Amanda Bonilla - Shaedes of Gray - A Shaede Assassin Novel

“I know.” His voice was barely a whisper.

“How long?” I asked. “How long have you been bound to me?”

Tyler’s lips hinted at a smile. “Not long after I met you. Almost five years.”

Sonofabitch! For five years, Tyler had been secured to me like a snail on a rock and I didn’t even know it! Was I the most clueless woman on the motherfucking planet—or what?

“How?”

“The binding is a gift,” Tyler said, his voice as smooth as cream. “And it’s not one I give lightly. Please just accept it and leave it at that.”

I worried at the ring on my thumb, twisting it in a full circle. I traced the engraving on its surface, the hulking beast whose form I couldn’t identify. This binding wasn’t the first “gift” he’d insisted I accept. I took the katana from where it was mounted above my mantel and flung it across my back. “I’m going to be late meeting Raif, and, frankly, my brain fucking hurts. Don’t lie to me again. Ever. Please.”

His eyes answered for him, his expression honest and full of emotion. I won’t, it said. I promise .

I left Tyler at my studio—he refused to leave—and met up with Raif shortly after midnight. He tapped the flat of his sword against the sole of his boot. My tardiness was sure to spark a beating. I saved my neck by convincing him to bypass training for another Q and A. Like Levi, he didn’t have any more information or insight. I was ramming my head against a brick wall.

“So much to worry about,” he muttered. “Like I don’t already have enough on my plate.”

I assumed his plate was full of me, but I didn’t ask.

“There’s a Summit to take place in a few days. The timing is inconvenient, but it might work to our advantage. Xander will more than likely ask for help if this situation becomes . . . uncontrollable.”

Summit? Huh . “What kind of Summit? Like a Shaede Summit?” Then Levi’s Hamlet quote sparked in my memory, and I rolled my eyes. I. Am. Such. An. Idiot.

“There’s more, isn’t there?” I asked. “More than Shaedes, more than Oracles and Jinn. The world is crawling with other supernatural creatures, and we’re not so few in our numbers. Are we? We are not alone,” I said in a spooky sci-fi voice.

“Alone?” Raif said. “Whoever filled you with that rot?”

Azriel .

“There is a large and thriving supernatural community. For the most part, we get along just fine,” he continued without waiting for my answer, thank God. “Just like any human political body, we meet, talk, bring our concerns to a public forum. Vote. We’re not uncivilized, you know.”

“I know,” I said like a schoolkid being scolded by her teacher.

“At any rate, this information about your Oracle and the Lyhtans is helpful. Thank you, Darian.”

Raif had become extremely interested in Levi’s theory. He wanted to bring it to Xander’s attention before the Summit. He’d never considered the possibility that simple jealousy had been the motivation behind this political coup. He was actually a little smug about it.

“Our lives are so much easier because of our looks,” he mused. “We do not have to hide in the daylight hours when we are restricted to our humanlike forms. We can pass through society virtually unnoticed, and it allows us to live a life of ease and prosperity. Wouldn’t you agree, Darian?”

“Sure, whatever. It makes sense anyway. But it doesn’t answer my questions. Does Azriel want me dead or not? And did he take Delilah?”

“I think he wants you dead. I don’t agree with the Jinn’s assumption. From a warrior’s standpoint, you are a liability. And liabilities must be disposed of. I do not believe Azriel is harboring any tender feelings.”

“Wow, Raif. You’re a true romantic,” I said. I agreed with Raif, for what it was worth. I believed Azriel wanted me dead. Kill or be killed . But something else stuck in my craw. We appeared so hard to kill, and yet so easy. There were rules that governed our deaths, but we weren’t as invincible as I’d always assumed. Fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, husbands, wives, the maker and the made . . . all of these relationships intertwined to form an intricate web of death. The more you tied yourself to someone, the more they held dominion over your existence. Azriel sat between Xander and me. Either one of us could deliver the blow that would send him into the shadows for eternity. And as for the gray hours . . . I still couldn’t wrap my head around those boundaries.

I put the matter of death’s silly rules on the back burner, and instead shifted my focus to Delilah. She wasn’t a part of this war. Merely an unfortunate victim caught in the middle and used for the gain of either side. I’d used her as my own personal seeing-eye dog, and whoever took her had plans even bigger still. Tyler said she wouldn’t be so easy to break. But I knew better than anyone that there are things in this world worse than dying.

Raif promised to look into the matter of Delilah’s disappearance, but I didn’t exactly think he’d stop the presses to do so. His first priority was keeping Xander in one piece, and he would be hard-pressed to weaken his king’s defenses to investigate an Oracle’s kidnapping. No matter what she might be or how his enemies would use her.

“I met an Oracle once,” Raif said, offhand, as he stowed his battle gear. “She wasn’t much to behold, but she was powerful.”

“Did you ask her a question?” I said.

“No,” he said. “I wasn’t willing to make the sacrifice.”

“What did she ask you for?” My curiosity piqued. I couldn’t imagine what Raif could value so much.

“She asked for the death of my wife,” he said gravely. “Our child had gone missing, and we were beside ourselves trying to find her. I went to the Oracle, and she requested my wife’s life in return for information about our daughter’s future. I refused. Illiana was the most precious thing in my world, and I would not give her up.”

His story leaned farther toward the deep end than I’d anticipated. Poor Raif. I couldn’t imagine him, so hard and proud, lowering himself to ask for help.

“What happened?” I whispered.

“Illiana could not forgive me for not making the sacrifice. She said she would have given anything to know our daughter’s fate. She expected the same from me. She went to the Oracle and sacrificed herself.”

Wow, Tragedy, party of one . No wonder Raif was such a pain in the ass. “Did you ever find out what happened to your daughter?”

“No.”

“What happened to the Oracle?”

“I killed her.”

An awkward silence passed. Comforting words seemed trite, so I kept my mouth shut.

“An Oracle is good for nothing,” he said, piercing the silence like a sword thrust. “They are tricksters and deceivers. I don’t think Azriel would want to kidnap yours. She has nothing to offer him anyway.”

Raif grabbed his sword and slung it over his back. I let him leave. Once I was sure he was long gone, I turned out the lights and headed home.

Chapter 15

Iwalked back to my studio with memories of Raif’s tragic story for company, alone and more confused than ever.

Careless, I’d stayed longer at the warehouse than I should have. Dawn approached, and I wasn’t sure if I’d make it back to my apartment before the sun rose. Not that it would matter. I wasn’t any safer there than I was here on the street. Delilah was gone, so I was down one set of eyes. My vulnerability wasn’t limited to a set time or place.

I’d almost made it home when I heard the strange scratching sound of many sets of insect feet. The sun had just crested the horizon, a sliver of orange light. The sound followed me for a few blocks, and around me I heard the whisperings of a strange language, words that meant nothing to me. Quickening my pace, I tried to ignore it, at the same time trying desperately to manage a facade of calm. The scratching sound continued, coupled with a second set of voices to join the first. I turned, and my heart jumped up into my throat. Glittering in the morning light like perfectly cut diamonds, a horde of tiny insects scurried toward me. Beetles—no, miniature man-tislike bugs—they zigged and zagged, quickly covering the distance between us. My tiny assailants sounded like an army, their outer shells ticking against one another while so many different tones of voice called out around me. No one had mentioned this little tidbit of info. Not only were they invisible in the light, but the fuckers could also reduce their bodies to tiny, innard-sucking bugs? Might have been nice to know! The sound of their many voices pressed on my ears, almost deafening. Lyhtans they were, for I couldn’t mistake those voices. But I’d never seen them in the light of day, disguised for all intents and purposes like little exotic insects. Levi owed me a fifty. He’d left out this very important slice of information. One by one, their physical forms glittered into nothing and they became again the invisible foes I’d known. And as I reached into my pocket for what felt like the thousandth time, I found myself without the bottle of black sludge. Unfortunately, now wasn’t the best time to find faith in its ability to repel a Lyhtan attacker.