Unleash the Storm (27 page)

She twisted around, almost wrenching her hair out of her scalp, and jerked her remaining dragon scale blade from its sheath in her armguard. His shield appeared over his upper body as fast as a thought while his blade flashed up behind her for a killing strike.

She swung the blade up, cutting through his shield as if it weren’t there, and pressed the point under his unprotected chin.

Cold steel landed lightly on the back of her neck—his sword laying against her skin, nothing between his blade and death.

S
he and Miysis
held in place, their noses almost touching, neither of them so much as twitching. His black eyes bored into hers. She sucked in air as she stared back at him. The church was dead silent except for the sound of their heavy breathing.

His lips curved in a humorless smile. The cold, sharp line against the back of her neck disappeared as he lowered his sword and released her hair. She stepped back, dropping her dagger to her side before sheathing it in her armguard.

Miysis also sheathed his sword. His wings rustled before tucking neatly against his back. His body shimmered. Wings and tail vanished as glamour rushed over his form. His familiar blond tousle replaced the long braid and his magnificent red silk garb and pale gold armor morphed into his simpler scarlet and gold military uniform.

Catching her breath as she shook off her state of shaded calm, she closed her eyes and shed her daemon form, returning to human. Opening her eyes, she focused on Miysis.

“So,” she drawled. “Can we talk now?”

His yellowy green eyes glinted strangely with thoughts she couldn’t begin to guess. “I suppose we can.”

“
She’s a daemon!
”

Randy’s panicked shout made her and Miysis turn. The apprentices were still clustered in the doorway, their faces pale as ghosts. Randy was pointing at her with a shaking hand.

“She’s a goddamn daemon!” he yelled, his voice high-pitched and verging on hysterical. “I knew there was something wrong with her! She’s a daemon spy!”

Piper couldn’t help but flinch. Her eyes darted to Quinn and Calder, but they appeared almost as shocked as the apprentices over her transformation. When she looked at him, Calder pulled himself together. He gave his brother a quick nod and pushed into motion, striding for the apprentices. He grabbed Randy by the arm as the boy babbled loudly about Piper being a mutant daemon mole and hauled him through the doorway, forcing the other apprentices back down the hall. The door slammed shut.

“Hmm.” Miysis glanced from the door to Quinn and back to Piper. “Are all Consul apprentices so … excitable?”

She shook her head. Randy’s accusations and the shocked, revolted stares of the other apprentices were too painful for her to make light of.

She focused on Miysis, so calm and cool. The rage and hatred that had overcome her on the Overworld cliff, and the bitter grudge she’d held against him in the months since, filled her chest like hot lead. She swallowed hard, pushing it back down. She’d seen equal hatred and rage in his black eyes when he’d challenged her. He might have hurt her and Ash, but she’d taken a loved one from him. He had more reason to hate her than she did him, but he’d still stayed his blade when he could have killed her.

He might still be planning to kill her. Maybe he wanted to hear what she had to say first.

With a neutral expression, he watched her wrestle with her emotions. As she let out a final deep breath and straightened her shoulders, he gestured to his soldiers. They moved with quiet efficiency, retreating to guard the doors and leaving her, Miysis, and Quinn alone at one end of the sanctuary.

Miysis picked up her three dropped swords and held them out, hilts extended toward her. She hastily sheathed them. Her legs were shaking a little from the strain of their fight. She glanced around, then gestured at the nearest pew.

“Want to sit?”

He raised his eyebrows, perhaps amused at the idea of sitting in a church like a worshipping human, but sat nonetheless. She dropped down beside him with a relieved sigh. Quinn moved closer but didn’t join them, which surprised her. She would have expected him to be right in the thick of the conversation.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, she said, “Thanks for coming.”

“It was an interesting invitation.”

“Um.” She folded her hands in her lap, gazing down at them. Her left side ached and she vaguely recalled taking a hard blow from his elbow during the fight. She hoped she didn’t have any cracked ribs—again.

“At the Gaian facility,” he began.

She cringed, waiting for him to demand an explanation for what she had done to his sister.

“We found your mother’s body,” he continued, taking her completely by surprise. “Since we were unable to locate you or her kin, we included her remains in the death rituals for our own casualties.”

Her eyes shot up to meet his. “You … you did?”

“We scattered her ashes in the Shirillani Desert in the Overworld. I hope this is acceptable to you.”

“It’s …” She struggled to keep her composure. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

“I admit we did not extend that honor to any other Gaian, but I’d hoped that, despite your difficult relationship with your mother, you would not want her remains abandoned there.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, embarrassingly choked up. “I can’t believe you would do that for me, even though …”

His face hardened but not in a cruel way—more as though he was strictly controlling his own emotions. “War is an ugly god, Piper. It forces us to commit acts we would never otherwise consider. I know you well enough to understand that whatever happened in that room was a time of terrible desperation for you.”

A few tears slipped down her cheeks. She roughly wiped them away.

“If you feel that way,” she said slowly, “why did you just try to kill me?”

“I hoped to confirm you didn’t hold any malice toward me—which you proved rather definitively—and to draw out any … surprises.”

“I see. And the chance to punch me a few times had nothing to do with your plan?”

“Of course not. I take no pleasure in battering women. You seemed to enjoy hitting me, however.”

She snorted.

He tilted his head to one side, his bright eyes analyzing her. “So tell me why you summoned me here, Piper.”

“Everything has changed now that Samael brought an army to Earth. It’s no longer a game of politics and maneuvering.”

He nodded in cautious agreement. “My family never wanted this conflict with Hades. War on Earth is a logistical nightmare. If we could have avoided it, we would have.”

“Hades is attacking your embassy, but I heard you haven’t done anything yet but defend it. Now that he’s started a war here, Samael’s not likely to abandon it. You can’t defend forever.”

Annoyance flashed in his eyes; he probably didn’t appreciate a teenage girl giving him military advice. “We are perfectly aware of that.”

“So why aren’t you doing more?”

“Because we don’t want to destroy this world. If we bring in more troops to take the city, Samael sends in more troops to take it back. The city will be destroyed, become worthless, and the conflict will switch to the next city.” He gave her a hard look. “In war, you are either invading territory or you are defending territory. Neither Hades nor we possess enough forces to occupy this continent in the traditional sense. Samael wants to force us out of every city we hold power in until we withdraw entirely, leaving Earth to him.”

“So for now, you’re holding your position because you don’t want to commit additional resources to the conflict and provoke Samael into sending more troops.”

“Which would only escalate everything further.”

“What if Samael
couldn’t
send more troops to Earth?”

His eyes narrowed. “What could possibly stop him?”

She nervously rubbed her hands together. “Samael’s forces are split between two worlds for, well, the first time ever, right? No warlord has ever sent an army to Earth before. Now that Samael has, Asphodel is vulnerable for the first time in over five centuries.”

He made a sound of disgust. “I’m aware of the circumstances, Piper, but we cannot attack his territory in the Underworld. I will not send my men to their deaths in that black hell, especially not with the full knowledge that it would be an utter waste of their lives. The only way to attack Asphodel would be from within the Underworld—an invasion by another territory there. You know the Hades family has spent the last several centuries making sure the other Underworld families are too terrified to ever consider such a thing, don’t you?”

She turned to face him fully and the annoyed sarcasm faded from his expression.

“I just came from the Underworld,” she said, her quiet tone adding gravity to her words, which immediately caught his attention. “Things are happening there—are about to happen there—that even Samael doesn’t know about.”

He straightened on the pew, his eyes darkening—probably honing his truth-seeing magic to analyze her every word.

“About twenty-four hours ago, two companies of Samael’s army attacked a settlement of draconians in their former territory.”

“Draconians?” His brow furrowed as he puzzled out where she was going with this. “I didn’t think they had the numbers to warrant two full companies.”

“I don’t think Samael did either, because the draconians obliterated his army.”

He went very still. “Did they?”

She pressed her hands between her knees to keep from fidgeting. She didn’t see any reason to mention that Tenryu had done most of that obliterating.

“And Samael doesn’t know this yet?” he asked.

“No, he doesn’t,” she said, locking eyes with him so he could have no doubt of the truth she spoke. “And now, before Samael realizes what he’s up against and while his remaining forces are split between the Underworld and Earth, the draconians are preparing to attack Asphodel—to destroy it. They intend to break Hades’ power for good.”

Miysis stared at her with dark eyes, no doubt deducing far more than just the small amount of information she’d given him. After a long, terse moment, he finally spoke. “You want me to prevent the Hades forces here on Earth from reinforcing Asphodel, don’t you?”

Biting her lip, she bobbed her head in confirmation.

“This is an act of desperation,” he observed. “The draconians know this, don’t they?”

“They know. That’s why they have to attack now while—”

“When are they planning to launch this attack?” he interrupted.

“In about two days.”

His eyes widened.

“Ash believes they can take Asphodel—as it’s currently defended,” she said. “But if Samael recalls his troops from Earth before then, the draconians won’t have a chance.”

Miysis’s green eyes glittered with cunning in a way she definitely didn’t like.

“If the Hades troops on Earth withdraw in the next few days,” she said, “the draconians will be destroyed. Though you’ll be freed of your problems here temporarily, there will be no caste left in the Underworld to challenge Hades ever again. Hades will recover and nothing will change. They’ll be back eventually to attack your interests on Earth.”

She locked eyes with the Ra prince. “However, if you were to
attack
the Hades force, you could change that. If you destroy Samael’s forces here and the draconians destroy his forces in the Underworld, his power will truly be broken.”

Miysis slowly leaned back in the pew.

“When will you ever have this chance again?” she asked. “You said so yourself: you can’t attack Hades in the Underworld. The Ra family will never be able to defeat Hades, only attempt to hold them in check on Earth. But the draconians
can
attack Hades. If they’re wiped out because of the army here on Earth, there will never be another chance. Only you can ensure Hades is destroyed permanently.”

He folded his arms, a hundred thoughts flashing through his sharp green eyes as he considered everything she’d said. He could have asked dozens of questions but he said nothing, deliberating in silence.

After several minutes, he exhaled sharply. “We weren’t planning to attack the Hades forces. Our entire strategy was defense. We’re outnumbered and pinned down. If we launched an attack, Hades would swiftly defeat us and our efforts would amount to nothing.”

Cold ran through her. Shit. She hadn’t considered that the Ra forces wouldn’t actually be able to launch a successful attack.

“Can you bring in more soldiers?”

“That would be as good as announcing my intentions to Samael. It must be a surprise attack, and ideally, we would want to close around the Hades forces to prevent a retreat or withdrawal. I simply do not have enough men.”

Her father’s voice sounded from her other side, making her jump. “What if we could provide additional forces?”

She looked at Quinn. She’d forgotten he was there. It had to go against every iota of his nature to listen in on a controversial discussion without expressing his opinion.

“That would depend on the nature of these additional forces,” Miysis replied guardedly.

“The Gaian numbers easily eclipse either the Ra or Hades force alone,” Quinn said to the Ra daemon.

“The
Gaians
?” Miysis barked with a humorless laugh.

Piper worked to keep her expression neutral despite wanting to react pretty much the same way as Miysis.

“Though they aren’t as effective in battle as daemons,” Quinn continued, “they can provide more than enough of a diversion to give your troops the maneuvering room they need, especially with their array of weapons designed for use against daemons.”

“Would they ally with us?” Miysis asked doubtfully. “Even if they agreed, I would be wary of a betrayal.”

“You would need to stay in close contact with their commanders to ensure coordinated movements,” Quinn answered. “Your truth-seeing ability could detect any insincerity on their part.”

“Very true. But would they agree to an alliance?”

Both men looked at her.

“They will,” she promised, not allowing any doubt to show. “I’ll make sure of it.”

“For the chance to defeat Hades …” Miysis rose to his feet. He slipped a hand in his pocket and pulled out a small radiophone. “I must begin preparations now. Contact me once the Gaians agree so I can send my generals to meet with their leaders.”

She took the phone, hiding her surprise at the rare, expensive technology he was freely handing out. It would definitely make it easier to stay in touch with him. She backed away from the pew and into the aisle so he could exit the row. He paused, looking down at her with those cutting green eyes.