Rogue Belador: Belador book 7 (14 page)

He must have liked it. He started growling under his breath and made it clear with his next kiss he wanted full body contact soon.
Bring it
. She missed Storm the minute she left and never got enough of touching him.

Breaking away, he cursed in his Navajo language. She only knew that because she’d asked him to translate once. “What’s wrong, Storm?”

His dark gaze churned with simmering heat. “Another second of that and I’d take you right here.”

“Oh.” She enjoyed the heady feeling of turning on a man as sexual as Storm. Leaning in again, she brushed a kiss over his lips. “I only wanted you to know I really appreciate all you’re doing to make Feenix happy.”

One of his dark eyebrows climbed up at that. “Let’s get this meeting done, and I’ll let you take more time showing me that appreciation. When you’re done, I intend to make Feenix’s mama a very happy woman.”

Another word out of him, and she’d be the one crawling up his body right here on the stairs.

He smiled and kissed her forehead. When she stepped down, he slung an arm around her shoulders. “I feel better now that I’m not the only one ready to call it a night.”

“I get it. Misery loves company.”

“Think of it as motivation to make this a short meeting.”

When they reached the conference room, Evalle took a chair at the table on the end near Oskar. He seemed to be sleeping. Good news on that front.

Storm sat next to her on the other side and whispered, “If he gets out of hand, I could calm him down with a little something special.”

Oskar’s head popped up and turned, much the way an owl’s head rotated. He sent a withering look toward Storm, who watched him the way a predator studies something new in its territory.

She knew that look. Storm was assessing Oskar as a threat to her. Evalle said, “He’ll be fine. Let’s talk about it later.”

Oskar’s intense gaze slid over to Evalle. She smiled at him, and that must have been enough for him to relax. When she turned to the three men, she had a hard time deciding who had the more grim expression—Tzader or Quinn.

She understood Quinn’s. He had to be juggling stressful situations related to being the new Maistir, but that was likely second to his grief. He normally kept his emotions shielded, but he would probably grieve in silence for a long time.

Evalle had no idea how you got over losing someone you loved that much, and didn’t want to find out.

Tzader, on the other hand, shouldn’t be back in Atlanta unless all was right with Brina.

Cutting a sharp look at Oskar, Tzader asked, “Now will you tell us what the hell is going on?”

Evalle arched an eyebrow right back at her friend. “I was about to ask the same thing. You first. Is Brina better?”

“No.” Tzader seemed to force the words out. “I’ve been booted from Treoir, but I have a lead on how to help Brina.”

“Booted? As in can’t go back?”

“Exactly.”

That was the last thing Evalle had expected to hear. “How bad is Brina?”

“Her memories continue to deteriorate every day, and I’ve discovered that the Noirre majik is still influencing her.”

Storm sat forward. “But we—”

Tzader cut in, “—brought her back from wherever the spell sent Brina and Lanna. I know.” He rubbed his eyes, and squared his shoulders, not giving an inch in any battle.

His emotions were clearly under siege from her illness.

Tzader explained, “We’ve been doing a lot of dream walking, because that’s where Brina remembers more easily. But even there, she’s been retaining less. I met someone in the last dream walk who said—” He shook his head. “This may be hard to believe.”

Evalle’s empathic ability wasn’t as sharp as Storm’s, but she picked up something she’d never felt from Tzader before. Fear. He was terrified for Brina.

Storm chuckled at Tzader’s comment.

When Tzader tensed, Evalle suffered a moment of embarrassment. It was unlike Storm to make light of Tzader’s situation. But then she realized the energy coming from Storm was compassion.

Storm must have caught her distress just as quickly, and placed his hand over hers. He told Tzader, “I’m a Skinwalker who shifts into a black jaguar
and
I have demon blood. Evalle turns into a gryphon and has a pet gargoyle. Quinn can mindlock with anyone, and you’re immortal. All three of you have kinetics. What can be so hard to accept about our world at this point?”

Quinn cut loose a sound. Evalle couldn’t believe what she heard. He was laughing. A real laugh. Not a big one, but more than she’d heard from him in a long time. Quinn said, “Good point, Storm. Just tell them, Tzader.”

Evalle asked, “You already know, Quinn?”

“Some of it, which is why we didn’t contact you telepathically.”

Storm interjected, “Evalle trusts anything and everything you two say, so you have my trust, and I will hold your confidence.”

That seemed to draw the tension from Tzader, who had fisted his hands together on the table in front of him. “A dream walker showed up today when I was in the dream space with Brina. I convinced her to leave the dream so I could deal with him without distraction. Once she was gone, we fought with swords.”

“He attacked you?” Evalle recalled Lanna’s warning about the potential of being injured or dying while dream walking.

“Yes, and no. He’s powerful. So powerful that he could have killed me at any time. He swings one hell of sword, like he was born to it in the dark ages. In fact, I think he’s pretty damn old.”

“What did he want?” Storm asked.

“He wants me to help someone escape Tŵr Medb.”

At that moment, Evalle realized this was not going to be a short meeting. “Why you?”

Tzader’s grim face tried to smile. “Motivation. He knows what’s going on with Brina. I was hiding Brina’s deterioration from everyone except Lanna, who helped me conceal it even from Macha, but this guy knew about that. I could go on about all he knew, but it would be simpler to say that after a lot of debating, I believe him.”

“How does he know so much?” Storm asked.

“That was one of my questions.” Tzader took a moment, as if gathering his thoughts. “He said he gets his information from the person he’s trying to free, and he claims that Noirre majik is still in Brina’s system. Still affecting her. After hearing him out and questioning Lanna, everything he said makes sense. He also seems to know things about Macha and Queen Maeve, and the traitor who attacked Brina, things someone privy to the prior Medb queen’s conversation and actions would know. Basically, the person trying to get out of Tŵr Medb is the only one who was present when the original spell was cast. That person can reverse the spell.”

Evalle had spent a significant amount of time in Tŵr Medb when she and the other Alterants had been captured and were forced to finish their evolution into gryphons. She’d managed to pull out every person who mattered to the Beladors when the gryphons were sent to attack Treoir Island.

Had she missed someone? “Just who needs rescuing?”

Tzader took in all three of them when he said, “A dragon.”

She thought on it. “They keep all kinds of creatures locked up near a fighting pit in their tower. How are we supposed to know which one?”

Storm swung around to stare at her, but didn’t jump in. Yet.

Tzader drew in a long breath, and on the exhale said, “This one should be easy for me to locate. It’s the queen’s dragon throne.”

“The
throne
? You’ve got to be kidding.” Evalle shook her head. “Queen Maeve would go postal. That would be nothing compared to what Macha would do.”

“I know. That’s why I’m going in alone, but I need help finding resources.”

Reeling from what he’d just disclosed, Evalle said, “No, you’re not.”

Quinn objected, “Absolutely not.” He added, “I told you Evalle wouldn’t go for it any more than I would.”

Storm slapped a hand over his eyes. “This is suicide.”

“Storm’s right,” Tzader said. “I won’t put anyone else at risk. This is my battle.”

Evalle agreed with Storm, but she also knew that look in Tzader’s eyes. She’d seen it when he went into battle. He would not back down, and he would not accept defeat. “Tzader, are you saying that dragon-shaped throne is a ...
person
?”

“Evidently. Queen Maeve supposedly cursed a dragon shifter into the form of a throne two thousand years ago. He hates her
and
Macha. Doesn’t trust either goddess, and to be honest, I can now see why when I couldn’t before.”

Storm lowered his hand. “What’s the whole deal?”

Tzader laid out the entire conversation with this man called Ceartas, then said, “He gave me a red dragon scale that I gave Brina. It worked, just as Ceartas said it would. After my last argument with Macha, I’m convinced that she’s as much a threat to Brina as any Medb at this point.”

“In what way?” Evalle asked, still trying to wrap her head around what they were discussing. Tzader would never make it alone, but to do this ... that was no simple decision.

“I’ll give you the details later, but Macha compelled Lanna not to tell me something about Brina, and Macha has shielded Brina from realizing what is happening to her own body.”

“You mean her mind,” Storm corrected.

“No. Brina knows she’s losing ground mentally, but she doesn’t know ... that she’s pregnant. It happened during a dream walk, before I understood that actions taken there were real.”

Stunned silence swept across the room until Quinn cleared his throat. “Did you really think I would let you go on your own with that at stake, too?”

Tzader sighed. “Sorry, Quinn. I know we haven’t found your daughter yet, so I hated to even mention this.”

“I will find Phoedra, and you’ll be there to help me, but only if you don’t try to steal a bloody dragon by yourself.”

Evalle swallowed. “You know there’s no love lost between me and Macha, but I’m at the bottom of the rung in her world. To treat you and Brina this way is ... well, I started to say unbelievable, but when I think of Macha it isn’t that much of a stretch.” Still, what kind of person would keep Tzader and Brina apart when Brina was pregnant?

The same goddess who failed to support me even when I was doing her bidding. The same one who lifted not a finger to help me find Storm, then teleported him back to Atlanta, knowing VIPER was hunting him, even after he saved Brina’s life.

Evalle could spend hours listing all the things Macha had done to her, but she’d always assumed she was not worthy of Macha’s respect.

Now that she saw how Macha treated Tzader, Evalle had to accept a simple truth. None of them mattered to Macha beyond the service they provided. That left her with an empty feeling she hadn’t experienced since before she met Tzader and Quinn.

Looking physically drained and sounding emotionally bankrupt, Tzader said, “I just need a layout of Tŵr Medb and a way to teleport in.”

Evalle shook off her mangled thoughts to jump back in. “No, you need a tactical team that includes someone who knows the tower layout, plus someone who can teleport
and
someone who can break the curse on that throne.”

Storm leaned in on his elbows. “And since I know that means Evalle intends to be on that team, you’ll need me to cover everyone’s six.”

“Even better?” Evalle announced. “I have someone who can teleport us, plus Adrianna is the best chance we have at breaking a two-thousand-year-old curse.”

A new tension radiated from Storm. “
Who
can teleport a team between two realms?”

Quinn lifted his chin. “Yes, who is this person?”

Oh, crap
. She’d stuck her foot ankle-deep in her mouth. “This is clearly a top-secret project, right?”

Tzader lifted both hands. “Everyone just hold it. You and Quinn haven’t realized something, Evalle. One of the conditions Ceartas laid out for me to gain the dragon’s help is that I can’t tell Macha about any of this. Entering Tŵr Medb and stealing the queen’s throne will come with repercussions. Going after that dragon without Macha’s consent will translate into me breaking my Belador vows in Macha’s eyes, because there’s every reason to believe the Medb will declare war. There is no way she’ll see my actions as anything except betraying the Beladors, and her.” He paused then added, “But she wouldn’t authorize my plan anyhow.”

He swept a tense gaze around the room before continuing. “I’m thinking that as long as I go alone, to avoid war, Macha will claim I was rogue, then point out that the Medb recently had a rogue warlock who wrongly accused Evalle of murder. She’ll call the incident a wash even if she can’t return the dragon. She might get away with diffusing a conflict if I’m the only one involved … and penalized.”

At one time, Evalle would have rushed into battle with no thought, because she’d support either Tzader or Quinn. No question.

Was she ready to break her vows?

Tzader was acting honorably, in Evalle’s opinion, but every Belador swore fealty to Macha and gave a vow of honor. The goddess had final say on guilt or innocence.