“Subterfuge. Remember, we caught the witch in the end, but we never caught the third member of the consortium.” I shrugged. “It’s only a theory …”
“But a plausible one.”
Pleasure slithered through me—which was absurd and probably spoke more of my exhaustion than anything else. “Of course, unless Stane can uncover some paperwork that will give us a lead as to who that last person is, we really can’t do anything more.”
“Why not talk to the Brindle? They would at least know whether there are any dark practitioners active in the city.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Ilianna is going to owe the Brindle big time as it is. I don’t want her under a greater obligation.”
“I didn’t mean that she should talk to them. I meant that you should.”
“Me?” I couldn’t help the surprise in my voice. “I doubt they’d discuss that sort of stuff with an outsider like me. I’m not even a witch.”
“But did Kiandra not tell you where to find Selwin and then give you permission to come to this place? Did she not warn you that the Brindle is not safe from the Aedh? I think that one knows more about this situation than you currently believe.”
“Ilianna might have said something to her mom. And we did ask her to translate the text in the Dušan’s book.”
He acknowledged the possibility with a slight nod. “I still think it’s worth talking to her.”
“Then I will talk to her. But not tonight.” I glanced past him as Ilianna and her two stretcher bearers reappeared and pushed away from the tree trunk to join the procession.
“He’s still burning up,” I murmured, lightly touching Tao’s gaunt face. It was as if the fires were consuming him from the inside out. I shivered and glanced up at Ilianna. “You’ll let me know if anything changes in the next couple of hours?”
Relief washed across her face. “Don’t tell me you’re actually going home to rest?”
“If I don’t, I’m not going to be of any use to anyone—even myself.” I kissed my fingertips then brushed them across Tao’s fire-touched lips. “Come back to us, my friend. We need you.”
Ilianna gripped my hand and squeezed it lightly. “If there’s a way to heal him, we’ll find it.”
As the two women loaded Tao into the back of the van, I gave Ilianna a hug. “Don’t promise them too much,” I whispered. “Your life is worth just as much as his. Don’t exchange one for the other.”
She pulled away and smiled, although we both knew it was forced. “A life for a life is not something the Brindle would ask.”
I didn’t mean literally and she knew it. “Kiandra wants you back at the Brindle. She may use this as a lever.”
“If I was to go back to the Brindle, it would have to be done willingly, with no form of inducement. The building and the magic would not accept my presence otherwise.”
I raised my eyebrows, but she waved away my questions before I even asked them. “Trust me to do what is best for both myself and for Tao,” she said softly.
“I do.” I gave her another hug then stepped away. She climbed into the back of the van with one of the gray-clad witches, then the driver closed the door and climbed into the front. Five minutes later they were gone and the normal night sounds of the forest returned.
I sighed and slowly walked across to Ilianna’s car. Thankfully, she’d left the keys in the ignition, because I hadn’t even thought to ask for them.
I opened the door, then stopped and looked across to Azriel. “You might have to come with me, just to make sure I don’t fall asleep at the wheel.”
“Why not let me transport you home? We can retrieve the car later.”
Because I don’t want to be that close to you. It was disturbing on far too many levels. Then I sighed, reached in, and grabbed the car keys. I was being an idiot again.
I turned and caught a brief glimpse of annoyance before his expression cleared again. I really, really needed to keep my thoughts in check.
I locked the car and forced a smile. “Okay, brave sir, whisk me away to safety on your wild white steed.”
He walked toward me, his strides long and graceful. “I am not brave, but merely do what I am assigned to do, and I do not possess a white horse. That sentence does not make sense.”
I didn’t rise to the bait—and bait it was, given the amusement teasing the corners of his lips. He wrapped his arms around me, and I did my best to ignore his closeness and the way his body seemed to fit perfectly against mine, not to mention the musky, enticing scent of him.
Power surged—a song that ran through every part of me, taking what I was, making it more, making it less, until there was no me, no him, just the sum of the two of us—energy beings with no flesh to hold us in place.