After several minutes of silence, she asked him, “Do you feel the darkness inher
Henodded.
“I saw it. I heard it. It’s not simply her own conscience causing the pain, guilt, and anguish. The darkness growing in her is magic fed. The Order still has its claws inher.”
Costin growled. His eyes began to glow, and Cindy fought the urge to scoot away from the table. Never run from a predator, unless you felt like being prey. She held herground.
“How do you know?” he finallyasked.
“I recognized the essence of themagic.”
His head tilted in a very wolf-like gesture. “How could you even possibly know anything about the Order’smagic?”
Cindy refused to fidget under his scrutiny. She’d done nothing wrong. Her parents were the ones to blame for joining the Order. She’d simply been a helpless bystander as a child. “My parents were members of the Order,” she saidsimply.
“Were?”
“They’re dead now. But I grew up going to meetings. I’ve been around them before. That’s how I know. It’s not something I like to remember, and I never once desired to follow in my parents’ footsteps. As soon as I was old enough to go out on my own, Ileft.”
“Bet that didn’t go over very well,” hesaid.
“No, they weren’t happy. But I kept to myself for a long time in my own realm. Our queen wanted nothing to do with the Order, so I was sheltered there. I’ve remained off of their radar my whole life until recently. A while ago they called me and requested a meeting. I turned them down, of course. Nothing has happened yet, but I assume there will be some backlash for myrefusal.”
“Do they know Sally is your daughter?” Costinasked.
“Before she was abducted, I wouldn’t have thought it possible. But now … I have to assume they must know. It would be foolish to believe otherwise. The Order of the Burning Claw is a powerful organization with powerful members. They’ve been lying low for a long time. The fact that they’ve resurfaced is bad. Very, verybad.”
“It means they have gotten stronger,” Costinagreed.
She nodded. “Sally is much more powerful than I. But I have no doubt the Order would love to have both of us among their ranks. I think they’ll use one of us to try and get at theother.”
“Why? And forgive me, but why haven’t they pursued you untilnow?”
“For one, I haven’t used my magic in over thirty years. They’ve had to keep track of me the good old-fashion way, like humans do, through records, because there was no magical signature to follow. And two, they haven’t been in a position to make a move against anyone in a long time. The Order sort of … crumbled a while ago. I don’t really know what happened, but there was dissension in the ranks and their leadership faltered. If the beast has no head, it can’t do any damage. Now we can only assume someone powerful is back incharge.”
Costin’s eyes narrowed slightly. “But why do they want you both?” he askedagain.
Cindy sighed. She hadn’t wanted to tell Sally what she truly was. In fact, the fewer people that knew the better. “I told you there were different kinds of sprites. I am a healer sprite, yes, but I am more than that. It is extremely rare for one of my kind to receive two abilities, but when they do, their offspring are more likely to have a dual nature. Lilly said that Sally is the most powerful gypsy healer they’ve had in centuries. That’s not a fluke. She likely has such power because I am aseer.”
“Like Lilly?” heasked.
“Yes and no.” Cindy glanced around the room. Though it was stupid, she wondered if there were any ears listening that should not have been. “Lilly receives visions of the future, but they are not at will. She can’t just make her powers manifest whenever she wants. She is at the mercy of her visions. They come and go as they please. I, however, am able to control my ability. I can see the future simply by thinking about what I want to know. This is a terrible gift, for obvious reasons. But I can choose not to know the future, which I have for thirty years. Unfortunately, I believe my parents shared this knowledge with some members of the Order. The fact that they have not pursued me all these years tells me they have been extremely unorganized and weak. Now, all of a sudden, they are reaching out to me, testing the waters, if you will. This means they believe they can take on anyone who stands againstthem.”
“They want you because you would be able to tell them every move their enemies make.” The statement seemed more like a thought he was speaking out loud rather than something requiring a response. “Okay, that’s bad. But back to my mate. You said this darkness in her is actually magic, so it’s something that can beremoved.”
“Theoretically,” she said carefully. “Luminous sprites aren’t healers, but their light is powerful. What combatsdarkness?”
“Light,” he murmured. “Alwayslight.”
“Exactly.”
“I will be with her always. Please do not try to take her to your realm and do this without me.” His eyes were glowing again, and he was staring at her with a crushing intensity. “You need to understand, there is nothing I wouldn’t do, no one I wouldn’t destroy, no place I wouldn’t tear apart, in order to get her back. She ismylight. I will not step aside, even for you. How we proceed will be our decision to make, Sally and me, not you or your husband’s. I am thankful that you brought her into this world and took care of her until I met her, but now she is mine. Do you understand what I’msaying?”
She nodded.And Lilly said he was the mellow one of the pack, she thought to herself as she stared back at the man who had just made it clear he would destroy his mates’ mother and father if it meant keeping Sally safe. She had to give it to him, he was what Jen would no doubt call …ballsy.
He stood up and pushed his chair back under the table. “And we will know by tomorrow evening if your luminous friends will be willing tohelp?”
“Yes. Costin…” She stood and walked over to him. “I couldn’t have picked a better mate for her. In the short time I’ve known you, I can see you are a man of integrity and great character. Thank you for lovingher.”
