Chapter 31
After we returned to my room to clean up, Jordan escorted me to the healing ward. I walked confidently next to him. He towered over me, but his presence no longer intimidated me. I heard Doran and Bevin before we got the waiting area, no tension in their voices. That was a good sign.
When we came around the corner, they both stopped talking and looked at us. I fished the amulet out of my pocket and handed it to Bevin. “Thanks for the control,” I said without letting any embarrassment into my voice.
“That wasn’t much time.” The old Witch wiggled her eyebrows.
“All I needed.” I glanced back at Jordan to see that he was actually blushing. Doran was doing her best not to laugh. She coughed into her hand. Jordan blushed even more. It was too cute to see the hulk who had forced me to talk dirty to him, embarrassed.
Doran looked back at me. “I feel a change in you, my niece. I like it. What is it?”
I went to Manus’s door without saying anything. He came first. Then I was going to have a talk with Doran. They all followed me in.
He was sitting up and conscious. His bright green cat eyes met mine with a small smile, the movement tugging on the cut and making him flinch.
The nasty gash started at the bottom of his chin and wound itself into a big, grotesque question mark that stopped at his navel.
Bevin had it coated in herbs, but I could see under the treatment, and it was bad.
I felt hot tears at the backs of my eyes.
“Don’t, Keena. I’ll be okay. Bevin is sure I’ll be able to shift again.” He talked by moving his mouth as little as possible.
I looked back at Bevin as I sat on the side of his bed. “Was there a question of that?”
“The cut was deep and went through a great deal of muscle tissue. If that tissue was too damaged, he couldn’t shift.
We are healing it from the inside out in hopes he won’t have that problem.
The stabs in the back weren’t so bad. They’ll heal fine.
This one,” she motioned to the huge question mark, “it’s almost as though they put some sort of poison on the blade to make sure the tissue died. ”
“So they wanted to make sure he couldn’t shift if he survived?” I glanced from Jordan to Doran. “And the Witch, Deirdre? Was there anything specific about her injuries?”
Doran nodded to Bevin as if giving her permission to tell me. Bevin took in a deep breath. “She was decapitated, probably with the same poisoned blade.”
“Jesus Christ!” I had to close my eyes. “And you think that was meant for me?”
“Especially after your visit from Dannaiva. We are going to have to intervene soon,” Doran said.
“I have contacted the one who is claiming leadership on Thule now. He is coming tomorrow evening. A formal meet, Keena. You will be there to assist me. Something has them very frightened of you.” She waited for me to say something, but I held my knowledge as well as her gaze and offered nothing in return.
Manus broke the stare-down. “Can I talk to Keena alone for a minute?”
Doran just turned and left. She knew I was hiding something. Too bad. She did the same often enough. When the others were gone, Manus took my hand.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, kissing his knuckles. “This is my fault. I should have stayed with you.”
“Stop it. I failed in my duty. If you had been with me…I just…you would have…”
“Now you stop it. We’re both alive.” I sighed. I’m very sorry about your friend.” I kissed his knuckles again.
Manus pulled his hand away. “You have to tell them, Keena. You have to tell them about the deal with Karackos.”
I thought quickly to make sure my wall was up to block Jordan, but it was too late.
He had been there and gotten part of the memory, part of the worry brought to the forefront of my mind.
Jordan flew around the corner. His strong face looked harsher than usual.
He was red-faced again, but this was not a blush.
“What deal did you make with that monster, Keena?” His voice was as unforgiving. The words were clipped and harsh. Doran and Bevin had followed him back in.
“Damn it,”
“Keena, not funny. Karackos is ruthless, and he plays games. You should not have summoned a Greater Demon.” He started to say something else but stopped himself.
Doran put her hand on my shoulder. “Keena, what was the deal?”
I stood and felt the anger rushing into me. “First of all, I didn’t summon him, he came to me. Second, it was a really good deal.” I hesitated. “At the time.”
I was going to have to spill the beans. I told the story, all of it.
About the deal to trade Feldema or kill her, about Nessum disappearing when I confronted him with Trevina’s blade.
Doran’s eyes grew large as she stared at the blade she hadn’t noticed hanging at my side.
I touched the hilt of it when I told them about finding it in my mother’s skull.
I’d spent many nights dreaming of it since.
In the dreams, it wasn’t just a skull. It was her face, strained in pain.
I left out the part about the dreams and told them how I had lost the skull to the sea on the way back from Thule. Bevin almost swooned.
“You poor dear, poor dear,” she crooned, over and over.
Jordan was positively oozing anger. His fists balled so tightly I thought his knuckles would break. “But you can’t offer Feldema the choice anymore, can you? And you didn’t think it necessary to tell me this?”
I stood as tall as I could and faced him.
“I told Manus. He’s my guardian. I had no obligation to tell you anything at the time.
Hell…” I swung around to face Doran, “…I didn’t even know we had a security force at the time!
No one seems to think I need to know anything until something bites me on the ass.
I need to be better informed. Then, and only then, can I make the smart decisions.
If I learned nothing else from my human parents, it was how to assess a situation and make good choices.
But I can’t make good choices without all the information. ”
I stepped even closer to Doran, tired of all the guessing games, tired of them thinking I couldn’t handle the truth.
“If I’m to be this great leader, Doran, I think it’s time that you stop treating me like a child and fill me in on exactly what’s going on.
I can only make decisions based on the information I have. So far, that’s been shit.”
Doran looked like she was going to take a step back from me, but didn’t.
“Until now, I didn’t think you could or would truly accept this life.
I didn’t want to drown you in all the sudden changes.
” Her voice sounded a bit defeated, realizing she’d been wrong.
Being wrong was something Doran was not accustomed to.
“Can you understand that? There is so much for you to learn about our world. We tried to give you the basics so it could slowly sink in. I see now you have accepted who you are, and I apologize if my trying to make the adjustment easier was interpreted as a lack of trust. I assure you, it was not. Your coming to us so late is new for us. I didn’t know how to… ”
She did take a step back then, her tone becoming more serious.
“If I pushed too much on you all at once, I would have chosen what I thought was important for you to know. Imposed some of my own prejudices, swaying your opinions of the things and species of our world. You have to form your own opinions based on the events that unfold before you. You have to decide what you feel is important and make your own decisions, one way or another. I wanted you to find your way to us through your own heart, Keena, your own strength.”
She sat down in a small chair, which made her look bigger than she really was, and made a small huffing sound. “I will tell you anything you wish to know, from this day forward.”
“No more trying to shield me? No more games?”
“There were no games. But you’re correct, my niece. You have every right to be a part of your own destiny. I should not have taken that choice from you.”
Jordan stepped in between us, his face still taut, fists still bunched.
“That still doesn’t change the fact that she made a bargain with Karackos that she can’t fulfill.
” He turned to me. “You do understand that if you can’t offer him Feldema, you will be obligated to take her place, be bound to him, to serve him in any way he sees fit? ”
I reached up to touch his face. He calmed a bit, but I could see he was truly worried about me, not just because he was the head of security.
His silver eyes were swirling. I felt his love and began to understand that my heart knew his already.
My powers chose the Demon for more than just his physical presence and his ability to protect.
His heart was part of the package, and my magic was drawn to him for love as well as lust.
“Yes, I know what that means. I’ll have to deal with that when the time comes. First, we have to deal with the Slaugh. If they decide to declare war, then the deal with Karackos won’t matter, will it?”
“I was right,” Doran said. “You have come to understand your destiny. I am pleased.”
“So glad you approve,” I said. “What’s the plan for the meet?”