Chapter Twelve
Kyan
THE NIGHT AFTER THE OLD BAILEY brEAK-IN, KYAN WAS summoned.
He’d been to the Wake’s headquarters a handful of times, but never had unease like this coiling in his gut.
Waiting in an enormous room more the size of a museum, Kyan scoped out the artwork and sculpture that broke up the white space and vaulted ceiling.
In the centre, a partial wall had been erected to stage another painting, and before that, with his back to Kyan, stood an unfamiliar Messenger in a dark suit.
‘What the fuck is this?’ asked a voice to his right.
Kyan’s spine locked as another Empyreal strode inside.
Logan.
He looked between Kyan and the Messenger, and Kyan couldn’t help but echo Logan’s sentiments.
Unless there was a mission of high priority, like the protection of a politically important supernatural, Empyreals didn’t get their directives at the same time. And if they did, the Wake usually paired people who were better suited.
Were they being reprimanded for the fight? Empyreals brawled sometimes, but Kyan hadn’t often heard of them being scolded, likely to keep that aggressiveness as sharp as possible. Perhaps they called him here to arrest him, or worse?
His first and loudest thought was: I can’t die before I see her again.
He fought the urge to cover the dotted binding scar and instead flicked his eyes away from Logan, keeping his body loose, relaxed, and his hands behind his back.
Obedient.
The being before him turned.
The inhuman man had white skin and dark hair. They were so ordinary-looking you wouldn’t glance twice, but that was the point. After months considering who the leaders of the Wake might be, Kyan had no doubt that this still wasn’t one.
‘You called for me,’ he said instead.
The Messenger smiled. ‘You’re our most loyal hunter.’
It felt like a threat. Like an unspoken question.
A test.
Logan made an unamused sound.
Kyan fought the urge to swat him into a wall.
‘We have a mission for you both. Two vital hunts have come up at the same time, but seeing as one holds a … connection to one of you, we thought it best to give you the choice. You decide which Empyreal takes which hunt.’
Warning prickled up Kyan’s spine. Why hadn’t they brought in Callum? He was a far better Empyreal than Logan. Not to mention more stable, capable, and charming.
Because something else is going on here.
‘We’ve recently had reason to believe there is a young woman causing problems. She may be the daughter of a long-vanquished enemy.’
That warning turned violent, tapping in his pulse like an emergency countdown.
‘We need her found and brought in for questioning.’
Kyan was about to accept the mission. They meant Nicole, he was certain. How many questions could he ask without sounding like he knew too much?
But why would they have brought him here, unless they knew? Nicole and her family were so careful … What had happened since they’d been parted that had given her away?
Before he could say anything, the Messenger continued. ‘Our other mission is a Druid.’
His body temperature shifted, cold and hot, his heart sliding to his boots.
‘There are no Druids.’ The words weren’t the rasp he feared they’d be, but a lost tide, crashing over him in one deadly wave.
Sixty years after his Druids’ home in Ulster had been destroyed, Romans had razed another Druid settlement on Anglesey – Mona, it had been called then. A sacred Welsh island of deep-rooted magic that had been a lively supernatural sanctuary.
He’d held out hope that any who survived that great massacre had gone on to re-create their ranks to keep the essence of magic, blood reading, and astronomy alive.
But he’d barely seen a trace of Druids in two thousand years.
Feeling drifted back into his body when he felt Logan’s eyes burning a smirk into the side of his face.
‘I’ll take the Druid,’ the little shit said smoothly. ‘Do you want them with a head or without?’
Kyan’s strained patience grew perilously close to breaking. He hadn’t even noticed the way the fabric of his shirt creaked, or the fact the bracelet on his wrist, which reminded him so much of Druid plaits, felt like it was tearing at his skin.
His gaze arrowed on the Messenger.
‘I need more information,’ Kyan managed. ‘Who has the Druid killed? Who is this ancient enemy?’
‘The Druid is unstable and we have reason to believe they’re attempting to summon the Wild Hunt.’
The painting of it back in Estwood stormed through Kyan’s mind.
The bloody lines of ogam from his last hunt.
His brow furrowed before he could stop it.
If Freya’s clues had been accurate, it was the Wake trying to summon the Wild Hunt.
So, were they lying? Trying to keep people on their side by blaming a Druid?
A Druid might be the only one who could summon something that dealt so much with souls, and the ogam symbols had been written in blood, a known realm of Druid expertise …
But if it wasn’t the Wake that were trying to summon the Hunt, why was the Druid?
‘The Wild Hunt—’ Logan butted in.
At the same time Kyan asked, ‘How is that possible?’
‘That’s what we want whoever takes the mission to find out.’
‘And the other mission?’ Kyan asked. ‘If you want the daughter of your enemy, I assume you want her alive?’
The Messenger’s disconcerting gaze drifted back to him.
For the first time since he’d dealt with one of them, Kyan felt like someone was watching him through this one’s eyes.
Careful. He was going to have to be so fucking careful.
‘The enemy has had many names. Her latest moniker: Freya.’
He knew the floor was still beneath him, but it felt like it had tilted into an abyss.
‘What happened to her?’ Kyan asked, relieved by his even tone.
‘She was successfully eliminated by one of our Empyreals.’
He made a show of thinking, nodding as his world reordered.
‘I’d like to speak with the Empyreal that killed her; it will give me a better chance at finding her daughter, since I assume she hasn’t killed anyone and there’s no kill scent?
’ He had to keep the damning bite from his voice.
He was only supposed to hunt creatures that were killers.
Not innocents. Never innocents.
But he was the Wake’s best dog, so he kept his mouth shut.
‘I’m afraid that won’t be possible.’
‘Why?’
‘They’re dead.’
His instincts snarled one word.
Liar.
‘How did they die?’ he asked. ‘She took them out?’
‘You’ll find all information required for this mission with the codename reference.’ The Messenger handed Kyan an expensive card with one word looped on it in an elegant scrawl.
Choose Nicole, or the last remaining connection to his people.
Logan slapped Kyan on the back, hard.
Don’t break his wrist, he ordered himself.
Logan laughed, satisfaction winking coldly in his eyes. ‘Well, pup, I suppose it’s time to see who gets to their prey first. Hungry?’