Silver-Tongued Devil (7 page)

“Sabina,” Orpheus said, his tone dripping with patronizing empathy. “I understand your reluctance to get involved. It’s common knowledge you and Mr. Corbin are old friends and no doubt his ego has taken a hit over our decision. However, given all the trials you endured to stop the war, you of all people should want to ensure nothing stands in the way of getting that treaty signed.”

I clenched my jaw. Normally, I would have argued with him, but it was clear the noose had already tightened. Arguing would only make things worse. “Of course I’m committed to peace.”

Orpheus clapped his hands together. “Then it’s settled.”

Adam raised his hand. “Just to be clear, what exactly is our focus? The human or the mage?”

“The mage. At this point, the human death is low priority unless information comes to light connecting it to the other one. But for now you will follow the trail from Vein.”

“And once we find the vampire responsible?” I asked.

The Despina smiled, flashing fang. “You bring them to us.”

After the meeting, I stormed out of the room, leaving Adam to say his good-byes to the Despina and Orpheus. I’d just made it to the door of the outer office when a female voice called out. “Sabina?”

I turned to see Alexis hot on my trail. An impatient sigh rose in my chest. I knew it wasn’t her fault we’d been saddled with her, but I disliked the Enforcer from the first moment I saw her. “Yes?”

“So what’s our first move?” She moved toward me, her leather holster creaking with each step.

Adam walked out then. His gaze took in the vampire’s eager posture and my grumpy expression. “Alexis?” She turned toward him. “We haven’t been properly introduced. I’m Adam Lazarus.”

She shook his hand, putting a little English on her grip. Adam wasn’t fazed by the display and smiled.

“And that’s Sabina—”

“Sabina Kane, I know,” she said. “Your reputation precedes you.”

I choked out a laugh. “Oh, I just bet it does.”

“I meant that as a compliment,” she said.

That brought me up short. Considering my checkered past among the vampire community, I found it hard to buy her claim. “Really?”

She nodded eagerly. “Oh, yes. Everyone knows that without you two we’d be in the middle of a war right now. I’ve studied your track record as an Enforcer. You had an impressive career.”

“Thanks,” I said, uncomfortable with both the praise and her use of the past tense.

“So,” Adam said to cover the uncomfortable silence. “What’s the plan?”

I glanced at the wall clock. I opened my mouth to speak, but Orpheus stuck his head out of the door. “Sabina, Rhea asked me to remind you about your training session.” He glanced at the clock. “It starts in five minutes.”

I frowned at the mage leader, confused. “But I thought you wanted us to get started on finding the killer?”

“Adam and Alexis can begin without you. Rhea has something important to discuss with you. About the favor you asked of her last night.” I assumed his vague cageyness was due to Alexis’s presence. But I managed to put it all together and realize Rhea needed to discuss Maisie with me.

“Are you sure that can’t wait?”

The leader met my eye, his expression solemn. “Positive.”

I sighed. “Understood.”

He nodded and disappeared back into his office.

“Okay,” I said slowly. “Here’s what we’ll do. You and Alexis head to Vein and get a briefing from Slade. Maybe he’s got some new information that will help us figure out where to start. We’ll rendezvous back at the apartment after my training session and figure out next steps.”

“Sounds good.” Adam stepped forward and gave me a quick peck on the lips. “See you later.”

I felt Alexis’s eyes on us during the exchange, but I was trying very hard to ignore her existence.

I turned to go without a glance at the vampire. However, she wasn’t going to let me get away that easily. “Miss Kane?”

Tamping down my frustration, I turned with raised brows.

“I look forward to working with you.”

I paused. Maybe I was being unfair with her. After all, it’s not like she had a choice about working with us on this case. I forced my shoulders to relax. “Me too,” I lied.

8

A
fter I left Adam and Alexis, I raced up to the gym to make my training session with Rhea. I walked in at exactly 7:59.

Rhea was already there, of course. “You’re almost late,” she joked.

I paused, dropping my backpack on one of the blue mats that covered half of the gym’s hardwoods. “Almost late is the same thing as on time,” I snapped.

She waved a hand to dismiss my logic and busied herself setting out props for that night’s lesson—bundles of herbs, ceremonial daggers, the usual. “Sabina?”

“What?” I picked up a bundle of dried sage and lavender from the table. Normally the soothing scents would have helped me relax, but I was in no mood.

“What’s the matter?”

I slammed a smudge stick on the table. Broken sage leaves scattered across the surface like aromatic confetti. “Nothing!”

Her brows snapped up.

I sighed, knowing she’d drag it out of me by force if necessary. “It’s Orpheus.” My lips didn’t form his name so much as expel it like a bad taste.

“Oh?” Rhea said. “What’s he done now?”

“He’s forcing Adam and me to take point on the murder investigation.”

Her brows furrowed. “The mage who was killed last night?”

I nodded.

She shrugged. “Are you mad because you don’t want to be involved or because he didn’t ask you nicely?”

“Both!” My chest hurt. Pressure made my lungs tight. I hated it when she was so insightful. “Plus, they’re insisting we let one of the Despina’s guards tag along. You should see her, Rhea. She wears more leather than a fucking cow. She’s a walking stereotype.”

Rhea raised an eyebrow. “She’s an Enforcer?”

“Was.” I nodded. “Before she became Tanith’s guard.”

“So you two should have a lot in common.”

That stopped me. Her observation was too close to the truth to be comfortable. “Hell no,” I lied. “I was never that much of a cliché.”

“Sabina.” Judgment weighed her tone.

“What?”

“I’m sure Orpheus had good reasons for putting you and Adam in charge. Besides, maybe it’s a good thing for you to have a mission. You’ve been a little restless lately.”

I grimaced. “Maybe.” I had been feeling at loose ends for a while. With the exception of my magical training, I didn’t have much to do. Adam still had his duties as a Pythian Guard to keep him active, but I’d been feeling about as useful as a three-dollar bill. I’d tried to convince myself that I’d finally gotten the peace I’d dreamed of during all those months of disaster. But deep down I suspected that I wasn’t the type of female who thrived in calm waters because I was always waiting for the next tidal wave.

She patted my hand. “Just focus on the mission and try to ignore the fact that Orpheus can be an incredible ass without even trying.”

I couldn’t help smiling. One of my favorite things about Rhea was her straight talk. Of course, I didn’t like it so much when that laser-sharp tongue was aimed at me. “You’re right. Thanks.”

She sighed. “Speaking of Orpheus, I have to talk to you about something else you might not like.”

I paused, bracing myself. “What’s up?”

“It’s your sister.”

Gods, just when she’d gotten me to calm down about Orpheus she chose to bring up the only other subject guaranteed to upset me again. “Oh, yeah. Thanks for checking on her last night.”

She waved a hand. “It wasn’t a problem. By the time I got to her room, she was already asleep.”

I frowned. “That’s weird. She was pretty upset when she left. I’m surprised she was able to sleep.”

“That’s the thing. She’s been sleeping a lot lately.”

“Isn’t that pretty normal for someone who’s having problems like hers?”

“Of course, but the sleeping isn’t the issue. It’s the lack of dreams. Orpheus and I are concerned she may have permanently lost her abilities as an Oracle.”

“Why now? She hasn’t had a prophecy in months.”

“Yes, but Imbolc is coming up. As the Oracle, she’ll be expected to deliver a prophecy for the coming year. Especially with the treaty signing happening that night.”

I recalled Orpheus’s reaction earlier. “So that’s why Orpheus changed the subject so quickly earlier when Tanith asked about Maisie. He’s worried she won’t be able to deliver.”

As an Oracle, Maisie took the images from her dreams and painted them to translate the symbols into prophecy. But for several months, she’d been totally blocked. The dry spell began before she’d been kidnapped, but Orpheus and the Council were worried that after the trauma she’d endured they might never return.

Rhea nodded. “That, and he’s worried that if Tanith finds out how erratic Maisie’s been lately that she’ll delay the signing—or worse.”

“I don’t know how he’ll manage to keep Maisie’s state hidden from the Despina. It’s not like her troubles are exactly a secret.”

“Mages in our inner circle are aware of your sister’s situation but it’s not like anyone on the Council is going to run to Tanith to gossip about it. Beyond these walls, Maisie’s situation isn’t common knowledge. Orpheus is so determined for the ceremony to go off without a hitch he’s controlling all the information going out to the mage masses. The annual prophecy is the centerpiece of the entire Imbolc ceremony. He’s worried that without a positive prophecy some mages will take it as a bad omen for the peace process.”

“That’s silly,” I scoffed. “If Orpheus just explained what happened to Maisie—”

“It’s not that simple, Sabina,” she interrupted. “Some mages are having problems adjusting to the idea that the vampires are our allies. They’ll see Maisie’s lack of prophecy as further evidence that we should not trust the vampires.”

“But who wouldn’t want peace between the races?”

“It’s not that they don’t want peace. It’s that they don’t believe vampires are capable of it.” She shrugged. “Centuries of animosity aren’t easily overcome.”

“I guess that’s true. But I’m still not sure what Orpheus thinks I can do about Maisie.”

“I just don’t get it,” Rhea said, absently, almost to herself. “She used to have them all the time. Her accuracy made her one of the most powerful Oracles in the world. But ever since—” She stopped short.

I filled in the words she’d been about to say. “Ever since I came to New York.” Rhea looked ready to deny. To apologize for the truth. “Don’t bother.” I held up a hand to stop her. “We both know it’s true.”

“Regardless, I’ve done almost everything I can think to help her regain her visions.”

“
Almost
everything?” I frowned.

“There’s an ancient rite the Greeks used to use called ‘dream incubation.’ I mentioned it to Maisie, but she refuses to do it because it involves a tiny blood sacrifice and being given a potion to summon sleep.”

Given Maisie’s reaction to seeing a little pint of blood in my apartment, I couldn’t imagine the words “blood sacrifice” had gone over much better. “Do you really think this incubation is the key to helping her?”

“I believe so. The Greeks used it to cure all sorts of ailments—both physical and mental. Besides, it’s the only option we have left.” Rhea peeked up at me between her lashes. “Orpheus and I were hoping to convince you to speak to Maisie about it.”

I sucked down a deep breath. The air felt sharp in my lungs. On some level, I knew it was only a matter of time until I was asked to intervene more directly with the Maisie situation. Up until that point, I’d tried to stay on the periphery of the drama. It’s not that I didn’t care what happened to her. More like, I had no clue how to help her. And, frankly, my own internal conflict where Maisie was concerned held me back.

The truth, the deep-down-I’d-never-admit-this-to-anyone truth, is that I blamed myself for everything that happened in New Orleans. And Maisie served as a flesh-and-blood personification of my own failures both as her rescuer and as her sister.

It didn’t help either that while Maisie was busy fading away, everything in my life was looking up. That’s where the real guilt lies. I had an amazing partner, a great pad, my magic lessons were going well, and overall things pretty much were awesome. Sure, I had a few nagging complaints, but who didn’t? I certainly didn’t have the sort of challenges Maisie was facing. All of which added up to a massive case of survivor’s guilt on my part.

So I should have wanted to help her. To make amends, if nothing else. But something held me back, which I suspect was tied to the fact I could barely stand to be in the same room as my sister.

Still, even I wasn’t immune to the pleading look Rhea aimed at me. Plus, if I’d learned anything in the last twenty-four hours, it was that peace was not a sure thing. The cynical part of me was not shocked at all by the recent developments. That side always wondered when the other shoe would drop and we’d all wake up from this dream of peace. But the other part—the stubborn one—refused to allow a couple of stumbling blocks to ruin everything we’d worked for.

I didn’t want to contemplate the alternative. But I knew one thing: I couldn’t go back to that life of constant uncertainty and violence. I wanted—no, I needed that treaty signed so I could finally put the past behind me and relax into a safe, happy future with Adam and everyone else I cared about. So, yeah, I’d find the murderer despite my misgivings about Alexis and how Slade was being treated. And, yes, I’d do everything in my power to convince Maisie to try the dream incubation. To refuse either challenge would feel too much like surrender.

“Okay, I’ll try. But don’t get your hopes up. I doubt a simple conversation with me is going to magically fix her.”

Rhea smiled and gave me a tight hug. “Thank you! I know it won’t be easy, but I honestly believe it’ll help. Besides, if nothing else, maybe it will help you two grow close again.”

I didn’t bother arguing with her. If Rhea wanted to believe that some girl talk could erase months of resentment and pain, who was I to disillusion her?

“Now, enough woolgathering.” Rhea shook herself. “Are you ready to try some interspatial travel?”