Soul of Smoke (30 page)

Ashem hadn’t feared his own death. He had been afraid for
her.

“
You are strong enough
, jāné del-am
.
Not me.
”

Juli grasped his shoulders, holding on. His forehead still
rested on hers, downcast eyes hidden by thick, dark lashes. But she felt what he
was feeling. Embarrassed by his emotions, afraid of rejection...and Ancients, it
felt good to hold her, to
feel
her safe. Her skin was like sun-warmed
silk. He wanted...

Juli’s cheeks grew warm. “Stop. This...what we’re feeling, it’s
the magic, or whatever silly thing you want to call it. It’s not real.”

“What is real?” He lifted golden eyes to her face. “I would
have chosen you.”

Juli swallowed. “You don’t even—”

He kissed her.

She hadn’t seen it coming, this soft, dark kiss. She melted
into it, allowing the scant mental barriers she’d built to slip. She let him
experience what she’d felt that hellish hour he’d been in the sky. The
desperation and terror, the
need
for him to survive. His grip on her
tightened, and the kiss intensified. They broke apart, took a shuddering
breath.

“Perhaps we can learn to live with each other, Juliet
King.”

“Perhaps. If you ever get all the blood off of you.”

He raised his eyebrows. “As we’ve established, I’m not the only
one covered in blood.”

She had an involuntary longing for a hot shower. A long,
thorough, steaming shower...

The gold in Ashem’s eyes deepened. When he spoke, his voice was
gruff. “Go. You’ll feel better.”

She touched his cheek. “I don’t want to go alone.”

He made a strangled sound then scooped her up in his arms and
strode toward the bathroom door. She opened her mouth to complain about him
ripping out his stitches, but he silenced her with a kiss.

* * *

Kai balled her fists on her knees, staring at her
upturned forearm. A long, angry scar puckered the skin of her right arm. Her
sleeve hid the opalescent scales that swirled over the left.

I’ll never be able to wear short sleeves again.

She tensed and relaxed her fists, trying not to squirm on the
plush, white couch. After a week among the organic, unpredictable shapes of the
cave, the elegant, modern lines of the furniture and fixtures in the penthouse
apartment were disorienting. Luxurious as it was, it felt mundane.

She glanced up at the remaining members of the vee gathered in
the kitchen. Rhys sat on a stool at the bar, hunched over with his head in his
hands. Morwenna stood behind him, rubbing his back. Heat flooded Kai’s cheeks as
she watched them. Rhys hadn’t even tried to talk to her since they’d gotten out
of the elevator an hour ago.

Renewed sobbing drew Kai’s gaze across the room to where Evan
leaned against the counter, red-eyed, his arms around Deryn, whose shoulders
shook with the force of her cries.

Though there were more people here than Kai had seen in over a
week, they were diminished. Ashem was keeping Ffion sedated. Griffith was dead.
Cadoc, once again, had gone. Some of the Invisible had searched for him while
Rhys, Kai and a few others retrieved things from the cave, but Cadoc was nowhere
to be found.

Kai looked back at her arms, fighting off the burn of tears.
She turned her hands palm-down, grasping her knees, and studied the subtle way
light played off the newly-acquired scales that peeked from below her sleeve.
She ran her fingers along the swirling, sheer rainbow that reminded her
simultaneously of flowers and flame until her fingers hit the bottom of her
sleeve. She pushed it up a few inches.

A chair scraped, and Kai looked up. Rhys was coming toward her,
his brows furrowed. Kai tensed, torn between craving and a tiny, tingling edge
of fear.

Morwenna moved to follow him, Rhys waved her away. The couch
sank as Rhys sat next to Kai. He lifted a hand, hesitated, then tugged down her
left sleeve, his fingers lingering on her wrist. He touched Kai’s other arm,
turning it over to examine the scar, sliding a finger along the raised red skin.
Kai flinched and pulled away. It hadn’t hurt, but, unlike her indicium, the scar
felt ugly and wrong.

Rhys leaned his elbows on his knees. “You’re healing,” he
murmured, too low for anyone in the kitchen to hear.

“Looks like it.” Kai wiggled her fingers, pulling the scarred
skin, and sighed. She wanted to lean against him, but something in the way he
kept shooting glances back at the kitchen—at Morwenna—stopped her.

Rhys reached out with a finger and brushed the callus on her
thumb. “Thank you.”

Kai shivered at the softness touch. “For what?”

He raised his gaze to meet hers. “For saving my life.
Again.”

Kai opened her mouth to respond, but a muted thumping heralded
Ashem’s descent down the stairs, followed by Juli. They looked almost...normal.
As if they’d found something in each other that took the edge off the sadness
that sliced everyone else to bloody pieces.

“
Gwaladr.
” Ashem jerked his head toward the kitchen.
Rhys stood and followed, and Juli settled into his spot. She gave Kai a tight
smile. “How are you?”

Kai watched Rhys go. Beyond him, Morwenna arched one eyebrow
and smirked at her. Kai gave Morwenna an icy stare, then grabbed the remote and
turned on the TV, mindlessly flipping through muted channels. “I’m fine.”

Juli snorted. “Clearly—” She clamped a hand on Kai’s arm. “Go
back!”

Sighing, Kai did as she was told.

“Stop!”

Kai’s mouth fell open and she stumbled forward. “Mom?”

The quiet talk in the kitchen ceased. Leila Monahan’s face took
up most of the large screen, her green eyes, so like Kai’s, were red and puffy.
She dabbed them with a wadded tissue, dark with tears and streaks of mascara.
Words scrolled across the bottom of the screen.

—
MISSING EIGHT DAYS.
JULIET KING
,
ALSO A STUDENT
,
MISSING FOUR DAYS AGO IN SAME
LOCATION.
AUTHORITIES SUSPECT DISAPPEARANCES ARE LINKED.
KIDNAPPING
—

“The volume! Where’s the volume?” Kai groped at the sides of
the TV, but it was mounted too high on the wall. “Juli, the remote!”

Suddenly, her mother’s voice filled the room. Kai’s gaze
snapped from the words to her mother’s face. “—just want to thank everyone for
coming out. If they could see...how many people...” She broke off, then looked
directly into the camera. “Kai, baby, if you’re watching this, we love you. I’m
sorry. Come home if you can.” Fresh tears welled in her eyes, and she let out a
sob. “If you have my daughter, please let her go. Let both my girls come
home.”

“Mom.” Tears burned Kai’s eyes, spilling hot and wet onto her
cheeks. She touched the screen, standing on tiptoes to trail her fingers along
what parts of her mother’s image she could reach. “Mom, I’m—” A sob caught in
Kai’s throat. Reality came crashing back in a wave. Dragons, war, tragedy—all
that belonged to someone else’s life, not hers. “I’m okay. I promise I’m
okay.”

A reporter came on the screen, looking somber. “If you’d like
to help search for the missing girls, please contact...”

Juli walked over and put her arms around Kai. Blinded by tears,
Kai collapsed into her, sobbing. Suddenly, more than anything in the world, she
needed to see her family. She didn’t care if Dad lojacked her car and Mom
mentioned gymnastics every single day for the rest of her life. Juli smoothed
Kai’s hair and made soothing sounds. Her breath hitched a few times, but she
held together. Juli always held together.

Kai took a breath, then another, taking strength from Juli’s
steadiness. On the television, the news had moved on to coverage of the previous
night’s football game. Her mother was gone.

Kai straightened and wiped her eyes. Beyond Juli, Rhys stared
at her as if he’d been sucker punched in the gut. They held each other’s gaze
for a long moment then he turned and murmured to Deryn.

Someone knocked on the door, an intricate rhythm of raps and
rests Kai couldn’t follow. Ashem peered through the peephole and unlocked the
door.

Tane and half a dozen unfamiliar people filed in. “The sky is
secure. Owain’s people didn’t follow.”

Ashem nodded and looked to Rhys.

“Let’s meet in the dining room. It has the largest table.” Rhys
gestured toward the open space with a huge table in the center, a massive wooden
slab that would seat at least a dozen people. The dragons wandered over and took
seats, the newcomers standing so that members of Rhys’s vee could sit. Juli
squeezed Kai’s hand and went to take a seat by Ashem.

When Kai moved to follow, Rhys stopped her, looking troubled.
“You should rest. There are bedrooms upstairs.”

Kai looked beyond him to the others. “Why?”

He shook his head. “If I had time, I’d explain.”

In a blink, Kai’s grief turned to rage. “You can’t just shove
me in corners when I’m inconvenient, Rhys.”

His brows drew together. “I’m doing what’s best. For you. For
me. For everyone. Trust me. You should sleep while you can. You’ll be traveling
sooner than you think.”

The thought of going anywhere made Kai so tired she could melt.
She closed her eyes, and visions of the past few hours flashed through her
brain. Her mother’s stricken face. Griffith’s body being loaded into the SUV.
Cadoc’s mangled hand. What Rhys had done.

Kai rubbed her temples, willing away the dull beginnings of a
headache. “Fine. Just...fine.” She turned her back on the meeting and walked up
the stairs. A few hours of oblivion sounded like heaven, anyway.

* * *

“Why does she do this?” Rhys rubbed his fingers over the
barely healed skin of his neck, frowning at Evan over the polished, reddish wood
of the table. The blond man had a finger pressed to his ear, listening to
someone—probably Harrow—on the other end of the quartz and silver communicator.
The Council had just sent word. Seren, Lady Seeress, had run away from
Eryri.

Again.

They sat in the dining room. Four of the chairs were filled
with the remaining, functional members of Rhys’s vee. Well, five if he counted
Juli, which he did. The other four chairs and two people standing represented
half of the Invisible, a vee of elite spies and operatives. The other half was
outside, guarding the hotel.

Rhys suppressed a growl. “Blood of the Ancients, I was only
gone three weeks. It didn’t take the Council long to lose her.”

Evan shoved wheat-colored hair out of gray eyes, his glance
flicking to Deryn, as it did every sixty seconds or so. “I think it was...a
particularly difficult vision. We were delayed getting back to Eryri by the
weather. We wouldn’t have gotten here on time if Seren hadn’t sent the Invisible
out to meet us. Protector Iolani thinks she’s somewhere in North America this
time.”

Rhys shook his head. He was fairly certain that Protector
Iolani, who was charged with the care and keeping of the Seeress, let her run
away more often than not. “Citlali?”

The pretty, bronze-skinned Quetzal woman seated next to Deryn
blinked at him with innocent black eyes, twirling the beads threaded into her
dark hair. “Yes?” On the other side of her, her heartsworn, Feng Sung-ki, gave
her a sideways glance.

Rhys raised his eyebrows. “Half the time she goes missing
you’re with her,
and
you sit on the Council. Do you know where she
is?”

She shook her head, smiling ruefully. “Not this time.”

Rhys sighed and glanced at Ashem, who seemed weirdly content.
“Have you found Cadoc?”

“He’s keeping his distance, but I’ve sensed him a few times. He
thought we’d come here, so he’s hiding in the mountains outside the city.”

Rhys nodded, feeling the smallest trickle of relief. “How is
he?”

“Alive.” Ashem pressed his lips into a thin line. “For now, he
won’t be rejoining us. He’d attack you again.” He nodded to Citlali. “The
Councilwoman is going to advise me on blood magic. We’ll decide what to do about
Cadoc from there.”

Rhys nodded, remembering Cadoc’s hand and knowing what it
meant. Without his music, “alive” had become a relative term. “Next time he
checks in, send him after Seren. If he can’t come home, he’ll need something to
occupy his mind.”

“That’s not a good idea.” Morwenna curled in her chair like a
cat. She’d taken the one exactly opposite Rhys, so he couldn’t escape looking at
her. “What if the curse he’s under activates on contact with any member of the
royal family?”

Citlali snorted loudly. “It won’t.”

Rhys ran a hand through his hair. Citlali was the only Quetzal
among all of Rhys’s people. As such, she was their only resource for
understanding the finer points of Quetzal blood magic. “Will you explain?”

She pushed a long, beaded strand of black hair behind her ear,
then tapped the edges of her hands on the table. “Owain isn’t an idiot.” Her
hands rose in the air, indicating an imaginary crowd. “If he killed the Seeress,
rebellion. Ninety percent of his supporters
poof
in an instant.” She
snapped her fingers. “The gold dragon is sacred. The curse won’t touch her.”

Evan shifted. “Unfortunately, Seren might be the least of your
worries. There are other whispers. There’s a leader among the rogues who...Rhys,
she’s claiming to be your mother.”

Rhys stared. Deryn stood so abruptly that her chair fell
backwards. “Mother? Alive?”

Evan shook his head. “I haven’t seen her myself,
annwyl
, but there are enough rumors—”

“Where?” Deryn leaned forward, both hands on the table.

“Somewhere in the north, in Canada or Alaska.” Evan said, his
face troubled.

“Where did you hear this?” Rhys’s voice was as sharp as
Deryn’s.

Evan looked to Tane.

The big Mo’o shrugged. “From the Council. Maybe that male
Wingless who was taking reports in Ashem’s absence. What’s his name?
Harrow.”