Oathbound (The Legendborn Cycle #3)

Chapter 26

26

FOUR MONTHS

AFTER brIANA MATTHEWS DISAPPEARED

Mariah

“IF SOMETHING GOES wrong,” Valec says, “your aunts are gonna kill me.”

“Yeah, they will.”

“You’re heartless. Please don’t die, is what I’m trying to say.” He pulls into the lot across from the club, Eclipse, with fingers tight on the steering wheel.

“Worse comes to worst, I pretend to be a wayward, desperate potential human client looking to make a deal with a warlock. Lord knows I’ve seen plenty of those hanging out at the Lounge all these years.” I smile to set him at ease, but it doesn’t work so well when your companion can hear your heart racing.

He taps his ear. “I know you’re nervous. I hoped you’d be. This ain’t some small mission. It’s a big deal.”

“Yeah.” I can feel the Heart pulsing near my ribs. I wasn’t exactly sure what to wear to a demon’s club, but I figured every cambion I’ve ever met is always dressed to the nines, as Aunt Hazel would say. So I did too. I picked a dress cut low enough that the Heart of the Grand Dame lies prominently beneath my collarbone. The stone is warm tonight, like it knows we’re using it. “Aunt Lu never said this thing was like wearing a hot piece o’ coal around your neck. Never burns, but feels like it could.”

Valec sighs, heavy and long. “Don’t try anything with that. Don’t let them know—”

“Valec!” I hiss. “We’ve talked about all this before. I can do this. I’m no Bree, but—”

“Hey,” he interrupts, tapping my knee. “Not everyone needs to be Bree. Half the time, I’m not even sure Bree needs to be Bree.” He shakes his head. “This ain’t a Bree Matthews–ass mission. You can’t go in and blow the place up, then apologize later.”

I grin. “That is definitely a Bree Matthews–ass mission.”

“We still don’t know what this thing does on a Medium, okay?” He points to the Heart, where it rests on a chain around my neck. “Just let me do the talking. There are rules here, but rules can change. Don’t accept any offers, no bargains, no favors.”

“Got it.” I grasp the door handle and take a deep breath.

“This is a bad idea,” Valec says, shaking his head and cutting the engine. “But leggo.”

Daeza sniffs at the small wooden box in her hands. “Anger. Potent.”

Valec nods, hands loose in the pockets of his slacks. “Politician.”

“Ah,” she says. “That’s why it’s so sweet.”

“Yeah,” he drawls. “They get so mad when things don’t go their way.”

“I used to keep one on call”—she hands the box to her attendant—“until he died.”

I blink, trying to remain cool. But Valec and Daeza both tilt their heads at my suddenly rapid heartbeat.

“Heart attack,” she says, sweeping her long skirt over her thighs before crossing her legs. “Not my fault. Or was it? Who can say, when a human is filled with that much spite?”

I have to work hard to pay attention to what Daeza says, because when I look at her, all I can see are the parts of her that are undead. The nonliving energy writhing inside her is so active, it makes her skin look nearly translucent—at least to me.

“Is the tribute of value to you?” Valec asks.

“Oh yes, I accept it,” Daeza replies, “but I have to say I almost didn’t need it when I heard it was you who had come calling.”

Valec dips his chin, all charm. “You flatter.”

“No,” Daeza states, “I’m just being honest. What would bring the great Valechaz to my doorstep? I haven’t seen you in over seventy years, pup.”

Valec’s smile is tight. “Only a Nightshade can get away with calling me a pup.”

“I can get away with quite a lot, as you know.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Daeza tosses her head. “Don’t try that charm on me, cambion. I know your games. I helped invent some of those games.”

“Not mine, I’m afraid,” Valec purrs back. “Mine are all homegrown.”

Daeza taps her chin. “Tell me, Shadeling, did you ever find out who sired you?”

I stifle a gasp. Valec’s the child of a Nightshade? Beside me, Valec’s spine stiffens. “I never looked.”

“Not in two hundred years?” Daeza whistles. “That’s some impressive restraint. Why not?”

“What kinda father leaves a woman and infant in enslavement?” Valec returns, eyes flashing. “Not one I’d like to know.”

“Fair.” She stands, pacing in front of her throne with her hands resting at her stomach, fingers steepled outward. “I must say that tonight’s requests have been… interesting.”

I shift on my heels, from one side to another. At my chest, the Heart burns. Daeza has power, and it’s roiling under her skin, but so is a deep, dark spectre. Unlike the lines I can see on Valechaz, what I see on Daeza churns . A shadow become restless.

“Your attendant said we are the last supplicants of the night.” Valec glances at me.

Daeza gestures to the room vaguely. “We have entertained more visitors than usual. Too many bodies, too many disappointing requests. You are the third Shadeling to pay me a visit tonight, if you would believe it.”

I look down to where Daeza’s eyes have fallen—and immediately regret it. There’s blood splattered on the floor. Bright red—fresh. Deep, dark red—dried. And a generous collection of greenish black—demon blood too. Valec’s eyes have followed mine, although I’m certain he smelled the blood before I did. “Is that so? Three in one night? Can’t help but notice there’s a lot of blood on the ground.”

“Occupational hazard. Now”—Daeza stops pacing, her skirts flowing around her ankles and heels—“what do you need of me, Valechaz, son of no one?”

“Son of Pearl,” Valec corrects sharply. “A good woman who had a good name. A name worth knowin’.”

Daeza dips her head. “Son of Pearl. My apologies.”

“Daeza, Nightshade of the Court, I come to you—”

She holds up a hand. “Wait.”

Valec closes his mouth, jaw tensing. “Yes?”

“Grand Dame of the Southeastern territory.” She points to me. “Why don’t you state Valechaz’s request?”

“Now, Daeza, I called the audience. I brought the Dame here to make sure you knew I came in peace. You know Dames don’t intervene in demon business, don’t tangle with our disputes—”

“I know what a Grand Dame does,” Daeza says. “And I won’t do anything to cross one. I know the rules.”

Rules can change.

Behind my back, my hands tense. At my chest, the Heart pulses, beating in counterpoint to my own. I see Daeza’s inner shadow swirl beneath her skin, a strange, bright darkness, and my fingers twitch.

“It is because I know what a Grand Dame stands for that I ask yours to state your case. I know it will not be twisted by your trickster tongue. And I will find it entertaining. A good way to end a rather eventful night.”

Valec bares his teeth. “No—”

Daeza is a blur between blinks, rushing to Valechaz until their noses nearly touch. He does not move, does not breathe. “Let her speak,” Daeza says quietly. She smiles. “Or else.”

Valec’s own smile is slow and easy. “As you wish, Shade.”

Her eyes slide to mine. I swallow, my throat dry as saltines. “We seek the demon we know as the Hunter. The one demons call the Great Devourer.”

Daeza’s head tilts. “Very interesting.”

“Does that mean you’ll point us in his direction?”

“He is impossible to find,” Daeza says. “Always in a new form, a new face. He uses emissaries, these days.”

“Where can we find them?”

Her smile spreads. “Now that I can help you with. I happen to know of an event where two of his emissaries will be in attendance in one week’s time.”

“Really?” Valec glances at me in surprise, then back to her. “What’s the catch?”

“Well, for one,” Daeza says, “you can’t attend.”

Valec takes a deep breath. “Let me guess. Is this event hosted by another broker?”

“Bingo,” Daeza replies, nodding. “Another Shade, in fact. Mikaelaz’ll think you’re there to poach his clients, and you’ll end up with a turf war on your hands. Lots of dead people, and I don’t think you’ll win.”

Valec grits his teeth. “Then I suppose we’ve reached a dead end. We thank you for your—”

She wags her finger. “Not so fast. Just because you can’t go doesn’t mean your little Grand Dame impersonator can’t.”

My jaw drops. Valec freezes. “Daeza—”

She rolls her eyes. “Did you think I was born yesterday, Valechaz? That girl isn’t the Grand Dame of your territory no more than I’m an actual twenty-year-old girl from Texas.”

I blink, looking down at her body. “You’re…”

“Wearing the skin of a twenty-year-old girl from Texas, darling,” Daeza purrs. “Just like you’re wearing the Heart of the Dame to help with your disguise.”

Valec blurs in front of me, arm outstretched, but Daeza waves him away.

“Stand down, cambion. Let me finish. You can’t go to the auction, but she can. And since she’s so eager to go undercover to places she really shouldn’t, I’ll even offer your little faux Dame here a fake identity that’ll get her into the auction with zero issues. I just so happen to have one invite left. Think you can pretend to be a buyer for an art gallery?”

I can already see the fight brewing behind Valec’s tight jaw. “Thank you for your offer, but we can’t—”

“I accept!” I say. “I’ll do it.”

“You did not just say that, Mariah.…” Valec drops his head in his hands.

“Delicious!” Daeza claps. “I’ll get the paperwork started.”

“You seem eager to help, Shade,” Valec mumbles tiredly as he looks up. “A bit too eager.”

Daeza strides back to her throne. “I am a very old demon, Valechaz. I get bored easily. But this will be fun.”

“Fun for who?” Valec mutters.

“Me, of course.” Back in her seat, Daeza crosses one leg over the other as she gives Valec a final appraising look. “It’s good to have you back, Valechaz.”

Valec’s fingers twitch at his sides. “I’m not back, Daeza.”

She smirks. “We’ll see.”