“She didn’t find me. I just arrived.”
“She was supposed to tell me that. She’s been flagging in her duties, and I’m just—”
“We’reallstruggling, Jann. This is scary for everyone. She has the least control of all of us. You frightened her. She’ll be in her little room, afraid you’re going to stop protecting her!”
“I’d never do that!” I protested. Diadre kept talking, but I couldn’t take it in. Couldn’t think about anything, except the fact that she was here and safe, and my fears had been unfounded.
I couldn’t stop holding her to me. Wished we could stop talking and just dive into each other and stay there, and ignore the world. Instead, of course, my fierce, lovely, slavemaster-hating mate would stand in defense of Caelan. I was just glad that she was alive to do so.
Her,andour son.
Dear God, I’d never felt so afraid in my life. My heart still pounded. As I reached for her, to cup her ass and pull her tighter against me, my hands shook.
“…can’t just start roaring every time something goes wrong. If I’m on a mission, I might get held up, and it might be dangerous.That’s why we’re here, because we take the risks no one else will.”
I squeezed her harder against my chest. “These late night missions have to stop—”
“Abso-fucking-lutely NOT,”Diadre snapped, bracing an arm against my chest, and shoving at me until I gave her more space, and she could meet my eyes. “No, Jann. You arenotbinding me! It’s the only freedom I have! I can shadow walk. I’ll just leave!”
“Don’t you dare,” I growled, truly furious with her for the first time. “Don’t youdarethreaten me with that. Don’t youdarerisk our son—”
“Of course I’m risking our son, and myself! Andyou!Just as you are! That’s what we do, Jann! We take risks, and we pray and we hope we win, so that the risks are worth it. Because no one else can do this. I’m the one that was put here for this. Me and Yilan.”
“Yilan isn’t carrying a baby!”
“Well I am, and I will continue to carry him until it’s his time. But I’m not stopping the few ways that I can actually fight—”
“You don’t need to fight. That’s what I’m here for!”
“It’s a different fight—a different battle front, remember!” she hissed.
“There’s a dozen ways we can—”
“Oh, really? Name one! Name one more that issaferthan this? One more that’seffective?Because this way, I contribute something positive to this shitshow—and it’s working!”
“Working? You’re spending all night every night wearing yourself into the ground, sick as a dog, to whisper into the ears of—”
“Tonight I scared the shit out of Althok.”
I stopped cold, watching my mate’s face stretch into a smug smile as she raised her chin and looked down her nose at me.
“What?”
She nodded. “He finally came in.That’swhy I was late. I was about to leave—but it turned out he’d been waiting for her previous client to go.”
Then she painted the story—the arrogant fuck I worked with nearly every day, who’d been on Gault’s council, and was among those who’d been swept into Lucifer’s web the moment he showed up with Gall. He was one of the older males, intelligent, but lazy.
My mate had deceived the medium he consulted, and convinced him that God was bringing retribution against him for denying Melek his chance to rule?
I stared at her, simultaneously brimming with pride, and shuddering with terror.
“…You should have seen his face. Hefled, Jann. He was terrified—and all I did was tell him the truth! I know he’ll go back, though. He’ll be too scared not to, because he left without hearing the last of what I was telling him. It will haunt him. Ihaveto go back—and keep going. He’ll tell the others, and some of them will come too. I know it.”
I stiffened, all that pride draining away because she wanted to do this all again tonight—and the next.Everynight.
Every night she would leave, and now that she’d been held up once, I’d spend every fucking hour she was gone terrified thatthis timewas the time she was uncovered.
“Dee, I’m not—”
