Лори Девоти - Amazon Queen

We had her mind powers to deal with too, but I was trusting Bubbe and Mel to handle that.

As I bent to wrap the rope around Thea's hands, she didn't move. Her fingers were limp. . and bare. . no ring.

A moment of foreboding stopped me. I quickly wrapped the rope around her wrists, then grabbed her by her hands and jerked her body forward, into a sliver of moonlight that leaked through the trees.

I stared down into a face I knew well, a face I had for a while trusted. . Areto.

With a curse, I took a step back toward the camp. Mel stepped out of the woods in front of me.

"It isn't Thea; it's Areto." I was too angry with myself to say more. I tried to shove past my friend.

She stopped me with her staff. "You can't go back. We took our shot and missed; there's no reloading this round. We will have to wait for another."

I kept walking. This time Jack stopped me. He was fully human and fully naked.

I growled and shoved against his chest. He wrapped his hands around my wrists.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Ending this." I twisted my wrists, pulled them free of his grasp.

He pivoted on one foot and grabbed me by the upper arm as I moved past him. "You're not thinking-"

I jerked my arm free and swung at the same time. "Thinking didn't work. Using my head instead of my heart didn't work. I got the wrong Amazon. I'm going back for the right one."

My fist missed him, but I accomplished my goal. He let go. I lengthened my stride, let my legs devour the ground beneath me.

Anger that I'd kept hidden even from myself was racing through me. I'd trusted in the others' plan and it had failed. Now I was going to do things my way, even if it meant breaking the house down board by board.

"She isn't there." Mel's voice carried. My anger carried me two more steps.

"She hasn't slept there since you left."

I stopped and forced a breath into my lungs, forced myself to calm enough to comprehend what she was saying.

"How do you know?"

"Areto. She's awake and she isn't fighting. I think she's happy we have her."

"She could be lying."

"Could be. Or could be she's realized she's been lied to by someone else."

I knew Areto. I had trusted Areto. Did I now?

I stared into the darkness, not sure what to do or who to believe.

"She said something else, something I think you are going to want to hear."

"What?" I called, but Mel, damn her, didn't answer. She had already walked away.

Annoyed that I'd lost the head of steam that had been propelling me back to the camp, I muttered a curse for my friend, then trudged back to where I had left Areto.

She was sitting up. Her hands were still bound and Bern stood beside, her a sword pointed at the other warrior's throat.

I nodded at Bern, letting her know I appreciated her vigilance.

"Where is Thea?" I asked Areto.

She didn't look at me, didn't look at any of us.

"Thea lied to us," Areto said. "I followed her because I believed her lies." She twisted her head then and looked me in the eyes. "I don't any longer."

I inclined my head, but only slightly. The warrior had told me that Cleo had been hidden in the barn. That bought her a small amount of respect, but not trust, not yet.

And respect didn't mean I wouldn't kill her.

But she knew that.

"Tell me," I said.

She didn't ask to be released, to have her bonds loosened, or even to have Bern lower her blade, she just talked. My respect grew a bit more.

"She worships in the day. Makes us worship then too. . when warriors should be practicing, hearth-keepers working, and artisans creating. It isn't natural."

I didn't interrupt her or enlighten her as to why that was.

"She brings humans into the camp."

"The cable men," I replied, to encourage her.

"And the women."

I paused. "The birders," I murmured.

"The birders." She shifted her attention to Bern for a second. There was an apology in her eyes.

The dark-skinned warrior didn't acknowledge it, but I saw her blade waver.

Areto swallowed. She whispered the next words, so soft at first I thought I'd heard them wrong. . believed I had to have heard them wrong. "They worship with us."

My shock must have shown.

She pulled her elbows in toward her body, as if she wanted to pull back inside herself, contract with. . shame. . or anger? I wasn't sure which. I knew I would have felt both. Shame that I'd let the priestess lead me so far away from my values, anger that she'd violated my trust.

"What about the three who were killed? Do you know about that?"

She shook her head, but she looked to the side, telling me she knew or suspected something, something she didn't want to say out loud. "The one. . that was before any of this. . while you. . " She stopped. "The others, yes. A little. . "

I didn't like her answer, didn't believe her. "What about Kale? Do you know what happened to her?"

She looked up, her face earnest. "I don't know the name."

"The dark-haired warrior who was with me at the camp."

She licked her lips. "I never saw her before then. There was another one, though."

"Another one?" I prepared for a shock; I could feel one coming.

"There was another Amazon. She was angry. Thea had already gone to the woods with the two women. Taken them to the obelisk."

Her eyes shone with outrage; I shared it, but I didn't acknowledge hers or mine, didn't give her an out to stop.

Her jaw tensed, and she continued, "This Amazon was looking for someone, a priestess, but not Thea."

"Padia," I offered, then to myself, "and she found her."

"I don't know, but she told me she was on the high council and ordered me to tell her where Padia was. I told her I'd never heard the name and she said, 'The priestess, tell me where the priestess is.' So I sent her into the woods."

Kale waited to see my reaction. I didn't give one. She had betrayed Thea to this mystery Amazon. Did I care? Not a whit.

"After maybe an hour, Thea came back. She had me go with her into the woods. She carried a body back with her."

A body, and not the birder's.

"It was the Amazon."

"Where is she?" I asked.

"The barn, under the hay. I think it's what made Thea think to put Cleo there."

I didn't know how to respond, didn't know what to think. There was a dead Amazon hidden in the barn. Who was she? Fariba or Valasca was my guess-one of the high-council members Kale had named who had supported Padia. They had probably found out she had deserted Artemis and were as outraged as I was.

I wanted to know who this dead Amazon might be, but I wasn't done with my questions either.

"What about the sheriff. Who called them?" I asked, putting the body to the side for now.

Her chin rose. "I did. Thea thought I was arranging the hay bales, but I went into the woods and saw them. I knew Thea had killed them and the council member too."

"But you didn't see Kale?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No, but I didn't stay long. I knew I had to get back to the barn before Thea discovered I was missing. I returned to the house and called, told the police we had trespassers."

"You didn't mention Thea."

Another shake, this one slow, ashamed. "I couldn't."

A chance at shedding her sheep's wool and Areto had balked. Of course, only a sheep would call humans to do what an Amazon should take care of herself.

"And when they arrived, Thea talked to them," I prompted.

"She did. I think she was worried they'd go in the barn. Hay was still everywhere. She directed them to the obelisk, but I could tell she was angry."

"Did she suspect you?"

"She trusted me enough to get my help in hiding the Amazon. It would never have occurred to her I'd call about two dead humans. She also didn't know I'd seen them."