Darkness Splintered (DA 6) (3 page)

“It’s an option.” I sat down. “But it wouldn’t be my first.”

Ilianna placed the hot bread on the table. “Why not? There’s no easier way to find a sorcerer than to trace his magic.”

“A normal sorcerer, perhaps. But this one has been working with an Aedh, remember, and has probably acquired much of his knowledge.” Which was another reason to be glad Lucian was dead. At least the bastard couldn’t pass anything else on to our ever-elusive sorcerer. “Besides, our best option right now is to go through Lucian’s things and see if he left any clues behind.”

Mirri snorted as she began dishing out the huge chunks of curried vegetables – which wasn’t normally a favorite of mine, but it smelled incredible. “Forgive me for stating the obvious, but you’ve been on a bender for three days. That would have given our sorcerer plenty of time to go through Lucian’s things and ditch whatever evidence there might have been.”

“Lucian was clever enough
not
to leave such information in easy reach. If there
is
incriminating evidence to be found, then it would be somewhere ultimately safe from everyone but him.”

And that, I realized suddenly, could mean the gray fields. They might be the unseen division between worlds, but they were as filled with life as anyplace in
this
world. And given Lucian had once been an Aedh priest under my father’s tutelage, then maybe the first place I should look was in temples near the gates of heaven and hell. I had no idea whether they still stood now that the priests had all but disappeared – or if someone like me would even be able to see them – but what better place would there be to secure information? It was doubtful whether the reapers or the Raziq would bother to look through ruins in an effort to find information on a dark sorcerer.

Of course, that was presuming Lucian
could
get onto the fields. The ability to attain full Aedh form had apparently been ripped from him by the Raziq, but that hadn’t stopped him from shoving his fist into my mother’s chest and blowing her apart.

Which is exactly how I’d killed him.

I’d had my revenge, but its taste wasn’t as sweet as I’d expected.

I swallowed heavily and added, “The bastard was more cunning that a basketful of foxes.”

Ilianna’s smile was grim. “But not cunning enough in the end.”

“No.” I tore off a chunk of bread as Mirri slid a plate of curry my way. “I’ll search his place first, then I’ll do the same to his lover’s place.”

“And if you find nothing either there or on the fields?”

Then we were in trouble, because I honestly didn’t think the Brindle would be able to help us. Not in this. Not when Aedh magic was involved. And there
had
to be: The ancient cuneiform that gave the magic to the transport pillars we’d found – pillars both the dark sorcerers and Lucian had been using to move around undetected – could have come only from Lucian.

“If I find nothing,” I muttered, as I dipped a chunk of bread into the curry, “we’re up shit creek without a paddle.”

“Then,” she said, “talking to Kiandra can’t hurt. At least she’ll be able to tell us if there is some sort of hot spot near the intersection. Until we know that, we can’t make any other plans.”

“We?” My gaze shot to hers. “There’s no damn we —”

“Oh yes there
is
,” she cut in, voice fierce. “You can’t do this on your own anymore, Ris.”

I snorted. “I was never doing it on my own, and look where it’s gotten —”

I cut the words off as awareness ran through me. Something approached the house.

Something that wasn’t human, or in human form. An invader that was as silent as a ghost, and yet accompanied by such a wash of heat and power that the hairs on my arms stood on end.

It was a sensation with which I was more than a little familiar.

An Aedh approached the house, and he was in energy form rather than physical.

Only it wasn’t any old Aedh.

It was my father. And he was
not
happy.

Having to face a parent as prone to violence as mine certainly wasn’t what I needed right now – especially when I didn’t have Azriel at my back.

I closed my eyes, trying to remain calm, trying to contain the fear that galloped away at the thought of another confrontation. The desire to reach out to Azriel, to tell him that I needed him, that I wanted him back in my life, was fierce. But that was just a reaction born of fear. After all, the last time my father and I had met face-to-face, he’d just about killed me – and that was
with
Azriel present.

But if it
was
my father approaching, why hadn’t the Raziq device woven into my heart reacted? It had been designed to summon them the minute my father appeared in my presence, and when it activated, it felt as if someone had shoved their hand into my chest and was intent on squeezing every ounce of life out of my heart. Painful didn’t even come
close
to describing the experience.

This time, however, there was nothing. And while it was curious, I wasn’t about to complain. I might not want to confront my father, but I sure as hell had no desire to be caught in the middle of a battle between him and the Raziq.

He hurt not,
Amaya commented.
We stronger. Fight.

I snorted. Fighting was my sword’s answer to every problem.

Not every,
she said.
But kill better.

I ignored her and said, “Ilianna, Mirri, get upstairs.
Now
.”

Ilianna opened her mouth to protest, then took one look at my face, grabbed Mirri, and got the hell out of the kitchen.

And not a moment too soon.

An instant later I was hit by a blow of energy so fierce it smashed the chair and flung me backward. I was thrust along the floor with such force that I crashed into one of the cupboards, sending jagged pieces of wood and china flying. Then a band of iron settled around my neck and hauled me upright.

“Where is the second key?” The voice was a deeper, angrier version of mine, and so thunderous it rattled the remaining crockery in the cupboard.

I opened my mouth to answer, but no words came out. No air was getting in, either, but it was anger rather than panic that bloomed through my body.

Damn it, I was getting rather tired of being thrown about by all and sundry. My father, the Raziq, Hunter – they
all
needed my help, and it was about time they started remembering it.

Even as the thought crossed my mind, energy surged through my body and Amaya was suddenly in my hand. I gripped her hilt tight and swung at the invisible band of steel wrapped around my neck. She screamed in pleasure and anticipation, eager to kill.

No,
I warned.
Not yet.

Fun not,
she bit back.

Then shadowed steel met Aedh force. Lilac fire flared down her length, leaping from the tip of her steel to race along the cord that was my father’s energy. He roared, the sound one of fury and pain combined, and released me so suddenly I hit the ground knees first. Pain shot up my legs, but I ignored it and held Amaya in front of me. Her fire flared out from the sides of her blade, forming a curved circle that completely encased my body. And just in time.

Energy hit the barrier, and once again pushed me back into the cupboard. Amaya screamed her fury, her shield burning bright where my father’s energy flayed her. But she held firm.

“Try to remember you need my fucking help,” I said, my voice surprisingly devoid of the fury and fear that tumbled through me.

“I am your
father
,” he roared. “I may have given you life, but I can also give you death.”

Amaya’s hissing got stronger in my head. Whether that meant she was finding it harder to maintain the shield or she was simply getting more pissed off, I couldn’t say. But the sooner this attack ended, the better for us both.

“My death will hardly help regain control of the two remaining keys,” I countered, still managing to keep my voice even. “Besides, I’ve already been dead. It holds no fear for me.”

The words were barely out of my mouth when the attack stopped with a suddenness that had me blinking. There was a moment of silence before he said, “You died?”

A hint of amusement had replaced the anger, and I frowned. What in the hell was funny about me dying?

“You didn’t feel it?” Amaya was beginning to quiver in my hands, which generally meant she was running low in resources and would soon start leeching mine. And while that was something I couldn’t afford, given that I wasn’t exactly at the top of my game after the last few days, there was no way in hell I was about to ask her to drop the shield. Not until I knew the reason behind my father’s sudden mood switch. “I thought the blood bond meant you could feel my presence no matter where I was?”

“When you wear flesh, yes,” he replied. “But place yourself in death’s hands, and it is a different matter entirely.”

“Why? I mean, wouldn’t me dying break any sort of connection? That in itself should tell you something happened.”

“It is not that simple.”

“It never is.”

His amusement got stronger, but it didn’t make me feel any safer. Quite the opposite, in fact.

“If you had remained on death’s plane, then, yes, I would have sensed it. But you chose to come back.”

“Which clarifies nothing, given the gray fields themselves are the realm of death.” And the Raziq certainly had no trouble finding me whenever I stepped onto the fields.

“Stepping onto them as an Aedh is very different from stepping on them as a soul ready to move on.”

Which I would never be able to do again, thanks to Azriel’s actions. Bitterness stabbed through me – bitterness and anger and a splintered sense of loss. I swallowed heavily and somehow said, “So is the fact I basically died the reason why the device in my heart hasn’t summoned the Raziq?”

“Yes. As I told you previously, only death could stop it.”

Which only meant I was free from the pain of the device, not from the Raziq themselves.

Unfortunately.

“And is
that
the reason you seem to find my death so amusing?”

“It was not so much your death, but the mere fact that you succeeded in short-circuiting Malin’s plans.”

Malin was the head of the Raziq, and my father’s former lover. She was also a woman scorned, as my father had apparently refused to give her the child she’d wanted, deciding instead to seek out and impregnate my mother. It was a combination that made her less than benevolent when it came to me and, in part, the reason behind my latest kidnapping. What she’d actually done to me during that time I couldn’t say, because she’d erased all memory of it.

Although given that she’d told me my father would more than likely kill me if he ever found out about it, I’m guessing it was something pretty bad. Something that perhaps tied me to
her
just as much as my father.

“I hadn’t exactly planned to die, you know.”

“Humanity rarely does. It is one of their greatest failings.”

Strength fade,
Amaya said, annoyance heavy in her mental tones. She didn’t like having to admit to any sort of failing.
Must draw
—

No,
I cut in.
Drop the shield
.

And I mentally crossed my fingers that my father hadn’t been waiting for that very event.

The faint lilac haze around me flickered, then died, and Amaya’s blade became shadowed once more. I tensed but, despite my fears, my father didn’t immediately attack.

Not that I relaxed any. “It’s a failing also shared by the Aedh. I hardly think Lucian had planned to die so soon.”

“Perhaps not, but he was aware of its approach, as you well know.”

He paused, and that vague sense of amusement vanished. My grip on Amaya tightened so abruptly it was a wonder my knuckles weren’t glowing.

“Lucian’s plans are no excuse for you having lost the second key, however.”

“No, because you own some of
that
blame.” My voice was curt, which was perhaps unwise given the state of both my strength and Amaya’s. “You not only knew he was fucking the sorceress Lauren, but also that he was working with the sorcerer who stole the first key. You didn’t tell me the first fact until
after
I’d questioned you about her, and you didn’t even bother mentioning the second.”

“Because it should not have been relevant. No human should have been able to access the fields, let alone the gates.”

“But he had Lucian’s help, and he’s a very powerful dark sorcerer.”

“Lucian could not attain full energy form, and therefore should not have been able to step onto the fields.”

“So how the hell did the sorcerer get to the gates with the first key if he didn’t have Lucian’s help?”

His anger swirled around me, fierce and frightening, but this time, its force was not aimed at me. And it had a rather frustrated edge to it.

“
That
I do not know.”

And it killed him to admit it – a situation that cheered me up no end. “We think the sorcerer accessed the fields via stone portals formed by both black and Aedh magic —”

“While
that
is more than possible,” my father interrupted, “he should not have been able to see the light and dark paths, let alone access them.”

“Unless he had Lucian’s help.”

“Even Lucian would not have been so foolish as to direct a human to their location. Not when he had his own plans for them.”

“Lucian’s plans had
nothing
to do with the gates. He not only wanted revenge on the Raziq, who’d made him less than he was, but to turn back time and once again become full Aedh.”

An aim that seemed right up there with pigs flying, and yet Lucian had totally believed it was possible.

“Only the strongest magic raised on the strongest ley-line intersection could feasibly allow a human to achieve something like that.”

I frowned at his slight emphasis on the word “human.” “Meaning Aedh are capable of transcending time?”