P. Cast: Revealed

Nicole grimaced. “You can’t ask me that. I’m not objective about Dallas.”

“Are you still in love with him?”

Nicole shook her head quickly. “No, that’s the point. I never really loved him, and I knew how dangerous he was. So I can’t be objective about his death.”

Listening to her, Shaylin hiccupped a little sob. Nicole put her arm around her.

“If you’re upset because of what happened to Dallas, don’t be.”

“It’s not just him, even though that was bad. I talked to Aphrodite about someone else’s colors, and I should have stayed out of it.”

“But Aphrodite’s a Prophetess, too. She’s kinda mean and crazy, but still, a Prophetess. I’m thinking it’s okay for one Prophetess to talk to another about stuff like your True Sight.”

“That’s what I thought, too. Now I’m not so sure. I wish I knew the exact right thing to do.”

“I think there are a lot of times when there isn’t one exact right thing to do in a situation.”

Shaylin looked up at Nicole. “You’re really smart.”

“Nah, I’ve just made a ton of mistakes.” Nicole smiled at her. “But I’m not making one right now. I got you to quit crying.”

Shaylin’s smile was tentative. “I guess you did. Thank you. And, by the way, your colors have really turned pretty.”

“See, if you think my colors are pretty that proves what a great Prophetess you are.”

Shaylin was grinning up at Nicole when the fledgling bent and slowly, gently, kissed her on the lips. When Shaylin froze, eyes wide in shock, Nicole leaned away from her and quickly took her arm from around her shoulder. “I’m sorry,” Nicole whispered. Even in the darkness of the basement, Shaylin could see Nicole’s cheeks had turned red. “I don’t know why I did that. I’m really sorry,” she repeated.

Shaylin kept staring at her, seeing the soft beauty of her colors and feeling the soft, lingering warmth of her lips.

“Don’t be sorry. I’m not.” Then she put her arms around Nicole’s slender waist, rested her head on her shoulder, and said, “Would you stay with me and hold me?”

Nicole’s arm slid back around her shoulder. “Shaylin, sweetie, I’ll stay with you forever if you want me to.”

Kalona

TEN MINUTES EARLIER

Kalona was standing by the basement entrance waiting for Aurox to return, and thinking the boy might be a while since Zoey had gone to look for him, when a familiar hot, itchy feeling lodged under his skin.

“Erebus…” he grumbled.

“Did you say something?”

Kalona’s gaze darted down the hallway. “Aphrodite, what may I do for you?” He didn’t fist his hand over his heart or bow. Yes, this girl was a Prophetess of Nyx, but she was also the most annoying human he’d ever known. And Kalona had known many humans.

“I need to talk to Shaylin. She’s in the basement, right?”

“All of the red fledglings are,” he said.

“Except the two you dropped off in the wilderness to die.”

“Is there a point you wish to make?”

“Nope, just stating the obvious. I’m gonna go wake up Shaylin. I’d appreciate it if you’d give us some privacy to talk.”

“As you wish, Prophetess. Is your Warrior within screaming distance in case trouble breaks out below?”

“I don’t need Darius to deal with red fledglings. I have this.” She patted her purse.

“You think to break up a fight with a handbag?” She almost made him laugh.

“No, I think to break up a fight with this. ” Aphrodite flipped open her leather bag. Kalona peered within to see a small black cylinder.

“You’re going to throw your perfume container at someone?”

“Oh, please, get with this century. It’s pepper spray, not perfume. I’ve been living under a basement in tunnels downtown. The Brady district and Greenwood and such are undergoing a lovely renovation, but I’ve learned it pays to be protected and prepared.”

“Then I will give you your privacy.” He did bow to her then. Aphrodite was so annoying that he tended to forget how amusing she could be as well. She made a shooing gesture at him with her pink painted fingertips before she ducked down into the basement.

He considered calling after her and telling her Zoey was just outside with Aurox, and then he reconsidered. It really would be amusing to see what would happen if Aphrodite discovered Zoey in Aurox’s arms.

Kalona was chuckling as he left the field house, exiting through the stables. He stood outside, collecting himself, and tried to ascertain from which direction his bastard of a brother would be arriving. It did not take him long to figure it out. Dreading the encounter, but resigned to its inevitability, Kalona headed for Nyx’s Temple.

He didn’t attempt to enter. Truthfully, he averted his eyes as he passed the wide wooden doorway and followed the stone building around to the rear of the temple, hoping that when his brother manifested, in his typically garish fashion, he’d do so wherever Kalona stood and the building would block enough of his light to keep from bringing the entire faculty down upon them.

Kalona did not have to wait long. The ball of sunlight that materialized above the ground was, indeed, garish, but Kalona did not give in to the urge to shield his eyes. Erebus stepped from the blinding rays, nodding and smiling wryly.

“Excellent job coming when I summoned you, brother,” Erebus said.

“It baffles me how you pretend that I want anything to do with you. You have been coming to me. I have existed for centuries without, as they would say in the modern world, giving you a call—or a thought.”

“Or a thought? Really? I believe your thoughts have often turned to the Otherworld since your Fall.”

“You are not Nyx, brother. It also baffles me how you mistake interest in the Goddess for interest in yourself.”

Erebus smiled. “I can end your bafflement with that. Nyx and I are inseparable. Her interests are mine, just as mine are hers.”

“Inseparable? Truly?” Kalona made a big show of searching around his brother. “Is the Goddess hiding in your sun ball? Oh, no. She wouldn’t be. I seem to recall the Goddess prefers the cool, soft touch of moonlight to the vulgar light of the sun.”

“Nyx sent me here!”

Kalona’s smile was slow and satisfied. “Then I welcome you, brother, as the Goddess’s errand boy.”

Erebus unfurled his wings. They spread around him and shimmered like sunlight on gold bullion.

“I come not as a boy, but as an immortal, Consort to the Goddess of Night, and I come with her warning!”

“Impressive,” Kalona said dryly. “But if you don’t stop sparkling and shouting, your warning will be witnessed by all of midtown Tulsa.”

Erebus’s wings folded along his back. His voice lost its Otherworldly volume, but his expression lost none of its immortal self-importance.

“Have you captured Neferet yet?”

“Surely you watch me enough to already know the answer to that question.”

“So, you have ignored Nyx’s edict.”

“I have not ignored anything. I’ve been busy fulfilling my oath bound duties to this House of Night’s High Priestess,” Kalona said.

“You’re out of practice if executing three children can distract you so much that you ignore Nyx’s command and fail to notice that Old Magick is manifesting in the modern world.”

Kalona refused to rise to Erebus’s bait. He didn’t address his remark about Nyx, and only said blandly, “Sgiach has been wielding Old Magick for centuries.”

“Yes, Kalona, but Sgiach is an ancient queen who has been wielding Old Magick for all those centuries on the Isle of Skye, a place that has long been devoted to preserving Old Magick. Tulsa, Oklahoma, is not the Isle of Skye, and there is no ancient vampyre queen here experienced in the use of Old Magick.” Erebus spoke in a patronizing tone as if he lectured the empty-headed village idiot.