I pushed into a sitting position. The first thing I saw was the ring of black stones that surrounded me. But they weren’t just any old stones; they were wards. I raised a hand and carefully touched one. Color swirled through its dark heart, but it didn’t react in any other way. Their presence, however, might explain why Azriel—or anyone else, for that matter—hadn’t come to my rescue. Warding stones were generally used to keep things either out or in, but I knew they could also be used to confuse. Maybe no one had rescued me simply because they’d been unable to pin down my location.
I carefully flicked the nearest stone out of sequence. It rattled noisily across the old floorboards, the sound almost thunderous in the hush holding the building captive. A heartbeat later, energy burned across my skin and Azriel was in front of me, pulling me into a hug as fierce and as desperate as any I’d ever experienced.
I melted into him, enjoying the security and warmth of his embrace. “I’m okay,” I said eventually. My words were muffled against his chest, but I wasn’t about to move. Not yet. Not until the trembling that was as much utter relief as it was weakness stopped. “I wasn’t there for most of it.”
“The Aedh’s death will be slow and very painful.” Azriel’s voice was flat but filled with such fury, it momentarily stole my breath. “And I will savor every single moment of it.”
“But not until we find Ilianna.”
“He cannot get away—”
“You will not kill him.” I pulled away from him, my gaze searching his. Saw the anger, the pain, and knew it was all for me. It warmed me just as much as it worried me. “Far worse can and has been done to me, Azriel. Ilianna is a hostage against my good behavior, and until we can find her, then Lucian has to live.”
He said something in his own language, the words soft but vehement. It didn’t take much imagination to know he was swearing. “You cannot seriously think we should allow him in on the search for the keys. That is taking things too far.”
Things had already gone too far, and it was too late to stop it all now. “I am, and he will.” I gave him a lopsided smile. “At the very least, it means we can keep an eye on him.”
“I would much rather keep a sword on him, if it’s all the same to you.” He tugged me close again and wrapped his arms around me. It felt like heaven. “Let’s get you home.”
If I was in his arms, then I was home, but I didn’t give that particular thought voice. His energy swept around me, and in no time we’d zipped through the fields and were re-forming in the middle of my bedroom. I stepped back and glanced at the clock on my side table. It was just after ten.
“I’ll have a shower and clean up; then we can go see if the key is at the exhibition.”
“And if we find it?”
I shrugged. “I guess what happens next depends on what sort of security they have in place.”
He studied me for a moment, then said, “What of the Aedh?”
“He’s going to meet us there at eleven thirty.”
“So we should try to get there sooner—”
“No,” I cut in. “Remember Ilianna.”
He swore again. I smiled, dropped a quick kiss on his lips, and said, “I know. Trust me, I know.”
“I bet you do not.”
He caught my broken hand and gently ran his fingers over the mangled remnants of mine. Energy flowed from his touch, renewing my reserves even as my fingers began to heal. Or rather, heal as much as they were ever going to. But I could bend them, use them, and the scars—which were red and fierce-looking right now—would eventually fade. I’d been lucky, and I knew it. If not for the fact I was half Aedh, I would have lost them.
He raised my fingers to his lips, brushing a sweet kiss across them, then said, “Go. I will prepare you something to eat.”
He disappeared, and I headed for the shower. For the longest time, I did nothing more than stand under the water, letting the heat wash the ache from my bruised body and the scents of lust and Lucian from my skin. I wished it could similarly wash the niggling sense of violation from my mind, but there was nothing in this world that could do that except time.
I ran my fingers across my belly and wondered if I did indeed carry the beginnings of life deep inside. Wondered how I would feel if it turned out to be Lucian’s rather than Azriel’s.
Another two questions only time could answer.
I took a somewhat shuddery breath, then got the hell out of the shower and dressed. Worrying over events far in the future was not particularly the best way to spend my time at the moment. Not when I had keys to not only find but, hopefully, this time, keep. How we were going to do that given the whole Lucian situation, I had no idea, but one thing was certain. The bastard might think he held all the cards, but there was always, always, a way out. You just had to look hard enough.
And perhaps be willing to pay the ultimate price.
But that price would not be Ilianna’s death. That was the one place I would not go.
Azriel, it seemed, had been picking up cooking tips from somewhere, because this time he’d produced the world’s biggest steak and some steamed veggies.
I sat down and tucked in with gusto. Once I’d demolished everything on my plate, I grabbed my Coke, sat back, and asked the one question that had been quietly bugging me. “Why weren’t you able to rescue me?”