded and jogged from the room and went upstairs, likely to his computer. He was a genius when it came to anything technical.
I stopped pacing and everyone’s eyes shot to the stranger who’d Traced into the living room. Ryker, Keir, and I surrounded him within a second, but it was Ryker who had his knife to the stranger’s throat.
“Who the fuck are you?” Ryker growled.
“I’m Glunk. Xamien’s butler.”
The guy was short and stocky with a balding head and a bulbous nose. Unusual for a Scar to look like him, as we all carried the trait of being tall. But his steady gaze and calm manner while a knife was held to his throat were confident enough to be a Scar. With one finger he gently pushed Ryker’s knife away and Ryker allowed it. Then he bowed his head to each of us.
“Butler who can Trace? Hardly,” I said.
“I’ve been with the family for centuries,” Glunk said.
Waleron appeared in a cloud of mist at the entrance of the living room and nodded to Glunk.
“Waleron, is it true?” Keir asked. “Did Zurina betray us?”
Waleron’s face was emotionless, but he was pale and his ice-blue eyes were haunted. “Yes.”
I slammed my fist into the wall. “What the fuck? That bitch. I swear, if I find that traitorous Healer, my arrow is going up her goddamn—”
I stopped as a calm energy seeped into me, and I inhaled a deep breath. What the hell? I peered around the room and Glunk was staring at me with a half smile. Holy shit. It was him.
Glunk was definitely a Scar and a damn powerful one. With him able to manipulate my emotions and cause the calm, he had to be a Reflector. But a Reflector would normally smother the emotion. What Glunk had done was strip one emotion and slowly fed another. Like Waleron and Delara’s daughter, Rayne.
He stopped pushing at me and turned to Keir. “I believe we’ll be able to reach Delara through Dreamstepping,” Glunk said. “But we require Xamien.”
“Dreamstepping?” Keir asked with surprise. “That’s dangerous and complicated. Not really liking the risk.”
Keir had Dreamstepped with Anstice when she’d first learned about the Scars. She’d been freaking out about the concept of us existing, as she’d grown up unaware of the other world, so Keir put her in DS and Dreamstepped with her.
In the dream world, Keir was able to control images and manipulate Anstice’s emotions by changing the vision and how she felt. But, if you died in Dreamstepping, you died in real life, and vice versa. A person could be lost in the abyss of dreams and never be found again. Xamien had to be able to have complete control over his dreams and Delara’s.
“Xamien’s mother is a witch. She practiced Dreamstepping with him numerous times while he was growing up.” There was effortlessness and subtle confidence in Glunk, as if he were unconcerned about any of this. Or Glunk was so overly confident that he had no doubt Delara would be found unharmed.
Keir rested his hand on the back of Anstice’s neck. “Delara’s location is off the grid. Won’t be easy. She can’t be woken if shit goes down.”
Glunk shrugged. “Nothing worthwhile is easy. Where is Xamien?”
“Here,” Xamien said, striding into the living room from a cloud of mist in the foyer. “I searched every place I can think of. There is no sign of Zurina, Tarek, or Delara. Tor is combing the land and Urtzi the air, but it’s too vast. It will take too long.” There was tension on both Taldeburus’ faces.
“Zurina called me.” Waleron’s words sounded strained. “She Traced Delara to Tarek. She claims we will never find her and he will make her suffer for speaking out against him at council.”
“Fuck,” I muttered, collapsing onto the couch, head in my hands.
“I can reach her,” Xamien said. “Delara and I have mindweaved for years. Our connection is strong.”
“I’ve been trying to reach her and can’t,” Danni said. Balen tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “She may be drugged or unconscious.”
“Jesus Christ,” I said, slamming my fist onto the coffee table in front of me. “How the hell did this happen? She had two Taldeburus watching her. Why the hell—” A knife embedded in the wood coffee table beside my fist. My eyes shot to Ryker.
He lifted his brows as if daring me to retaliate. “Shut the fuck up. Losing your cool wastes my time and everyone else’s.” He casually walked across the room and yanked the knife from the coffee table.
“Even if she’s drugged, I can reach her,” Xamien said. “Though reaching anyone while unconscious is… a risk.”
“Xamien,” Glunk warned.
“It’s our only chance.” Xamien looked at Waleron when he said it.
“What do you need?” Keir asked.
Xamien nodded to me. “You’re her closest friend, Jedrik. I need you and anything you can think of that will link me to her.”
“I’ll get her room ready,” Anstice offered, heading to the stairs.
Glunk clapped his hands together. “Bueno. No time to waste.”
Waleron nodded to Balen, then Traced from the room. “Where the hell is he going?” I asked Balen.
“To find and kill Zurina.”
I stood staring at the tree, the same one she’d fallen out of so many years ago. Where we’d shared our first kiss. She’d been so innocent and sassy, with a smile lighting up her eyes like the brightest stars.
I’d never bothered to look at the stars until I’d escaped Jasmine. It had been the first thing I’d done—looked up at the moonlit sky and searched for Delara’s eyes before I Traced to the Realm.
Maitagarri. Don’t leave me.
I pressed my palms to the trunk then fell forward, forehead resting against the rough surface.
Every breath I take is easier with you. Every heartbeat. Every part of me is yours.
The bark dug into my fingernails as I held on to what I had let go of. Her. The woman I’d given everything to and then taken everything from.
Over a century ago, I’d stood in this exact spot with her and known she was the reason for my existence.
I shoved away from the tree.
My Ink had been soothed by Max, but soon it would rise again, and this time I didn’t have the pills to numb its rage.
But if anything happened to Delara, my Ink could have me. And then there’d be nothing left of me. Only rage and death.
Zurina had done this. A Healer, and a woman I’d trusted. She’d sat on the Deaconry with me for centuries. She’d known me as a child, had been my mother’s friend.
Why would she lie to me? Why would she destroy the woman I loved?
It was like ice picks chipping away at my insides. Drilling. Stabbing. Hitting every nerve. What the hell did Zurina gain from helping Tarek?
Did it matter anymore?
I’d find her, and when I did the red-haired bitch was dead.
I Traced to every place in England and numerous Taldes, but there was still no sign of Zurina. She knew I’d hunt her. She knew I’d eventually find her. Maybe she wanted me to? Where the fuck would she go? Somewhere poetic. Meaningful to me. Somewhere I’d been with her before.
With my mother. Fuck. A place she knew I’d hated as a child—Zugarramurdi and the cave to the Stream of Hell. The water from the stream drained our abilities and made us vulnerable.
It was also where humans could become Scars, but it was risky, as the human had to drown and then return as a Scar. Balen’s maite Danni had made the change two years ago, and survived.
The moment I Traced into the cave, I knew Zurina was here. Her scent attached itself to the stale, moist air, and her breath echoed in the emptiness. I also sensed others, maybe five men, but they were deeper in the cave. Rogue Scars.
Zurina had learned a lot from my mother. But I’d always thought how unusual it was that Zurina was so kindhearted while my mother had been a cold-hearted bitch. Now I knew that Zurina had been a bitch all along.
The only sounds were the crunch of my boots on the loose soil, the stream flowing through the cave, and Zurina’s breathing. I stopped, seeing her sitting on the edge of the small pool of water.
“She used to bring you here all the time. Do you remember, Waleron?” Of course I fuckin’ did. “At night when no one was around.” Her fingers swept through the surface of the water. “She’d put you in here and watch you struggle to stay afloat.” Zurina shook her head, sighing. “You cried, sinking under the surface, only to emerge choking and coughing. If you cried too much, she’d dunk you under. It didn’t take long for you to learn, even being so young, that if you didn’t scream, she wouldn’t push you under.” Zurina closed her eyes and her voice grew colder. “I watched, knowing the water made you weak. Like it does all Scars. I never helped you. Never tried to convince her that what she was doing was wrong.”
She cupped a handful of water then let it spill slowly through her fingers. “Our weakness, and yet so powerful. That’s why she did it. She said, if you were forced to stay in the water and grow weak, eventually you’d become immune to it. That it would make you more powerful than any other Scar, because the Stream of Hell wouldn’t affect you. That’s all she ever wanted for her son.”
“And it failed.”
She shrugged. “True, but then many spells are discovered through trial and error.”
“I was two years old.” I’d been afraid of water for years. Had nightmares. The torture had been all for nothing.
I walked farther into the cave, closer to Zurina, who looked completely at ease sitting on the side of the pool, her feet beneath the surface. That didn’t make sense, as it would be draining her abilities.
What the fuck was she up to? “Why did you do it?” I wanted to know before I fuckin’ killed her.
It was the first time she’d looked at me and I was unaffected by the anguish I saw in the depths of her eyes. I tasted her remorse sifting through the air. It was too late for that.
“I made an oath to your mother. A blood oath. I was to protect you. Make certain you kept your oath to the Goddess, and to her.” Zurina met my eyes. “You broke that. Delara became your oath above all else.”
“I never broke my oath to anyone,” I ground out.
“Yes, you live for the Scars. You sacrifice yourself for them. But if it came to a decision—Xamien or Delara—whom would you pick, Waleron? Who lives and who dies? The Taldeburu or the Tracker?”
“There is no ultimatum.”
“True.” She shrugged. “Not now, but I warned you twenty years ago that you weren’t thinking clearly, when she lay dying, and again in the Realm.” Her voice raised an octave. “I told you to let her die. I warned you to let her go. You should’ve listened to me.”
My blood ran cold and I froze. Delara had been dying in a ditch. Zurina had repeatedly refused to help her, claiming Delara was too wounded to heal. That it would be too painful. That she couldn’t do it by herself and was too weak.
Fuckin’ lies.
“Yes. She was a threat to your oath.” Zurina sighed. “Waleron, you were never meant to love. You were born to be a Taldeburu, to lead us. Loving her tainted that.”
“Twenty years, you waited. Why the hell didn’t you just kill her yourself, damn it? Why!” I smashed my fists into the cave wall and rocks crumbled to the dirt floor. “Tell me!”
“I’m a Healer. My oath is to heal. I could not break my oath and assist you with keeping yours.” She tilted her head to the side and looked at me curiously. “When did you stop taking the pills, Waleron?”
“What?”
“The diazepam isn’t in your bloodstream. I’d be able to smell it if it were. You really shouldn’t have done that. It will be much more painful for you when she’s gone.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Dread sank into my bones.
Zurina laughed. “Oh, Waleron. Why do you think I gave them to you? I thought they would be enough to make you forget her, but they weren’t, were they? But now… now you will finally be free of her.”
“Goddamn it, I never asked to be free of her! I love her. I’d sacrifice everything for her.”
“And that is the problem. That is why we are here right now.”
“I never asked to be a fuckin’ Taldeburu.”
She sighed. “Your mother always hated swearing.”
“Yeah, well you and my mother can go fuck yourselves.” I sent a blast of energy at her. She raised a shield around her body and my blast reflected off it. Fuck, it was her shields that had protected Tarek.
“Don’t waste your energy trying to kill me,” Zurina said. “I’ve saved you the trouble. The rocks on my ankles will hold me under.” She pushed off the side and slipped into the water, her fingers holding the edge. “I know what I’ve done may seem wrong, and you may not understand why, but know that I love you like my own child. I did it to protect you from yourself. And I’m doing this for our oath to the Goddess.” She nodded to the left, and several men appeared from the darkness of the cave. “They will keep you contained for a few days until Tarek is done with her.”
I raised my hands and blasted energy toward the darkness of the cave, but it was too late. A spray of water hit me, then five men dove out of the shadows at the same time Zurina disappeared beneath the surface of the water.
My body slammed into the ground and more water was poured over me. I threw two of the men off and blasted energy into them. They both crashed into the cave wall, but it wasn’t hard enough to kill them and my body weakened as I tried to fight the remaining three off.
Heavy. So fuckin’ heavy, like my limbs weighed a thousand pounds. My Ink slithered over my skin, but it too grew weak, slowing until it lay quiet on my shoulder.
I collapsed, hearing the clank of chains and then my arms and legs were secured. Not that I could fuckin’ move anyway.
Chains wrapped around my entire body and a wet towel was placed over my head. “Danni. The cave. Zurina… is… dead.” I didn’t know if my telepathy was strong enough to reach her.
“Zurina said to secure him here for a few days,” a man said.
“Screw her. She’s dead, and we can’t find that bitch Jasmine. My loyalty is to the highest bidder and right now that’s Tarek. I’ll Trace him to the island. No one leaves until I get back.”
That voice. It was familiar. Yet, I hadn’t heard it in centuries. But the man could Trace? With me? Only one Scar was able to Trace with anyone he wanted. But he was fuckin’ dead.
Pain exploded as something slammed into my head.
Delara.