Betrayal's Shadow (40 page)

“How did you get access to these samples?”

Briet rolled her shoulders and took a breath. “I asked Ansgar to get a sample of Maitea’s cord blood. I suspected no one remembered it was in cryo. When she lost the baby, there were plans to salvage her DNA. The idea lost support in the fervor after her death and Xavier’s deterioration. Isa’s samples…” She ran a finger over the fabric pattern on the armchair. “Ansgar hid her body in the morgue of the building where I’ve been working until I could test her sample and confirm she had no contagion. He moved her here to my cryo pod.”

“Briet.” Grimm’s eyes closed.

Yep, he was counting to ten. One trait of her brethren she hadn’t missed. Might as well go for the rest.

“He told the council she was cremated.” Grimm’s comment signaled he was thinking through her process, determined not to shut her down, but his eyes were still closed and the count was probably still running.

“We thought it would be safer if everyone believed that. Her body was unclaimed at the human morgue, and when the medical examiner died suddenly, the timetables in the police morgue shifted a bit. Ansgar took advantage of the opportunity because we—I had questions about her death.”

His eyes were open, his gaze locked on her now. She held up a hand again to halt his comment and allow her to finish.

“The emails Ansgar intercepted from the woman in the park had pictures. He didn’t share those pictures with the council.” She took another breath and whispered the next part. “They were extracts of the autopsy photos, specifically Isa’s mark. To send something so specific she would have to know about us. The mark, a power mark, a mate mark, a specific detail of our history and our situation, would taunt Xavier and pit him against our warriors with Turen in the middle.”

Grimm winced and leaned back with a heavy sigh.

“I’ve also analyzed samples from myself, Ansgar and Turen.”

His brow rose quickly. “How did you get Turen’s—” He rolled his eyes, then covered them with his hand and shook his head. “While Turen was restrained.”

His comment wasn’t a question, but the frustration in his voice puzzled her. She knew better than to consider it directed toward her, yet more than her information was bothering him. She’d never seen him angry, and for a brief second she wondered what an out-of-control Grimm would look like. She didn’t want to know.

“Your sample, was it clean, or should I check you now?” His expression had shifted back to calm and concern, though his eyes remained worried, with shadows of strain etched around his mouth.

What would cause him such concern?

“No. There is nothing in Turen’s sample or mine, but Ansgar’s reflected a foreign structure. It was different from Maitea’s, though, similar to Isa’s, only stronger, resembling a mild painkiller. The effect desensitized his Guardian sensory functions. I wouldn’t have known of its existence had I not scrutinized the other samples. The removal from his system took months, but it’s finally gone, the structure eventually dissolved.”

“Your conjecture as to how it was delivered and its purpose?”

“I think the drug is somehow introduced here, in either the food or water at the Sanctum.” His eyes widened, though he didn’t interrupt her. “I took Ansgar off both. As I said, it took months to get him clean. My guess is that it keeps our warriors from sensing and locating their mates.”

“And Isa?”

“The toxin level was lower in her system, perhaps because she was away from the Sanctum so much plotting for Turen.” Her other thoughts on that would wait.

“And Maitea?”

Briet shook her head and whispered, “Her chemical cocktail was twofold. Part adhered to her DNA. A second strain broke down her body’s cell structure.” She stopped at his sickened expression and swallowed. “Maitea’s death was visible, tragic and spurred the whole initiative to have the women placed in cryo.”

“You’ve a link between the two. What gain would there be to placing our women in cryo?” Calm and patience persisted, though his voice was nonetheless strained, as he diligently followed through on the line of hypothesis with her. This was what she needed. Ansgar listened, but he didn’t have enough expertise in some areas to move her conjectures further or refute them.

“Why not just drug them along with the rest of the warriors?” he added.

“I believe the women posed another threat beyond their ability to mate, a skill which can’t be successfully dampened by the drugs. Something which evolved with time.”

“Such as?”

“Access to the Archives.”

His eyes sparked with interest. “Everyone was tested for abilities in that regard, and none were found to possess it.”

She nodded. “I think we tested too early. It’s possible there are other factors beyond the maturity of our powers. After I left the Sanctum, Ansgar told me about Leonis’s task to find the manual Archive remnants and restore them. Salvatore seems driven to connect with the old libraries.”

“A laborious process and a senseless request from Salvatore. Leonis doesn’t appreciate adopting Stone Age scribe practices, and he can’t search for anything. It’s useless.” Grimm shook his head.

“I can.”

He opened his eyes wider, but she held up a hand again.

“My access is limited, difficult, and frustrating, but I’m able to search. A little.”

His silence pushed at her discomfort. “So you postulate that Isabella’s death was a result of her Archive access? Salvatore waived her placement in cryo to help him. He would have known.”

Briet shook her head. She understood the question he posed, but she wasn’t ready to address her thoughts on Salvatore yet. “She’s younger than I am. I doubt she was interested in access, and her focus was on Turen and children. Or maybe the drug delayed her abilities.”

Time to circle back to the issue; he was too good at letting her ramble off course. “Given what I’ve found about Maitea’s murder and Ansgar’s drugging, bundled with the email from the woman in the park connected to Turen, I think Isabella was killed because she risked finding a mate.”

“But you said she was drugged.”

“Her level was very low, perhaps not enough to dull her sensory ability if she was in close proximity of her mate.” He was nodding slowly, so she forged ahead. “Which brings me back to the woman. Given Ansgar’s account, I think she plotted to rescue Turen. She chose a message only we’d understand, one that also implied a reason for Isabella’s death, and sent it to someone who would pay enough attention to care.”

“We’re back to her.” The tension returned to Grimm’s face.

“She knows a great deal about us. Maybe she’s not human, one of our lost people. The question is, if she’s one of us, why didn’t Turen bring her forward? Why cover his knowledge of her?”

“Perhaps the woman doesn’t wish to spend eternity in a cryo pod?” Grimm snapped and quickly held out his hand in apology. “Though of late, Salvatore is more of the opinion to have this woman killed.”

She nodded and bit her lower lip for a minute.

“You have a lot of information, Briet, but all rather disparate. What help do you need from me?” He crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a stoic look.

Briet stared at Grimm. After years of training at his side, she’d rarely seen him uncomfortable. It might have passed beneath the scrutiny of someone who knew him less, but she could read him almost as well as she could read her own brother. Not only was he lying to her, because they both knew her findings were well connected, but he had closed himself off to her.

She opened her hands. “From my hypothetical, if disparate, point of view, I have…” She started with one raised finger. “Somewhat random access for me to the Archives, years after we had given up hope. My leap is that our other women have this same ability. Cryo was not a solution for safety as much as containment, a restriction of our access to knowledge.”

She leaned back in the chair and raised a second finger. “I know drugs were in Ansgar’s system, which I would like to confirm with tests on you. I believe the intent is to dampen the mating connection. I have substantiated that Maitea and her baby were indeed killed, in a cruel and inhumane fashion, which makes Xavier correct. I know Isa and an undercover police officer also died together. It doesn’t make sense since she could
fold
from an attack, yet she died with him. I’m making a leap to conjecture about his potential as her mate, but I have no proof. I suspect, given Isabella was young and naïve, that she provided a covert way to assess whether the women have Archive access. On that one also I have no proof.”

He blinked once, but she caught his silent agreement.

“I know Turen doesn’t have the drugs in his system, and he has some connection to this woman who has knowledge of us. I know you and Turen’s team helped him leave here after his unprecedented explosion with Salvatore. Finally, I suspect you know more than you’re saying about this woman and are covering for her. It must be terribly important for you to lie, to hide it from me.”

She let out a deep breath and leaned back.

His eyes narrowed, but he remained silent, regarding her with a speculative gaze for a long minute. “Those are all statements, not requests for help, Briet, with the exception of a sample from me. You are welcome to all the blood you can extract.”

She smiled, hands folded over her stomach. “This woman, maybe she has more information. Maybe she can provide missing pieces about Isabella’s death. Maybe she’s alone and needs help.” She leaned forward. “I’m good with help. No one knows I’m out, so I won’t attract attention. You do still trust me don’t you, Grimm?”

“You make me dizzy.” He let out a sigh and rubbed his face. From his clenched jaw, she’d bet money he was gritting his teeth. “Yes, I trust you, Briet, but you need to leave here. The dampening fields I have in place for this room will not keep the Sanctum security system from detecting you for more than another twenty minutes or so.”

“If you feel strongly enough to protect this woman, then it has to be serious. Don’t shut me out.” She ignored his silent warning as his eyes narrowed in frustration.

“It’s complicated.”

She rolled her eyes. “When isn’t it?”

“Fear makes people dangerous.”

“She doesn’t fear you, does she?”

He shrugged, but his reluctance to talk spun her thoughts again.

“She knows about us. It won’t go over well with the council, which is Salvatore’s fault, so she’ll be wary.” She spoke aloud, her mind processing the situation. “She won’t expect a woman to be available to help.”

Grimm nodded, reluctantly following her line of thought.

“So I have a little time to explain myself before she’ll consider fear and react. Perhaps she’ll sense I mean no harm.”

He shook his head. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Why?” She wrinkled her forehead, considering and then glanced back at him. “Turen’s with this woman still? Is he protecting her, too? He would trust me.”

Grimm met her gaze, but tension radiated from his rigid posture. What wasn’t he willing to tell her—no, what wasn’t he at liberty
to tell her? What would cause him to give so much loyalty to a stranger? A female, granted, but Grimm had been
her
teacher,
her
mentor. Perhaps the loyalty was to Turen? “Turen guards and hides her from us. Why?”

She rose from the chair to stand before the window, the scenery blurred before her as she tried to sort it out.

Stubborn, stubborn man
. He wouldn’t tell her. With determination, she turned and sank before his chair, squatted at his feet and covered his hand with hers.

“I won’t hurt her. I promise.”

“And you?”

“Turen would never hurt me. I am no threat to this woman.”

“You underestimate the situation.”

“Grimm, what if I can help and don’t? I can’t live in the shadows like this and watch our people deteriorate. Things are terribly wrong here. I refuse to stand back and do nothing.”

His gaze bore deep, trying to break her down, but she didn’t give. This was too important. She could feel it with every fiber of her being. “If you don’t help me, I’ll keep trying by myself until I can track to her. Heaven only knows what trouble I’ll cause in the process.”

With a muttered curse, he stood and walked to one of the many bookshelves lining the room. “You need to consider your actions more carefully, for they have consequences you haven’t anticipated, Briet.” He selected a small wooden box, polished to a heightened brown sheen and etched in swirls and scrolls with blonder woods. He flipped open the lid, removed a small folded piece of paper from inside and handed it to her.

Puzzled, she took the paper and gently pressed open the first section and then next until the result displayed several strands of hair. She glanced up at Grimm, but he’d set the wooden box aside and watched as he used to do when testing her abilities during her early years of training.

Another lesson? Things never changed.

She brought the paper closer to her face. The hair was dark brown, fine and obviously a clipping, not yanked from some poor sod’s head, for it was definitely male. Eyes closed, she inhaled the scent. Light, fragile and familiar, not like her brother or Grimm, but not human, certainly not animal. Guardian? She reached to pick up the strands, but looked at Grimm first. His slight nod freed her to touch the sample.