Crimson Truth (Onyx Assassins 4)

“I pray I’ll never give you reason to take that back,” he responded. “Now tell me how far this plot goes, and you need to make it quick.” All signs of humor fell from his face.

“How quick?” Jocelyn asked.

“You have about a half an hour,” he explained. “Your mother has called an emergency Conclave.”

Alek, Ajax, and I walked into the Conclave chamber three minutes after it was due to start and found it already in an uproar.

Patrick white-knuckled the arms of his chair and both of his human escorts were white as sheets, flanking him as closely as possible. As if they could actually stop any of us.

“I’m saying that I sensed her presence along your border!” Genevieve shouted, pointing her finger at Luka from where she stood, obviously choosing not to take her seat.

I pushed back every emotion and the swell of bitter wrath that demanded justice for what she’d done to my mate. If we were going to see this through, I needed to keep my fucking cool no matter what the murderous witch said in this chamber.

Luka surged to his feet even as Alek took his seat. “How dare you imply that the disappearance of your daughter has anything to do with the lycans!”

His two escorts growled in agreement, their fingers elongating into claws.

“Oh good, you made it. I was afraid I was going to have to watch the show all by myself.” Xavier nodded at Alek, sprawled across his chair with a bored expression.

“Where the hell have you been!” Genevieve shrieked, her hands curling into fists.

Locking my jaw, I ripped my eyes away from the only woman in the world I’d ever wanted to kill and turned my gaze to the girl at her side. Luna’s eyes were haunted, her skin sallow, her eyes puffy and red. Fuck, I hated lying to her, but this was the only way.

Her lips parted when she saw me, her focus shifting to the crimson band that wrapped around my left bicep, and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

“Sorry we’re late, Genevieve,” Alek responded. “You have my apologies. Things at home have been…” He paused, as if weighing his words. “We’ll just keep it at my apologies...and my condolences.”

Genevieve’s eyes narrowed on Alek, but for all her rage, her hair was smooth and unruffled. Her bluster all for show.

Good thing my hair didn’t ripple when I got pissed or I’d look like Albert-fucking-Einstein right now.

Xavier’s head shifted slightly, his gaze flickering between the three of us. “Things at home?” His dark eyebrows rose.

“Daphne’s fine,” Alek responded. “She’s also still seventeen.”

Xavier smiled slowly. “I’ll never understand the mortal preoccupation with time.”

“Do you understand the meaning of jailbait?” Ajax asked with a slight smirk.

“Jocelyn is missing!” Genevieve shrieked. “My daughter is missing and yet you all joke about a stupid human girl as if she has any importance in this world.”

My forearm burned, but I didn’t raise my shirtsleeves or even remove my jacket. There was zero doubt the words my daughter is missing were inked into my arm because Genevieve knew exactly where she’d left Jocelyn.

Xavier’s attention slid to the angry witch queen and the darkness behind him seemed to...move. “Be careful of your words.”

“We didn’t take your daughter,” Luka said, getting us back on track.

“I traced her energy to your land, and she’s still missing!” Genevieve cried. “This is an act of war if—”

“Jocelyn isn’t missing,” Alek interrupted.

“What?” Genevieve’s eyes flew impossibly wide. “Are you saying she’s with you?” The blood rushed from her face.

Gotcha. My fingernails bit into my palms. Damn, was the woman good at acting.

“I’m saying that you have my condolences,” Alek repeated his earlier statement.

“You said that before,” Genevieve snapped. “What the hell do you mean?”

“I mean that Benedict found her—as you suggested—on the border between your land and the lycans’,” Alek answered.

“You…” She snarled in my direction, looking at me with absolute disgust. “You found her.”

I nodded. “When I came upon her, she wasn’t…” I swallowed. “Her wounds were too grave for her to survive.”

Luna whimpered.

Genevieve gasped, and I nearly applauded.

“She’s dead?” Her voice echoed in the chamber. “My Jocelyn is dead?”

I’d never told a lie in all the centuries of my life. A sour taste coated my tongue as I searched for the words that would ring with truth while skirting the lie. “When I found her, she had broken ribs and too many lacerations to count, but it was the break to her sternum and the internal bleeding that were impossible to treat without a magical healer.” The memory of finding my mate—the female I loved—consumed my senses, and it took everything I had not to storm across the chamber and snap Genevieve’s neck.

“Goddess, you’re wearing a mourning band,” Genevieve croaked, pointing to the crimson band around my arm.

“I am,” I answered.

“She returned to the ether?” Genevieve asked, madness shimmering in her eyes.