“You cannot—”
“What I cannot do,” I cut in again, “is allow you, Quinn, and Rhoan to step into the middle of a situation that will endanger not only your lives, but those of your children. I won’t risk your future—or theirs—as I risked my mother’s. I couldn’t live with any more guilt like that. I won’t.”
She reached across the table and caught my hand. Her fingers were warm against mine, but her palms were calloused. It was a reminder that whatever else she was, she was first and foremost a fighter. She’d been through the mill and survived, but that knowledge served only to strengthen my resolve.
“Your mother’s death was not your fault, Ris—”
I pulled my hand from hers. “But it was, even if indirectly. She was targeted to create a void in my life. Your death—or Quinn’s, or Rhoan’s—would create the same sort of void, and Hunter is more than aware of that fact.”
“Hunter may threaten such an action,” Quinn said quietly. “But she would not take such a step; not until she is truly secure in her position and her power. She is close to that, but there are still those who oppose her.”
My gaze met his. “Harry Stanford?”
“He is her main adversary, yes.”
“And Stanford himself?”
“Cannot and will not defeat her alone.” His gaze held mine for several seconds, as if to add weight to his words. “Do not get involved in vampire politics, Risa. It will only end badly.”
It probably would, but it wasn’t like I had much of a choice. Like it or not, I was already involved. “Meaning you know what she is?”
“Yes, but few others do.”
“Well, I’m obviously one of the ones who missed that particular bulletin,” Riley cut in. “Here I was thinking she was just queen bee of the Directorate and one of the head honchos of the vampire council. Obviously, there’s a whole lot more to her story than that.”
“She’s a maenad—a worshipper of the Greek god Dionysus, and imbued with his magic and power,” Quinn said, keeping his gaze on mine. “And it is part of the reason I have never challenged her.”
“The other reason being you now have too much to lose.”
A smile ghosted his lips, but it failed to lift the concern in his dark eyes. “Yes.”
“Then you understand my reasons.”
“Understanding them does not mean I agree with them.”
“No.” I took another of those noncalming deep breaths. “I appreciate your concern and your desire to help. I really do. But this is my fight—”
“No one in this family fights alone, Risa.” Riley’s voice was as steely as her gaze. “No one.”
“But this time, we have no choice. I’m sorry, Aunt Riley, but as amazing as you are, as skilled as you are, you are, in the end, only mortal. Unfortunately, Hunter is not.” I hesitated. “And neither am I.”
She raised an eyebrow, her expression unconvinced. “Last I heard, you were only half Aedh. That makes you as mortal as everyone else in this pack.”
“Perhaps when this quest first began that was true,” Azriel said quietly. “But no longer.”
Riley’s gaze flicked to him. “And how, exactly, did you manage that little—” She hesitated. “It has something to do with you pulling her back to life, hasn’t it?”
“Yes. I imbued her with my life force.”
“That does not make her immortal,” Quinn said. “She can still die, just as you can.”
“Yes, but because we can draw on each other’s energy, we have a greater chance of survival.” He paused, his expression giving no hint of the fierceness I could suddenly feel within him. “Trust me when I say that Hunter—or anyone else in either this world or the next—will not take her away from me.”
“Sentiments I totally understand,” Quinn said. “But the fact still remains—the sharing does not make her immortal.”
“No one is truly immortal,” Azriel agreed. “Even the fates can be destroyed given the right knowledge. But she will become Mijai on death, and we are far harder to destroy.”
Harder, but not impossible, I thought grimly. The reason he became a Mijai in the first place was because he’d sought revenge for the murder of a reaper friend. But I didn’t say anything—there was no point in giving my aunt any further ammunition. And although Quinn was undoubtedly aware of both the strengths and the weaknesses of the reapers, I had to wonder how much of that knowledge he’d passed on to Riley. He wanted to keep her as safe as we did, after all.