There'll be Hell to Pay (Hellcat Series Book 6) (36 page)

“
And you think this is about Mariska’s babies?” Gabi asked, her
brain sluggish from jet lag and general exhaustion. She wished
she’d put this conversation off until they’d had time to get some
rest.

“
I haven’t even put the suggestion to the Council yet; it
seemed too far-fetched.” Athena was shaking her head, seeming
confused herself. “If the prophesy is true, then this baby is the
‘light’ and the Source is hers more than it is ours; we have been
keeping it safe for
her
. The prophesy links two reservoirs of power to these souls:
one feeding the Castius and one feeding the dark. The power is
theirs to use as they deem fit. If this baby is the soul of light,
the Source will begin to refill now that she is near it, and the
Veil will soon be strong again. I haven’t come across anything that
suggests there is another version of the Source, though. If it
exists, it is well hidden.”

“
What about the dark child?” Gabi asked. “I’m assuming the
prophesy didn’t see it being burned to death. Surely that would put
an end to the whole thing.”

“
Did you see the…body…” she stumbled over the word, “of the
other baby? Was any sign of it found at the scene?”

“
I didnae see ur feel anythin’ else alive in th’ clinic when I
foond ’er.” Fergus spoke up.

“
But the baby could already have been taken, couldn’t it?”
Athena persisted. “Caspian’s accomplice might have been able to
spirit the other child away and then set fire to the
place.”

“
I will ensure that we get all the information a forensic
investigation turns up,” Julius said.

Athena pursed
her lips. “I don’t think it will really matter. If the prophesy is
correct, the soul of dark will find another vessel. We can only
hope the next vessel isn’t as powerful as the first would have
been.”

“
You know, that sounds a lot like something the Seeker said.”
Gabi looked over at Julius with a frown.

“
Yes,” he agreed. “It wanted the ‘light one’ dead because the
next one wouldn’t be ‘as powerful’,” he confirmed Gabi’s vague
memory.

Athena grew
even paler, and she began to chew on the inside of her lip.

“
So what happens with this baby?” Alexander spoke at last.
“She’ll be taken in by the Magi and protected?”

“
Actually, no,” Athena said. “The High Council has a bad track
record at raising and protecting vulnerable orphans. I have a
better idea.” Her smile was brittle, the smile of someone doing
something they prayed wouldn’t come back to haunt them.

CHAPTER
20

A rustle at the
door had Gabi sitting up in bed and Julius issuing a low warning
growl, his power prickling across her naked body. Razor raised his
head from the overstuffed chair in the corner, but he didn’t seem
alarmed.

“
An urgent letter, Sire, Consort,” Claudia’s slightly panicked
voice said from the other side.

Gabi put a hand
on Julius’s arm; she didn’t want to be disturbed either, but taking
it out on the messenger wasn’t exactly fair. The prickling
sensation calmed and he rolled out of bed, stalking over to
retrieve the envelope that had been hastily stuffed under the door.
A familiar craving started in Gabi’s core as she watched him move,
all lean muscle and perfect skin, graceful and predatory. She
couldn’t get enough of him.

After finally
getting back to the Estate at close to lunchtime the previous day,
she’d eaten and Julius had fed from a Feeder. They’d checked on the
baby and, with Ian’s okay, sent her home with Kyle and Trish, to
both of her friends’ absolute delight. Then they’d gone upstairs to
shower and sleep. They had showered, but it had been a long time
before they’d fallen asleep tangled in each other’s arms. They’d
woken at sunset and repeated the lovemaking and the shower, and
then the lovemaking. For the first time since they’d met, there was
no sense of urgency or overriding danger hanging over them. Nothing
to detract from simply enjoying each other. It was a heady
sensation, and Gabi could easily have locked the bedroom door and
held Julius hostage for at least a week.

His eyes caught
hers as he prowled back to the bed, and she realised she wouldn’t
have to resort to a hostage situation, his desire matched hers
exactly. As he reached the bed, he raised the envelope to his nose,
turning it so that Gabi could see it was addressed formally to
Julius and herself, inked in flowing calligraphy.

He inhaled and
his eyes narrowed. “Astrid delivered it,” he told her, handing it
over with a regretful sigh. Gabi grimaced; bye-bye week of fantasy,
hello reality.

The letter was
from Tabari, handwritten and signed, outlining that he was being
treated with respect and, while he knew he essentially was a
captive, he didn’t feel like one. His training with Flora was going
better than he had expected, and he had found within himself a
surprising capacity for teaching. It was evident in his words that
he was growing fonder of the girl with each day that they spent
together. But laced into his words too was wariness of her growing
abilities. He ended assuring them that he felt Eka would not renege
on their deal and that he would be home soon.

Gabi reread the
letter, then glanced at Julius, wondering what he had read between
the lines of his friend’s words. But before he could give voice to
his thoughts, his phone chimed on the dresser. Very few people had
his number.

Julius
retrieved the phone. “The Magi High Council wish to discuss
placement of the Dark Magus’s child,” he told her after glancing at
the screen.

Gabi smiled
grimly; Athena had warned them it would happen, and now they had to
face the music. Luckily they wouldn’t be facing the music blind;
this time they had the music sheets and they’d be doing the
conducting.

She
disentangled herself from the sheets and rose from the bed to wrap
her arms around the man she loved.

“
It feels good not to be on the back foot for a change,” she
mused. “It’ll take some getting used to.”

“
Life is going to be different,” he agreed, pulling her against
him and breathing in the scent of her hair. “The Decuria should
leave us alone for a while. It won’t last forever, but we’ll have
time to rest and regroup.”

“
We no longer have to chase Caspian and Mariska,” she added,
placing a kiss on his chest where the ivory-hilted dagger had so
recently penetrated his flesh.

“
And we have leverage over the Lucis, so they can no longer
control us.” His voice held an edge, and when she glanced up at
him, his eyes glittered with something feral. “Now we only do what
we want to do. We get to play both sides to strengthen our own
people and protect our City.”

“
I like that idea.” Gabi smiled fiercely. “No more Mr and Mrs
Nice Guy.” She went up on tiptoes to nip Julius’s lower lip. “Let’s
go and practice our new personae in front of the Magi High
Council.”

********************

“
So?” Trish had yanked open the door to Gabi’s old house before
she even had the chance to knock, and stood in the doorway with
Kyle hovering just behind her. “Do we get to keep her?” Trish was
trying very hard to keep it together, but Gabi could see how very
close to tears she was. And Gabi could sense her wolf prowling
restlessly near the surface, wanting to take control.

Gabi dropped
the serious mask and let her brightest grin out to play.

“
Yes!” She actually shrieked the word. Suddenly she was
dreadfully glad Julius hadn’t come along to break the
news.

Trish just
looked at her for a full second without responding.

“
Really?” she finally said. “You’re not kidding about this, are
you?”

“
Would I do that? About this?” She would joke about many things
but never something this important to one of her best
friends.

“
Babe,” Kyle said, pulling her backwards into his arms,
wrapping his arms around her and kissing the top of her head, “Gabi
is deadly serious. Did you hear her squeal? I’ve known Hellcat for
fifteen years and I’ve never heard her squeal.”

Instead of
shouting and jumping for joy, Trish promptly burst into tears.

Fifteen minutes
later Trish’s tears had finally ebbed to a trickle. Her nose was
red and her eyes still glistened, but she radiated happiness. Gabi
had known being a mother was important to Trish, but it had been a
superficial knowledge. She’d thoroughly failed to grasp the true
extent of Trish’s maternal desire.

“
That’s unbelievable news. You guys are amazing,” she said to
Gabi, reaching to take the cup of sweet tea from Kyle. Gabi smiled
around her sip of strong coffee. Kyle knew how to make it strong
enough to curdle the milk.

“
It’s not me that was amazing, and it’s not all going to be
plain sailing,” Gabi said. “You should have seen Julius in front of
the Magi High Council.” She couldn’t help the sappy grin; he’d made
her so proud she’d been ready to burst. Keeping the smile off her
face during the meeting had been one of the hardest things she’d
ever done. “I know I’m biased, but he was absolutely spectacular.”
Watching her Consort stand before the Council, most of them aged
and venerable and entirely accustomed to getting their own way, and
putting each one of them in their place had been
exhilarating.

“
He convinced them to let us keep her?” Trish asked. Trish was
using the royal
us
, but Gabi had another ace up her sleeve. One she and Julius
had discussed at length the previous night.

“
I wouldn’t put it quite like that,” Gabi said, taking another
sip of coffee as Kyle brought in his own cup and sat next to Trish
on the sofa, facing her. “He just
told
them we were keeping her.
According to both Vampire and Magi law, whoever saves an orphaned
minor has automatic legal guardianship of that minor unless someone
else has a stronger familial claim. He pointed out that they told
us to deal with the problem and hadn’t been fussy about whether
Mariska or the babies lived.”

Trish’s face
clouded a bit at the mention of babies, plural. Gabi knew it
weighed on her friend’s mind that they hadn’t been able to save
both the babies. Gabi felt differently, but knew it wasn’t the
right time to discuss the prophesy.

“
He also told them her other secret after making them swear an
oath of silence.” Gabi doubted anyone else in the world would’ve
been able to make the Magi High Council swear an oath of any kind.
“Once they agreed in principle, he made a few concessions, but we
have a few years to get our heads around them. She does have Magus
blood, and she more than likely will show signs of her abilities
young. If our assumptions about who her father is are correct, she
has two very powerful Magus parents. It will be hard, if not
impossible, for her to forsake her Magi heritage. Athena will be
allowed to be a consistent part of her life, and she will judge
when her powers are beginning to manifest. Once that happens, she
will be assigned a Magister and she will become an Adept, training
and studying how to use and control her Magi abilities.” It was the
agreement they’d hashed out with Athena in the airport lounge two
days ago.

“
Will she have to leave and live with the Magi?” Trish’s voice
was small.

Gabi smiled. “That is something you and Kyle will have to
judge and negotiate when it happens. She will be
your
daughter, after all.
Julius is already arranging the adoption papers. Most Adepts still
live with their families, generally only going to live at one of
the Adept Centres if they don’t want to stay with their families or
their families are living a long way from one of the Centres. The
City has its own Centre, so she would be able to live with you and
attend her lessons during the day or evening. But that is still a
long way away. The earliest onset of powers is towards the end of
puberty. In the end all the Council asked was that she be exposed
to her Magi heritage, that we not keep it from her, and allow
Athena to be a part of her life. I think they are just so relieved
that the Source is refilling that they’re a little distracted. They
may become more problematic once life settles down and they have
less to worry about, but we’ll always have your back, and I think
Athena will too.”

“
We get to adopt her?” Trish whispered, and Gabi grinned,
realising her friend probably hadn’t heard a thing she’d said after
the words ‘adoption papers’.

“
Of course,” Gabi said. “How else will you be her
parents?”

“
But…but I thought…you and Julius…we’d be guardians or
something…” Trish stammered.

“
There is no one better suited to being this very special
baby’s parents.” Gabi smiled, knowing without a doubt that this was
the right decision, and Julius had agreed with her after she’d been
open with him about her genuine lack of maternal desire. “Julius
and I will be her doting aunt and uncle along with most of the
Clan, and she’ll have a devoted grandmother in the form of my
mother. Fergus already adores her, as does Sasha. And then there’s
your brother and Kimberley and the Pack, so you’ll have plenty of
support, and you’ll be spoilt for choice of babysitters. In fact,
you might have to draw names from a hat to avoid fights breaking
out. You’re on your own with dirty-nappy duty, though.”