Crimson Truth (Onyx Assassins 4)

“Hawke,” Benedict chided behind him, but there was no less venom in his voice. The walking lie detector simply hid his rage better. In the past, whenever we’d been in the same room, I’d made it my personal mission to try and rile up the coolly calm and perfectly dressed assassin. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, but it was always fun and happened to be the sole thing I looked forward to when Conclaves were ever called.

Hawke whirled, his eyes like liquid fire as he glared at Benedict.

Benedict met that stare without flinching, and I sipped my tea, content to watch. I owed them answers, sure, but I wasn’t offering explanations until I’d sorted through the magic swirling in my mind.

Not my magic, but something older, ancient even, and most-certainly not witch magic. No, the power slowly unhooking its claws from my essence was absolutely vampire in origin and there was a fuck-ton of it at that.

Alek, king of the vampires and big brother to Avianna, paced the length of the table, an icy sort of rage and panic glittering in his eyes. His queen matched his steps, her eyes warry.

Pain twisted inside my chest, and I swallowed a heavy rock of guilt as I shook my head.

“She called me,” I said, setting my half-empty mug on the table. Each of the Assassins snapped their gazes to me, the room falling wholly silent at my words. I guess I was lucky I only had the king, the brute, and the lie detector to deal with. I knew Ransom was with Olivia on holiday, and who knew where the highlander was? I’m sure I’d face his wrath soon enough too.

The vampire queen, Lyric, flashed me a pitying look, but I doubted even she could spare me if Alek found me at fault for the princess’s abduction.

“For what?” Hawke growled, those fangs practically glimmering under the crystal lights strung above in the high ceilings.

Energy crackled from the tips of my fingers, a searing purple light that buzzed the air with power. I curled my hands into fists, inhaling through my nose and out through my mouth. Instinct had my power roiling at the room of vampires who currently looked like they wanted to burn me at the stake.

“In case you haven’t noticed,” I said through my teeth. “We’re friends. She wanted to hang out, so we did, but then she wanted to go out.” Alek folded his arms over his chest, and I felt his terrible power sweep across the room, testing, threatening. “Easy,” I warned, my eyes surely flickering with my own magic. “Try to remember that it wasn’t me who took her—”

“She wouldn’t have been out if it weren’t for you!” Hawke twirled a dagger in his hands, the blade gleaming and sharp. It would no doubt sever my head from my body if he wished it, but he’d never get past my shields, not that they could sense the invisible barrier I’d already wound around myself.

“So if it were up to you, she’d remain locked in this estate, never to experience anything?”

“She’d be safe!” he yelled.

“She is a grown vampire! She makes decisions for herself. How was I to know we’d be attacked by friends of yours?”

Alek sank into the chair across the table from me, Benedict standing at his right side like a shadow in the night.

Hawke stomped around the table, his massive body eating up the space between us in a blink. “If she’s harmed, if she has one scratch on her when I find her, I will hold you personally responsible.” The blade in his hand slashed through the air in a super fun scare tactic I’d seen before—one meant to threaten but not harm. Either way, the knife met a wall of air, bouncing his hand back slightly.

I stood up so fast the chair I’d been sitting in was flung against the wall. I stared up at the hulking vampire, purple energy crackling on my fingertips. “I was attacked, you angry barbarian!” I snapped. “And even when they blinded me, I fought. I scraped and slashed and blindly shot out my power in an attempt to save her. They had to incapacitate me to stop me!”

Something cracked in Hawke’s gaze, but just barely, and he sure as hell didn’t budge. I didn’t either, staring up at him with just as much rage in my eyes.

“Do you think for one second that I’m not as worried about her as you? She is my friend, not my princess, and that makes a big fucking difference in my world in terms of value.” My stomach rolled, remembering the complete and utter lack of control I had when the two vampires attacked. Blinding me, poisoning me. An icy shiver raced down my spine. It had been a long time since someone had rendered my own powers so completely useless. I blew out a breath. “I would take her place right now if I could.”