Victoria felt a little chill up her spine. “I am Victoria Gardella,” she told them.
“We know who you are,” replied the tallest of the three, who happened to be a female Imperial. The sword she held, the Imperial weapon of choice, shifted menacingly against the side of her cloak. “I am called Mercy because I show none. Lilith sends a message to you. ”
Victoria inclined her head to accept the message.
“We three are to take you to the enchanted pool, and then to lead you to the Midiverse Portal. We’re to return unharmed immediately after with the rings. If we don’t return within a week’s time, Maximilian will suffer. ”
“She’ll release him when you return?”
The Imperial laughed. “No… Lilith merely promises not to torture him before she turns him undead. ”
“Simply being in her presence is torture,” Victoria said, forcing the words from her dry mouth. “That is no guarantee. Nothing to keep me from turning you to dust at this moment. ”
The Imperial shrugged, her sword brushing against the cloak of her companion. “So be it. If we three do not return with the rings in a week’s time, you can be assured that she’ll keep her word. ”
Victoria firmed her lips and turned away. She had to get to him. The others could retrieve the orb. They could go to the Midiverse Portal. They didn’t need her.
She couldn’t leave Max here.
She had to go after him.
Without another word, Victoria turned and went inside the inn. Once in the small chamber she’d used to sleep in, she dug through the long leather bag in which she stored her weapons. She’d go in well armed and fight her way to Max.
She could have Michalas show her the entrance to the lair, and then he could go with the others. They would need the three of them, certainly, to fight the demons escaping from the portal, but they could do it.
She knew they could. They were Venators.
Max.
Victoria brushed angry, sharp tears from her eyes. How could he have done this? He had to have known what would happen.
How could he have left me?
They should have gone together.
A noise behind her drew her upright, and she dashed her hand across her eyes again before turning. Sebastian stood there, blocking the doorway.
“Victoria. ”
“You can’t stop me,” she said flatly. “Don’t try. I have to go after him. He’d go after me. ”
Sebastian nodded. “Of course he would want to. But you know Max, and how damn insufferable he is about doing the right thing. He’d rather suffer than be happy. ”
“I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but you’re not going to change my mind. ”
He shook his head. “I’m not here to change your mind. He knew you’d go after him. And of course you should, Victoria. I’d come after you. Always. ”
Another blasted tear stung her eyes. Why now, why after two years of angst and fear and anger did she have to act like a watering pot every time something happened? Aunt Eustacia had never shed a tear.
“But I wanted to tell you what it was like in there,” Sebastian continued, walking into the room. “He was brilliant. I bloody well thought I’d never admit it aloud, but the man was brilliant. And strong. So damn strong. He was ahead of her every step of the way; he knew what she was going to say-and do-before she did it. He’d planned it all. ”
“Why in God’s name didn’t you just kill her and get the rings and go?” Victoria burst out. “Why did he have to trade himself? Didn’t he know what that would do to me?” She clamped her mouth shut, but her voice had already risen in a high-pitched wail.
“I wondered the same thing, but then I understood,” Sebastian said, almost gently. His amber eyes focused on her, a depth of seriousness she hadn’t often seen within them. “There was no way to get the rings after she was dead. They were hidden in a little chamber. She touched the wall with her hand, and the door appeared as if from nowhere-some kind of magic, I think. We would never have found the chamber or the rings, and it would have all been for naught. ”
“But after you got them,” she said desperately, “you could have attacked her and left with the rings. You didn’t have to leave him there !” Now the tears exploded, to her great chagrin and shame, and she knuckled them furiously away.